Title
Silver coin (ginban)
Year/Period
1863 (Edo Period)
Region
Japan
Object Type
Material
Technique
Dimension
Object size: 7.3 x 3.1 x 0.1 cm
Accession No.
2021-00816
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Guus Rӧell, Maastricht, The Netherlands
This is a Japanese silver coin dated 1863, in circulation for a short time at the end of the Edo period (1603–1868). Made in the Akita Prefecture, it is stamped with four characters indicating its weight and worth: 四匁六分 (4 monme 6 bu), around 17.25 grams. The character 秋 (aki) on the reverse represents Akita Prefecture 秋田. Akita Prefecture was rich in gold, silver, and copper. Local mines extracted these metals, and silver coins of different denominations were minted. In 1870, the Meiji government started issuing uniform coinage and passed the New Currency Act in 1871, which established the yen as Japan’s currency and pegged its value to gold.
