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1/2 Yen
| Issuer | Ministry of Finance, Japan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1872 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/2 Yen (1/2 JPY) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Vertically oriented note printed in black on green underprint, with a bilaterally symmetrical composition centering on Japanese text reading 'Half Yen / Currency of Meiji'; two confronted phoenix-and-dragon vignettes flank the central inscription in the upper and lower registers. The Ministry of Finance seal appears in green at the upper left, with the denomination repeated at each corner in Japanese characters. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 三八二三 ✶えひ 番 号 半 政大 府日 内本 蔵帝 卿國 半 番 号 三八二三 ✶えひ (Translation: Number Half Finance Minister of the Imperial Government of Japan Half Number) |
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| Comments |
Japan's Meiji government contracted Dondorf & Naumann in Frankfurt for its first Western-style banknote series because domestic printing technology in 1872 simply could not produce intaglio currency to the standard required. Chiossone — an Italian engraver who had trained in Genoa and worked for the Italian government before being recruited — designed and engraved the plates himself, an unusual consolidation of both roles in a single hand.
Chiossone would later relocate permanently to Japan and found the official government printing bureau, training a generation of Japanese engravers. This Frankfurt-printed half-yen note predates all of that infrastructure.