1/4 Yen - Meiji Copper-nickel Pattern

This piece is one of several experimental patterns struck in 1870 as the Meiji government evaluated alloy compositions for the new decimal coinage system introduced under the New Currency Act of that same year. Copper-nickel was ultimately rejected in favor of silver for fractional yen denominations, making production pieces of this type vanishingly rare — they were never intended to circulate and exist almost entirely as ministerial samples or trial strikes submitted for official review.