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1 Bu Gin Ansei
| Issuer | Tokugawa Shogunate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1859-1868 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | 2.6 mm |
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| Obverse description | Irregular rectangular hammered silver flan with a deeply impressed rectangular inner border. Within the central field, three vertical columns of Kanji characters are arranged in relief: the uppermost character 定 (Guarantee/Official), flanked below by 常銀 (Joze Gin, meaning Guaranteed Silver) on the left and 是座 (Kore-za, referring to the Ginza mint authority) on the right. The border is decorated with a continuous row of small incuse six-petalled floral (cherry blossom) stamps along all four sides, a characteristic feature of Ansei-period Bu coinage. The overall surface shows the hand-worked texture typical of Edo-period hammered silver coinage. |
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| Edge | Reeded with incuse stars on short sides |
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| Additional information |
The Bu Gin series was minted in direct response to the forced opening of Japanese ports under the Harris Treaty of 1858, which created an immediate crisis: foreign merchants discovered they could exploit the official gold-to-silver exchange rate and drain Japan's gold reserves through arbitrage. The Shogunate debased the silver coinage to close the gap, and the Ansei Bu — named for the era — was the instrument of that adjustment. It circulated through the final convulsions of Tokugawa rule, surviving into the Meiji transition before being demonetized.
The .873 fineness reflects a deliberate reduction from earlier Bu coinage, a compromise the Shogunate's finance officials calculated would neutralize foreign arbitrage without triggering domestic panic.