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1 Mon 'Sendai-tsūhō' Bosen, tin, small type
| Issuer | Sendai Domain (Japanese feudal domains) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1784 |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.75 g |
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| Obverse description | Cast tin coin of square form with heavily rounded corners, featuring a central square perforation characteristic of East Asian cash coinage. Four Chinese characters in regular script (kaishu) are disposed in cruciform arrangement around the central hole: 仙 (Sendai) above, 通 (tsu, 'currency') to the right, 臺 (tai) below, and 寶 (ho, 'treasure') to the left, together reading 仙臺通寶 (Sendai Tsuho). The raised characters are boldly rendered in high relief against a flat field, bounded by a plain raised rim. The overall aesthetic follows the traditional East Asian cash coin format, adapted here for issue by the Sendai feudal domain during the Edo period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | 仙 寶 通 臺 (Translation: Sendai Currency) |
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| Additional information |
Sendai Domain received shogunate authorization to issue tin coinage in 1784, an unusual concession driven by the domain's access to tin deposits in its northeastern territories — most Japanese domains relied exclusively on copper for low-denomination cast coinage. Tin was considered an inferior monetary metal, and the Sendai issues circulated almost entirely within domain borders, rarely accepted elsewhere.
The small-type designation distinguishes this from the contemporaneous large-type casting run. Die and mold wear in tin accelerates faster than copper, making sharply defined small-type examples genuinely scarce.