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.
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.