Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Monme
| Issuer | Japan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1730 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Kozo (mulberry) paper |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Tall, narrow hansatsu note printed on handmade kozo paper in black and red inks, divided into three horizontal registers by ruled border lines. The upper register bears a large circular red seal stamp at the top, above a panel of dense black woodblock-printed text. The central register carries the denomination inscription in bold brushwork characters alongside a smaller red seal, while the lower register contains the issuing authority text in black characters, with a further small red seal mark at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 享 保 十 五 一 戌庚 暦 匁 |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The monme was a unit of silver weight, and paper notes denominated in it were a practical workaround for a coinage system that could not keep pace with commercial demand in Edo-period Japan. This note dates to a period when han (domain) authorities and licensed merchant guilds both issued their own paper currencies — fukoku — creating a fragmented monetary environment with hundreds of competing local issues circulating simultaneously.
Kozo-fiber paper was the standard substrate for Japanese currency of this period, and its durability is well documented; the real attrition came from the redemption cycles, when issuing authorities periodically recalled and destroyed old notes. Survivors from 1730 are rare for that reason, not because the paper itself failed.