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 Silver Yen
| Issuer | Nippon Ginko / Bank of Japan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1885 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Silver Yen |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| 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 | The obverse is printed in blue and red on pale paper, with a large central vignette at right of Daikoku, the god of wealth, seated atop two bales of rice and holding a mallet, rendered in fine intaglio engraving. The issuer name in kanji runs horizontally across the upper portion of the note, with the denomination 壹圓 in large kanji characters at center. A circular red seal appears at lower left alongside serial numbers at upper left and lower right, and a text block in vertical Japanese script details the silver convertibility promise beneath the denomination. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in warm ochre-gold tones on a plain cream ground, centered on a large ornate guilloche panel bearing the kanji 壹圓 and a block of vertical Japanese text setting out the note's convertibility terms. The legend NIPPON GINKO arcs above the panel in Roman capitals, flanked by the words ONE and YEN on either side. A circular red seal with kanji inscription appears at the lower left corner. |
| 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 convertible note series introduced in 1885 was a direct consequence of Japan's Silver Coinage Act and the Matsukata fiscal reforms — Masayoshi Matsukata had spent years dismantling the inflationary inconvertible notes that had destabilized the economy through the late 1870s. Nippon Ginko itself had only been established in 1882, and this series was among its first formally convertible issues, redeemable in silver on demand.
Printed domestically by the Ministry of Finance's own bureau rather than contracted to a European firm, which was still the exception rather than the rule for Asian central banks in this period. Convertibility was suspended during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 and never fully restored on silver terms — Japan moved to a gold standard in 1897, making this note's silver redemption guarantee functionally obsolete within twelve years of issue.