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!
2 Shu 'Ansei Nishugin'
| Issuer | Kinza (Gold Mint) and Ginza (Silver Mint), Tokugawa Shogunate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1859 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Hammered, Countermarked |
| Orientation | 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 | Three kanji characters reading 二朱銀 (Ni-shu-gin, meaning '2 Shu Silver') arranged vertically in the center of the rectangular flan, rendered in bold relief in traditional regular script (kaisho). The characters occupy the full height of the field and are executed with strong, angular strokes characteristic of Edo-period mint engraving. The entire design is enclosed within a continuous border of raised circular pellets (tama-buchi) that frames all four sides of the piece. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (1859) - - 706,400 |
| Additional information |
The Ansei Nishugin was struck in direct response to a currency crisis triggered by Japan's forced opening to foreign trade under the Harris Treaty of 1858. Foreign merchants quickly recognized that Japanese gold was undervalued relative to silver by international standards — roughly 1:5 domestically versus 1:15 globally — and began arbitraging gold out of the country at an alarming rate. The Shogunate debased its silver coinage to counteract this drain, and the Ansei Nishugin was part of that emergency monetary response, its fineness reduced from the earlier Ansei issue struck just months prior.
The piece circulated for only a few years before the Meiji Restoration upended the entire Tokugawa monetary system.