Catalog
2 Yen
| Issuer | Ministry of Finance, Japan |
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| Year | 1873 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | At left, an intaglio vignette of the loyalist samurai Kojima Takanori; at right, a corresponding vignette of Nitta Yoshisada, the 14th-century military commander. The central field carries denomination text flanked by official seals, the entire composition rendered in the Western intaglio style commissioned by the Meiji government from American security printers. |
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| Reverse description | A central vignette of the Tokyo Imperial Palace is set within an elaborate engraved decorative frame, with a 2 yen coin motif incorporated into the border design. Denomination and issuing authority inscriptions appear in the upper and lower margins, consistent with the Western-style security printing conventions employed throughout this series. |
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Japan's Meiji government turned to American bank note firms in the early 1870s because domestic printing infrastructure simply couldn't produce the intaglio security work required for credible modern currency. The Continental Bank Note Company of New York was one of several firms contracted during this period, competing and occasionally collaborating with the more prominent American Bank Note Company for Japanese government business.
Pick 11 belongs to the first generation of Western-style Japanese government notes — issued by the Ministry of Finance directly, not through a central bank, which Japan did not yet have. The Bank of Japan wouldn't open until 1882.