Catalog
20 Sen
| Issuer | Japanese Government (Daijō-kan) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1872 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | 31 December 1899 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Blue vertical symmetrical composition with red and blue Ministry of Finance seals flanking a central column of Japanese text. The serial number is rendered in Japanese characters and appears in matching positions at top and bottom of the design, reinforcing the note's strict bilateral symmetry. |
| Reverse lettering | 八〇八一 すむい 番 号 二 十 政大 府日 内本 蔵帝 卿國 二 十 番 号 八〇八一 すむい (Translation: Number Twenty Finance Minister of the Imperial Government of Japan Twenty Number) |
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| Comments |
Japan's Meiji government contracted Dondorf & Naumann in Frankfurt for this early emission precisely because domestic printing infrastructure capable of producing secure intaglio currency simply did not exist in 1872. Chiossone — then still working in Europe before his eventual move to Tokyo, where he would spend the rest of his life and is buried — handled both design and engraving, an unusual concentration of responsibility in one hand.
The arrangement was short-lived. Japan moved quickly to build the Printing Bureau, and by the mid-1870s foreign contract printing for government notes was being phased out.