Catalog
50 Sen
| Issuer | Great Imperial Japanese Government (Dai Nippon Teikoku Seifu Shihei) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1882 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a single green tone and dominated by a large central guilloche oval vignette containing the redemption and legal tender text in vertical Chinese characters, surrounded by finely engraved lathe-work borders. Serial number panels appear at each corner reading 第壹號八 and 貳七六七貳〇, and two circular red official stamps — one at lower left and one at upper right reading 出納局長 — attest to official issuance and accounting control. |
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| Protection type | Guilloche pattern |
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| Comments |
Japan's paper currency in the early Meiji period was chronically distrusted by the public, and the government's decision to print its own notes — rather than contract a European firm — was a deliberate nationalist statement. The Okurashō Insatsukyoku had been established in 1871 partly to reduce dependence on foreign printing houses, though early output quality was uneven as the bureau's technicians were still mastering Western intaglio and guilloche techniques.
By 1882, the year this note was issued, Japan was simultaneously establishing the Bank of Japan — founded that October — meaning these government-issued shinheisen notes were already being phased out in favor of a central bank monopoly on issue. Surviving examples in any grade are scarcer than the catalog frequency suggests.