Mameitagin 'Ansei Mameitagin' small 政 SEI character

The Ansei Mameitagin was struck in response to a currency crisis triggered by the forced opening of Japan's ports under the Convention of Kanagawa and subsequent commercial treaties. Foreign merchants quickly discovered that silver-to-gold exchange ratios in Japan were severely undervalued relative to world markets, enabling massive arbitrage drains on Japanese gold reserves. The Shogunate's answer was to debase the silver coinage sharply — the Ansei issues carry a fraction of the silver content of their Tenpō predecessors.

The small 政 character variant identified in JNDA#9-69 is one of several die distinctions within the Ansei series, reflecting the rapid, high-volume production conditions of the period.