'Tenpō Mameitagin' Daikoku with 寳

The Tenpō Mameitagin was struck at the Ginza mints beginning in 1837 as part of a broad debasement policy under the Tokugawa shogunate, reducing silver fineness sharply from the earlier Bunsei coinage. The fiscal pressure driving this decision stemmed from chronic shogunate debt and the enormous costs of disaster relief following the Tenpō famines, which killed hundreds of thousands across Honshū through the 1830s.

The 寳 character variant documented under JNDA#09-68 distinguishes this piece within a series notorious for the number of its stamp combinations — collectors have catalogued well over a hundred recognized varieties across the Tenpō mameitagin issues.