comments? corrections?
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lukerobt@history.ucsb.edu
This is Page 2 of Kokin kousei, Shinsen zeni kagami (Corrected Against Past and Current Records, A New Selected Mirror of Cash Coins).
There seems to be no overarching logic to the ordering of the coins in this book. Currency is mixed with charms and tokens, and the value of coins does not progress in an orderly fashion either. Chinese, Annamese, Korean, Ryuukyuan and Japanese coins are all mixed together randomly, so there is no regional or political logic either. Columns are made up of same denomination sizes however. The first three columns are one mon coins or similarly sized charms and the fourth column is of two mon coins.
The great difference between current valuing and that of Kyoto in 1842 as represented in this book is startling. The 2 mon Shao Xing Tong Bao (J. Shoukou tsuuhou) at the top of the fourth column in this book is worth the substantial sum of 6 monme of silver, which is 75 times the 8 rin value of the one mon Jian Yan Tong Bao (J. Kendan tsuuhou) pictured at the bottom of column 3. Today in Japan and in America the value of the 2 mon Shao Xing Tong Bao is around a dollar while the Jian Yan Tong Bao is rather uncommon and worth 20 or 30 dollars. In general, 2 mon coins have a surprisingly high value in this book. Perhaps because 2 mon coins did not commonly circulate in Japan very few were imported, while 1 mon coins had been imported in great quantities.
Meanwhile, a truly rare coin such as the pattern Joukyou tsuuhou (5th down in the first column) which never circulated is valued at 8 monme; expensive but nothing like its precious value today. Whether this relatively low value in 1842 Kyoto is due to the fact that the actual coin was not so uncommon or because many fakes were already circulating is an interesting issue for futher research.
A note on value: one silver monme = 10 fun=100 rin and one rin was the rough equivalent of a 1 mon coin.
