JAPAN: Keio, 1865-1868, AE 50 mon, Hosogaya mint at Mito, Hitachi Province, ND (1867), H-7.4, copper alloy semi-official coin known as a Mito Tora-sen (Mito Tiger Coin), natural flan crack, VF. Legend in seal script translates as "Enrich the Country and Strengthen the Military." Cast at the Hosogaya Mito / Hitachi (today Ibaraki-ken). The original cast in 1864 in iron was a local emergency coin used to pay the workmen at the financially troubled copper coin mint in Mito. In 1867 copper-alloy was cast supposedly from bronze cannon which the daimyo (local feudal lord) had made out of temple bells.
Estimate: 125- 175 USD