Watch List notes:

JAPAN:LOT of 863 Japanese loose cash coins including: AE 1 mon Shin Kanei Tsuho (706), AE 4 mon Kanei Tsuho nami sen (154), Bunkyu Eiho (3), large group of coins with many varieties, an interesting study group, average circulated condition, retail value $500, lot of 863 coins. Kan'ei Tsuho was an inscription used on Japanese mon coins from 1626 until 1868 during the Edo period. In 1636, the Kan'ei Tsuho coin was introduced by the government of the Tokugawa shogunate as a means to standardize copper coins and keep up a sufficient supply of copper coinage, being the first government-minted copper coin in 700 years. These coins would become the daily currency of the common people and would be used for small payments. Due to the isolationist policies of the Tokugawa shogunate, the outflow of currency halted and Kan'ei Tsuho coins would continue to be the main coin circulating in Japan. Kan'ei Tsuho were minted for 230 years despite the fact that the Kan'ei era ended in 1643. Kan'ei Tsuho coins would continue to bear the Kan'ei legend, even when a new denomination of the coin was introduced a century later. They were not all uniform as the shogunate had intended, as the mintage was outsourced to regional and local merchants who would cast them at varying weights and sizes, as well as occasionally with local mint marks. By the 1650s, 16 private mints were operating for the production of Kan'ei Tsuho coins all over Japan.

Estimate: 200-300 USD