JAPAN: Nagasaki Trade Coinage, LOT of 58 AE mon, including 57 gen ho tsu ho (1659-85) and 1 ka yu tsu ho (1668-85), containing different varieties, all cast at the Nakajima Mint in Nagasaki specifically to pay Dutch and Chinese traders; most in average circulated grades, a few better; retail value $700, lot of 58 pieces. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan enforced a strict isolationist policy (sakoku) and forbade the entrance of outsiders. Foreign trade was only allowed on Dejima, a 120 x 75m (390 x 250ft) artificial island in the Nagasaki Bay connected to the mainland by a single bridge. With the exception of Japanese traders and courtesans, contact with foreign traders was strictly forbidden, as was the export of Kan'ei Tsuho coins and maps of Japan.
Estimate: 300-400 USD