5 sen coin

The 5 sen coin (五銭硬貨) was a Japanese coin worth one twentieth of a Japanese yen, as 100 sen equalled 1 yen.[1] These coins were minted from the late 19th century until the end of World War II. Like the other denominations of sen, these coins were eventually taken out of circulation at the end of 1953.[2] While not in circulation any more, these coins are bought and sold by numismatists for academic study, and by those with a hobby.

Five Sen
Japan
Value​ 1⁄20 Japanese Yen
ShapeCircular
CompositionSeveral different metals
Years of minting1870–1946
Obverse
DesignVarious, depending on year.
Reverse
DesignVarious, depending on year.

Composition
Years Material
1870–1880[3][4]80% silver, 20% copper
1889–1932[5][6]75% copper, 25% nickel
1933–1938[7][6]100% nickel
1938–1940[8][6]95% copper, 5% aluminium
1940–1943[9][6]100% aluminium
1944[10][6]93% tin, 7% zinc
1945–1946[11][6]93% tin, 7% zinc

Circulation figures

Meiji
5 sen coin from 1870 (year 3)
Design 1 - (1870–1871)
5 sen coin from 1871 (year 4)
Design 2 - (1871)
5 sen coin from 1873 (year 6)
Design 3 - (1873–1880), (1892)[lower-alpha 1]
5 sen coin from 1889 (year 22)
Design 4 - (1889–1897)
5 sen coin from 1897 (year 30)
Design 5 - (1897–1906)

The following are circulation figures for five sen coins that were minted between the 3rd and 39th years of Emperor Meiji's reign. The dates all begin with the kanji characters 明治 (Meiji), followed by the year of his reign the coin was minted. Each coin is read clockwise from right to left, so in the example used below "四十二" would read as "year 24" or 1891.

  • "Year" ← "Number representing year of reign" ← "Emperor's name" (Ex: 年 ← 四十二 ← 治明)
Year of reign Japanese date Gregorian date Mintage[6]
3rd 三 1870[lower-alpha 2] 1,501,473[12]
4th 四 1871 (First design) Unknown[12]
4th 四 1871 1,665,613[13]
6th 六 1873 TY1[lower-alpha 3] 5,593,172[3]
6th 六 1873 TY2[lower-alpha 4]
7th 七 1874 7,806,493[3]
8th 八 1875 TY3[lower-alpha 5] 6,396,784[3]
8th 八 1875 TY4[lower-alpha 6]
9th 九 1876[lower-alpha 7] 5,546,424[3]
10th 十 1877 TY1 22,024,167[3]
10th 十 1877 TY2[lower-alpha 8]
13th 三十 1880 79[3]
22nd 二十二 1889 28,841,944[15]
24th 四十二 1891 15,924,782[15]
25th 五十二 1892 (Silver) Not circulated[3]
25th 五十二 1892 (Copper-Nickel) 9,510,289[15]
26th 六十二 1893 8,531,858[15]
27th 七十二 1894 14,680,000[15]
28th 八十二 1895 1,030,000[15]
29th 九十二 1896 5,119,988[15]
30th 十三 1897 (Old design) 7,857,669[15]
30th 十三 1897 (New design) 4,167,020[15]
31st 一十三 1898 18,197,271[16]
32nd 二十三 1899 10,658,052[16]
33rd 三十三 1900 2,426,632[16]
34th 四十三 1901 7,124,824
35th 五十三 1902 24,478,544
36th 六十三 1903 372,000
37th 七十三 1904 1,628,000
38th 八十三 1905 6,000,000
39th 九十三 1906 Not circulated

Taishō
5 sen coin from 1917 (year 6)

The following are circulation figures for five sen coins that were minted between the 6th and 12th year of Emperor Taishō's reign. The dates all begin with the kanji characters 大正 (Taishō), followed by the year of his reign the coin was minted. Each coin is read clockwise from right to left, so in the example used below "二十" would read as "year 12" or 1923. There are two types of varieties for year 9 (1920) coins that relate to a reduction in size and weight. The design of the coin did not change.[6]

  • "Year" ← "Number representing year of reign" ← "Emperor's name" (Ex: 年 ← 二十 ← 正大)
Year of reign Japanese date Gregorian date Mintage[6]
6th 六 1917 6,781,830
7th 七 1918 9,131,201
8th 八 1919 44,980,633
9th 九 1920 21,906,326
9th 九 1920 (Reduced size) 100,455,537
10th 十 1921 133,020,000
11th 一十 1922 163,980,000
12th 二十 1923 80,000,000

Shōwa

The following are circulation figures for five sen coins that were minted between the 7th and 21st years of Emperor Shōwa's reign. The dates all begin with the Japanese kanji characters 昭和 (Shōwa), followed by the year of his reign the coin was minted. Each coin is read clockwise from right to left, so in the example used below "二十" would read as "year 12" or 1937. Some of the mintages included cover more than one coin variety for a given year, the base metals are included for easier identification. Coin patterns that include examples struck on porcelain are not included here as they were never issued for circulation. It is unknown how many unofficial locally made clay baked coins circulated.

  • "Year" ← "Number representing year of reign" ← "Emperors name" (Ex: 年 ← 二十 ← 和昭)
Year of reign Japanese date Gregorian date Mintage[6]
7th 七 1932 (Copper-nickel) 8,000,394
8th 八 1933 (Nickel) 16,150,808
9th 九 1934 33,851,607
10th 十 1935 13,680,677
11th 一十 1936 36,321,796
12th 二十 1937 44,402,201
13th 三十 1938 TY1 (Nickel) 10,000,000[lower-alpha 9]
13th 三十 1938 TY2 (Bronze) 90,001,977
14th 四十 1939 97,903,873
15th 五十 1940 TY1 (Bronze) 34,501,216
15th 五十 1940 TY2 (Aluminium) 167,638,000
16th 六十 1941 242,361,000
16th 六十 1941 (Reduced Weight) 478,023,877
17th 七十 1942
18th 八十 1943 276,493,742
19th 九十 1944 (Tin) 70,000,000
20th 十二 1945 180,000,000
21st 一十二 1946

Shōwa era designs

Five different designs were used during the Shōwa era for the 5 sen coin, not including pattern coins which were never intended for circulation. As the weight and sizes were changed frequently after 1940, these designs have been listed separate with their respective information.

Image Minted Size Weight Comments
1932
(Year 7)		 19.1mm 2.63 g This was a one year type design that is similar to the following one.
1933-1938
(Year 8-12)		 19.0mm 2.80 g Only four 1938 dated nickel coins are known to exist.[17]
1938-1940
(Year 13-15)		 19.0mm 2.80 g The alloy was changed in 1938 to Aluminium bronze.
1940-1941
(Year 15-16)		 19.0mm 1.20 g[14] The alloy was changed in 1940 to Aluminium.
1941-1942
(Year 16-17)		 19.0mm 1.00 g[14] Reduced weight, both years have a combined mintage total.
1943
(Year 18)		 19.0mm 0.80 g[14] Reduced weight.
1944
(Year 19)		 17.0mm 1.95 g Reduced size, alloy changed to Tin/Zinc.
1945-1946
(Year 20-21)		 17.0mm 2.00 g Final issue of the series.

Notes
  1. Coins dated 1892 of the 3rd design were made of silver but not circulated.
  2. Two varieties were made in 1870 in regards to the depth of the dragon's scales. The mintage figure shown is for the "shallow scales" variety, it is unknown how many were made for the "deep scales" coin.
  3. Coins dated 1873 will normally show the character 明 in Meiji's name separated. This was the first year in which the 3rd design for the 5 sen coin under Meiji was adopted.[14]
  4. The second variety of 1873 has the character 明 in Meiji's name joined via an extra stroke. Another name for this is the "connected" variety.[14]
  5. The reverse of 1875 TY 3 has the character sen (銭) with a pointed stroke.[14]
  6. 1875 "Type 4" coins were made with a "blunt stroke" on the sen (銭) character. These are scarce when compared to normal "Type 3" coins.[14]
  7. NGC lists at least 5 different combinations for coins dated 1876 using the 4 different types described above. The rarest of these is the "Type 2" obverse joined to the "Type 4" reverse (connected character in Meiji with blunt stroke in sen).[14]
  8. Coins dated 1877 have two different varieties again involving the character 明 in Meiji's name. Neither of these varieties have connecting characters, rather a horizontal stroke is missing in the 2nd type.[14]
  9. Almost the entire mintage of 1938 nickel alloy coins were melted.[17]

References
  1. "Japan 5, 10, 20, 50 Sen and 1 Yen (Fakes are possible) 1873 to 1900". www.coinquest.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  2. "小額通貨の整理及び支払金の端数計算に関する法律" [A law of the abolition of currencies in a small denomination and rounding off a fraction, July 15, 1953 Law No.60]. www.shugiin.go.jp. Archived from the original on June 28, 2002. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  3. "Japan 5 Sen Yr.10(1877)-Yr.9(1876)". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  4. "5銭銀貨" (in Japanese). www.buntetsu.net. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  5. "5銭白銅貨" (in Japanese). www.buntetsu.net. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  6. Chester L. Krause & Clifford Mishler. Collecting World Coins 10th edition. Krause Publications. p. 430.
  7. "5銭ニッケル貨" (in Japanese). www.buntetsu.net. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  8. "5銭アルミニウム青銅貨" (in Japanese). www.buntetsu.net. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  9. "5銭アルミニウム貨" (in Japanese). www.buntetsu.net. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  10. "5銭錫貨(2)" (in Japanese). www.buntetsu.net. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  11. "5銭錫貨(3)" (in Japanese). www.buntetsu.net. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  12. "Japan 5 Sen Yr.3(1870)". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  13. "Japan 5 Sen Yr.4(1871)". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  14. "Japan, 1870-1950 5 Sen". Star City Homer. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  15. "Japan 5 Sen Yr.22(1889)-Yr.30(1897)". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  16. "Japan 5 Sen Yr.30(1897)-Yr.39(1906)". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  17. "Yr.13(1938) 4 known Almost entire mintage remelted". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
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