The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-02-20
The Coins OF Japan.


Hon J. r. SNowDEN, Director OF the Mint, &c. -
few matters OF greater curiosity IN regard TO
the people OF Japan than Their system OF moneys and az
the present moment when public attention is much drawn
in that direction, some details would we presume, be
timely and acceptable ..'
The series of Japanese coin consists Of three sizes Of
gold Of silver and three Of alloy of inferior
tails. In their shape composition and relation TO each
other, they present some striking features, which set
them apart from every other system Of coinage in the
world.
The principal gold CON- known as the cobang or cobank
is OF oval shape about 40 and half inches long and
half as VIDE Il is very thp soft and easily pen having
no elascy its appearance is that OF One gold and us
surface s marked by sundry figures not well understood
as yet although s said that the owery ornaments are
the arms Of the spiritual emperor, aud thai certain
neral OF money" The weight, TWO specimens agreeing, is
3G2 housandtbs Of an ounce, nearly ia grams Next
gold piece Of one fourth that weight, and intended
quarter Of the preceding, called the god aseb;" but
its form entirely different II is focr sided, rectngu
lar and very thick, three fouhs Of inch long, and
half that in width The smallest gold coin is the half
tzebu o. proportional size We have then the silver ze
bu, and its quarter OF the domino shapes the larger
piece weighing ESQ housandhs ofan ounce 1884, grains
Passing 70 the third division, there IS the "hundred
p'senny, casting Of red hrass oval and thick,
ing two inches long and e more than bali az wide,
with hole in the Finally, there pieces Of
four and p'senry circular with holes in the centre,
and scarcely to be distinguished from the well known
Chinese casn
Inc composition Of these coins, subject falling within
par province, has been 10 extent examin
ed The cobang and tzeou. as was observed, have the
appearance Of fine gold, and II is sad regarded at
home as icing Of high quality. But Il IS only necessary
TO scratch away the surface TO discover that the japanese
understand process Of picking well known workers
IN jewery whether in America or ASIA or even in the
centre Of Africa. Trusting 70 the somewhat permanent
effects Of hard biting, they have not added cop
per TO mitigate the whitening effect OF silver aioy the
mixture being gold and silver and not far from equal pro-
portions The cobang, two pieces assayei, gave 567}s
and $685. thousandths Gne; the itzebu resulted SOC.
These figures indicate designed, though probably
cret standard. The consequent intrinsic values are,
according 70 our Mint rates, and allowing for silver
tanned, "a A for the cobang ard 81 II (neary for the
it's bu. III .f
interesting TO observe that, although gnoran, Of
the methods Of other nations japan has initiated aud
even exceeded them, in the process of deieriory
money About the beginning of the last century the
bangqute similar in shape and device 10 the present
pece-weghcd 212 grains, S5i ne, and worth Just
ten dollars century later il had fallen 10 1906 grams,
ee7 6ne and worth (ncudng siiver) five dollars and
The smallest gold coin has no, been assayed evident
y contains but little gold and has therefore forced valid
atom The transition TO the next piece in order, the
largest silver coin, affords fresh surprise 1t is found to
be Of almost absolute fnenessthat is 9el tnousandths-
and s worth 81 While this proves that the Japa-
possess the Of refining it does not explain why
they debase the gold and refine the silver. The smallest
silver piece is apparently not inferior in iineness
The foregoing details will be interesting to the numls-
atst and metaurgsi but the fact which rem AIMS will
cir more popular attention. 1t s in regard 10 the legal
relation which these coins bear TO each other Insulated
from the rest Of mankind the japanese have proportion
ed gold to silver according to their ideas Of and
state Of supply The gold and silver tzebu are, as s
Won in our eyes iii cents To suaness
worth fearly as much as two Of our gold dollars,
because ne supposes il TO be much better gold than
il ISL buys more than piece which, with
would be 81 cents. The Spanish Mexican dol
lar hey consider equal to three itzebus which three
fourths Of cobang or 50 49, The abundance Of god
scarcity Of silver, which creates such strange ratio
would doubt be promptly corrected by foreign traders
for the sake OF the enormous profit But unfortunately
there is stringent law against the expectation OF
which makes very difficult to get few pieces for
assay. For facilities IN this respect indebted
to the perseverance OF gentleman who Is Interested IN
the collection OF rare coins, and TO his correspondent
abroad.
What relation the oval piece Of brass which passes for
cone hundred beare 10 the itzebu not informed.
II weighs only about times much the piece Of
psenny and therefore bears arbitrary value unless
brass is there held to be vastly valuable than
alloy of copper and lead, which appears 10 be the
position Of the coin which stands at the bottom of the
scale j. r. ECKFELDT
WIN. 4. DUBOIS