The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-07-24
Japanese Coinage.

| lowing account of the decidedly primitive
methods by which Japanese silver money
is coined at the Government mint at Yed-
do:
GA lump of silver of the necessary fine
ness, obtained either from the Government
mines or by melting down Mexican dollars,
is placed in an iron ladle, and reduced to
molten state by means of a charcoal fire
and pair of blacksmith's bellows. 1t is
then poured into a mould, from which it is
taken out in the shape of thin rectangular
bars, which are Immediately thrown into a
tub of cold water. On being taken out, a
man seated on the ground shears off, with
a pair of large fixed scissors, all Jagged
pieces adhering to the angles. They are
now handed to another man, who weighs
them one by one, and a piece is cut off, if
necessary, to reduce the bar to its proper
weight. The next process is that OF divid-
ing the bar by fixed pair of shears into
eight equal portions of the size of ichibus.
curately as his practised eye would enable
him and his work is tested by weighing,
light pieces being rejected, and the heavy
ones reduced to their proper weight by the
scissors. The pieces are now heated white
hot in charcoal fire, plunged into water,
boiled, and washed in a kind of brine, from
which they come out with moderately
bright surface. They are next very slight
ly milled on the two Sides and more deeply
on the edges, by means of a milled ham,
mer. They are now ready for stamping
A man places one of the pieces on a sta
tionary die, and lays on the top the other
die; second man, armed with huge
hammer, gives one blow on the upper die,
and the coin is struck. The blows are
dealt in rapid succession, and the whole
scene reminds one of blacksmith-shop.-
Boys now punch small stars on the edges
by means of chisels and hammers. The
coins are weighed one by one for the last
time, and the light ones are rejected. The
imperial stamp is added by means of anoth-
er stamped chisel and mallet, and the coins
are complete. They are rolled up in paper
packets of one hundred each packet is
weighed and marked with a seal, which
serves as guarantee Of its contents, and
gives it currency as one hundred ichibus.
"While every operation is performed in
this primitive manner, perfect order pre-
walls i'll the establishment ; every man goes
through his portion of the work in silence,
and with the regularity of clock work, and
many evince considerable skill. There are
about three hundred hands employed in the
building. When the men enter in the
morning they are made to divest themselves
of their own clothes, and put on others be-
longing to the mint. At the end of the
days work a gong sounds, when the some
what curious spectacle is presented of three
hundred men sprnging from the ground on
which they had been seated, throwing off
their clothes, and rushing, naked throng,
to one end of a yard Here they pass
through the following ordeal to prove that
they have no silver on them: Their back
hair is pulled down and examined they
wash their hands and hold them up to view;
they drink water, and then halloa and,
lastly, they run to the other end of the
yard clearing two or three hurdles on their
way, after which performance they are al
lowed to put on their own clothes and de-
part Mr.. Sidney Locock, her Majesty's
Secretary of Legation, from whose report
of this year these statements are taken by
the Times, believes that the mint has been
only twice entered by foreigners and states
that the apparentabsence of all restrictions
with regard to touching and handling the
coins points to the probability that it is not
often open to the public but he remarks
that even if it were, the manners and Gus
toms of the country are not such as would
preclude a mixed assemblage of visitors
from going over it and remaining to the
end. The quantity of silver being coined
daily at the beginning of this year was So,
600 momme which, at the rate of % NOM
me to the ichibu, would give a daily total
issue of over 81, 900 bus, or about e1500.-
The whole of these coins are produced by
the simplest manual labor, unaided by
single piece of machinery"