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Tuesday, April 09, 2019
Japan 500 yen 2021 - Circulation bimetallic type
New bimetallic ordinary type for the Reiwa era pieces after year 3 (2021):
Note that the date on this coin is in the Reiwa (令和) era, as opposed to the current Heisei era, which has lasted since 1989. The current emperor, Akihito, is slated to abdicate on April 30th, and on May 1st, crown prince Naruhito will be enthroned as emperor. Simultaneously, the era name will change from Heisei to Reiwa.
As the era name is used on the coins, the transition from Akihito to Naruhito has implications for the coins. We can expect coins minted between May 1st and December 31st 2019 to carry the inscription '令和元年' (first year of Reiwa). In western catalogues, coins of similar designs, but with different era names (representing different emperors) are considered different types. In Japan, however, the era name is simply considered part of the date and the coins with the new era names will not be considered to be new coin types by the Japanese. Therefore, it should not be expected that the Japanese mint will issue a press release announcing new types. Nevertheless, in western catalogues they are definitely going to be assigned a new catalogue number.
The full series of coins (from 1 yen to 500 yen) with the Reiwa era name has now been minted and an official mint set containing those coins has been released. See for instance this set offered by "bear45fruit" on Yahoo! Auctions Japan: https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/428498904. These coins will be considered new types in western catalogues, but not in Japan.
Note that the date on this coin is in the Reiwa (令和) era, as opposed to the current Heisei era, which has lasted since 1989. The current emperor, Akihito, is slated to abdicate on April 30th, and on May 1st, crown prince Naruhito will be enthroned as emperor. Simultaneously, the era name will change from Heisei to Reiwa.
ReplyDeleteAs the era name is used on the coins, the transition from Akihito to Naruhito has implications for the coins. We can expect coins minted between May 1st and December 31st 2019 to carry the inscription '令和元年' (first year of Reiwa). In western catalogues, coins of similar designs, but with different era names (representing different emperors) are considered different types. In Japan, however, the era name is simply considered part of the date and the coins with the new era names will not be considered to be new coin types by the Japanese. Therefore, it should not be expected that the Japanese mint will issue a press release announcing new types. Nevertheless, in western catalogues they are definitely going to be assigned a new catalogue number.
The full series of coins (from 1 yen to 500 yen) with the Reiwa era name has now been minted and an official mint set containing those coins has been released. See for instance this set offered by "bear45fruit" on Yahoo! Auctions Japan: https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/428498904. These coins will be considered new types in western catalogues, but not in Japan.
ReplyDelete