Japanese 5-Sen ?

Which part shows the Date, which part shows the "Emperor Mutsuhito, Meiji era"?

本æ- ¥å¤§ - The Great Japan
å¹´å.­æ²»æ˜Ž - Meiji Year 6

äº"eŠ­ - 5 Sen

this is what you get if you search "meiji year 6" on the most popular numismatic auction in japan - "yahoo auction" (" ebay"? what is "ebay!?"... )))...)

http://auctions.search.yahoo.co.jp/...ce&ei=euc-jp

seller of this "1 sen" set starting price at 1500 yen = 18 usd:
http://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/j...n/b106177574

the one you have is obviously in much better condition

i wish I could help you but... though I've spent a considerable amount of years　studying japanese, as yet am still far from consummation)

I'm not a native japanese speaker but even for a native one - if they are not trained in calligraphy - reading and comprehending the meaning of such a writing would not be an easy business... there is a joke (kind of) in japanese saying that something is written so skilfully that it cannot be read at all)...

it may be some haiku (providing if it is in japanese in the first place, though it looks like it is)

one thing I can say is - as the inscription contains the symbol "æ¢." - that the tree is what is called "ume" or a "japanese apricot / plum", thus the bird is probably "uguisu" - "bush warbler" because "ume" and "uguisu" is considered an auspicious combination

Goodwin, thank you again.

Yass... You da Man !

Let me try one of those.

This must be a Chinese water-color painting. That's a Plum Tree not Cherry Tree.
The Chinese along the right edge that says "One Plum
to make the spring more beautiful" and another Sentence tell us the date and the author of thepainting. The year is the "jiazi"(chinese year) � the Season is Spring,and the name of Painter is Ye Yongjia.

Doing a search on the Internet, the Chinese calendar was based on a cycle combination of 10 heavenly stems and 12 earthly branches. 60 combinations formed a cycle of 60 years. Jiazi ç"²å­� is formed by the Jia ç"² (1st of the 10 heavenly stems) and Zi å­� (1st of 12 earthly branches).

According to chinese history, the 1st year reign of Huangdi is supposedly the starting point for Chinese calendar (i.e. Jiazi ç"²å­� year)

What year in the current 60-year cycle does this Jaizi represent?


"One should seek serenity to cultivate the body, thriftiness to cultivate the morals. If you are not simple and frugal, your ambition will not sparkle. If you are not calm and cool, you will not reach far". - Zhugeliang

Good advice to coin collectors and die variety seekers.

The Danester

I was close - it sold for $24.00 to a man in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin region, Russia! That's an island off minland Russia in the Sea of Okhotsk just North of Japan.

In recent history, on 1 September 1983, the Korean Air Flight 007, a South Korean civilian airliner, flew over Sakhalin and was shot down just west of Sakhalin Island, near the smaller Moneron Island, by the Soviet Union; the Soviet Union claimed it was a spy plane. All 269 passengers and crew died, including a U.S. Congressman, Larry McDonald.

With ebay's new 1st Class International shipping... take a guess how much it cost to ship this coin (1-oz.).

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q...7.324219&z=3

The Danester