Small And Light Japan Kan'ei Tsuho Coin

Some of the official mints struck coins which were smaller than other issues. They did not necessarily have mintmarks on them. This type of variety does not show up in Krause. I will try to hunt up some specific information for you later tonight.

I disagree with it being a Vietnamese copy- these typically will have thin, raised lines to the characters, and thin planchets, of a different, distinctive metal. In my reference it is closest, but not exactly like the Edo Kameido(Tokyo) issues of 1707- they were very small in size- the protruding bottoms of the boxes of both the top and left characters, the angle back of the top character at the right, plus the almost straight vertical section of the part of the right character closest to the rim lead me in this direction. I need to look up another reference, but I would not be surprised if this is close, as there are no others that are similar in styles or writing, although a few do have the left protruding bottoms on both characters. The book I am using is by Robert Michael Jones- An Attribution Guide to Shin Kan Ei Tsu Ho, 1984. It lists 202 varoieties of these pieces, plus another 50 varieties of the Wave cash.