Posted 04/05/2024 3:53 pm
Actually this one, being the early one with 4full spines overlapping the flame is incredibly rare.
In terms of seeing this variety, I see at least 50 of the late variety for every one opf the early variety.
This is reflected in values - you can get a choice uncirculated example (ms63) of the late variety for around 500 dollars at somewhere like heritage auctions if sold today. If you could find one for sale at heritage or elsewhere that was choice in the 4 spines variety you would be looking at maybe 5000 maybe more - I have not seen one at auction ever so it may be even rarer.
Having said that, your coin isn't close to uncirculated let alone choice uncirculated. I expect it would grade something like XF details - cleaned. The coin has a lot of signs that it has been cleaned.
But again because the variety is very rare, you would probably still get a couple of hundred dollars and maybe even more at auction after grading because many collectors who are looking for varieties will be looking out for this coin. In my experience it is about as rare as the 1878 deep veins variety and rarer than the 1870 type 2 variety. However it is more common than the 1870 type 3 variety and possibly more common than the 1886 size variant.
So if I were you I would get it graded - in my experience of 1yen coins NGC is a little less strict than PCGS in terms of cleaned coins and may possibly grade this as XF without the details grade (they sometimes accept minor cleaning for more worn coins but I cannot tell from your photos how much cleaning was done). If you got that, then you could probably get as much for this coin as you would for the more common variety in UNC or even UNC Choice.
So good luck it is a nice variety and worthy of most 1 yen collections.
In terms of seeing this variety, I see at least 50 of the late variety for every one opf the early variety.
This is reflected in values - you can get a choice uncirculated example (ms63) of the late variety for around 500 dollars at somewhere like heritage auctions if sold today. If you could find one for sale at heritage or elsewhere that was choice in the 4 spines variety you would be looking at maybe 5000 maybe more - I have not seen one at auction ever so it may be even rarer.
Having said that, your coin isn't close to uncirculated let alone choice uncirculated. I expect it would grade something like XF details - cleaned. The coin has a lot of signs that it has been cleaned.
But again because the variety is very rare, you would probably still get a couple of hundred dollars and maybe even more at auction after grading because many collectors who are looking for varieties will be looking out for this coin. In my experience it is about as rare as the 1878 deep veins variety and rarer than the 1870 type 2 variety. However it is more common than the 1870 type 3 variety and possibly more common than the 1886 size variant.
So if I were you I would get it graded - in my experience of 1yen coins NGC is a little less strict than PCGS in terms of cleaned coins and may possibly grade this as XF without the details grade (they sometimes accept minor cleaning for more worn coins but I cannot tell from your photos how much cleaning was done). If you got that, then you could probably get as much for this coin as you would for the more common variety in UNC or even UNC Choice.
So good luck it is a nice variety and worthy of most 1 yen collections.
