gxseries Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 This has been a difficult series to collect. Despite what catalog value suggest, this is an eye opener. A somewhat neglected series but a tough one to assemble. Struck in between 1941 to 1943 during the Japanese occupation, the Provisional Government has authorized the Federal Reserve to issue coins. These coins are exactly the same as the Japanese aluminum coins that were issued at that time. In particular, when Osaka mint had to make drastic option to reduce the weight of aluminum, these Federal Reserve coins also followed suit. While it is not clear where these coins were struck (either Osaka or in China), they definitely are of the same planchets. There is only nine coins to this series and catalog value wise, there doesn't seem to be any reason why they can't be completed for around 200 dollars. Turns out this is just an indicative and it does not reflect reality. Three difficult coins are as followed (from slightly difficult to very difficult): 1942 5 fen, 1943 1 fen, 1943 5 fen. As of why 1943 coins are hard to find - who knows. Maybe Japan was facing a situation where aluminum had to be rationalized. However that doesn't explain why 1943 1 jiao coins are rather common... The holy grail of this series is the 1943 5 fen - which I had to sell off some of my coins to purchase this. Unfortunately cleaned and perhaps paid way over catalog value but I'm certain this is one coin that doesn't appear in the market any time soon. The last time i saw it, it was about two - three years ago. As of how long I took to hunt down all the coins, it took a good five years (!) The rest of the collection can be seen here: http://gxseries.com/numis/china/china_federal.htm Please feel free to show your coins as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 Very cool, GX. I didn't even think that Japan would issue occupation currency. You said there's no mintage figures for those years? I'm curious to see how they compare to the rest of the series. How's the availability of the 1945 coins? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art1.2 Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 Congratulations another really nice collection that your labored over and put together. Great work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted April 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2015 Many thanks thedeadpoint and Art. Thedeadpoint - to answer your question, these coins were only struck in between 1941 and 1943. I haven't found a source that mentions their mintage figure. Comparing this with other Japanese puppet states at that time such as East Hopei, Manchukuo, Hua Hsing - there is just no decent record for all of them with the exception of Manchukuo, which only the first few years were recorded. As of what I think has happened, there may have been a fair amount of them minted in 1943. However as the war progressed longer than expected and aluminum becoming a strategic metal, these coins could have been recalled to be melted down. Manchukuo coins have also fallen to this fate - aluminum coins were issued till 1943 and in the following years, fiber coins were issued. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted April 27, 2015 Report Share Posted April 27, 2015 Many thanks thedeadpoint and Art. Thedeadpoint - to answer your question, these coins were only struck in between 1941 and 1943. I haven't found a source that mentions their mintage figure. Comparing this with other Japanese puppet states at that time such as East Hopei, Manchukuo, Hua Hsing - there is just no decent record for all of them with the exception of Manchukuo, which only the first few years were recorded. As of what I think has happened, there may have been a fair amount of them minted in 1943. However as the war progressed longer than expected and aluminum becoming a strategic metal, these coins could have been recalled to be melted down. Manchukuo coins have also fallen to this fate - aluminum coins were issued till 1943 and in the following years, fiber coins were issued. Very good points all around. Have you come across any of the fiber coins? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Sure, here are some pictures Some catalog reckon the 1945 5 fen coin is extremely rare but that doesn't seem to be true at all. And to top it off, Japan was also planning to release similar coins if the war was to extend longer than it did. Believe the material is different but you get the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art1.2 Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 These are neat. I've always enjoyed seeing them and marvel that they have survived in such nice condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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