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10 Sen
| Issuer | Ministry of Finance, Japan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1872 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 87 × 53 mm |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio on pink underprint, vertical format with a symmetrical bilateral composition. Two confronting phoenix and dragon vignettes flank a central vertical column of Japanese text reading the denomination and issuing authority. A green Ministry of Finance seal appears at the upper left, with the denomination numeral repeated in each corner. |
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| Obverse lettering | 十 十 省蔵大府政本日大 十 錢 明 治 通 宝 十 十 (Translation: Ten (x2) Great Japanese Government Ministry of Finance Ten sen Currency of Meiji Ten (x2)) |
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| Comments |
Japan's first government-issued paper currency series, authorized under the New Currency Act of 1871, was designed and engraved by Edoardo Chiossone, an Italian printmaker hired by the Meiji government to help establish a modern intaglio printing capability in Tokyo. Chiossone would go on to become one of the most consequential foreign advisors of the Meiji era, spending the rest of his life in Japan and eventually engraving the official portraits of the Emperor used on later note issues.
The plates were produced by Dondorf & Naumann in Frankfurt before domestic printing infrastructure was in place — a frank acknowledgment by the new government that Japan's technology transfer was still incomplete at the moment of issue.