20 yen coin

In November 1869 the new units of yen were established in the form of a metric system. It was decided that silver would become the standard unit of value leaving gold coinage as a subsidiary.[1] The Japanese government considered adopting the gold standard as early as December 1870 after hearing about its implementation in the United States.[1] This system was officially put into place on May 10, 1871 setting standards for the 20 yen coin.[1] While the coins continued to be minted, other changes were being made to the system with new coinage regulations established in 1876 and 1878. For one reason or another these new practices that were put into place were not sufficient to maintain a healthy growth of gold monometallism. Part of the reason was the issuance of large amounts of inconvertible paper currency which drove gold coins out of the country.[2] Coinage of the 20 yen piece had all but stopped by 1877, and those struck in 1880 were only done so as part of presentation sets for visiting dignitaries and heads of state.[3]

New coinage reform was adopted on March 26, 1897 which re-established the gold 20 yen coin. These new standards lowered both the size and weight of the coin, the new diameter was set at 28.78mm (previously 35.06mm) while the weight was lowered from 33.3g down to 16.6g.[4][5] Over 1.5 million coins were struck during this year before production ceased until 1904.[lower-alpha 1] Coinage of 20 yen pieces were then continued past the reign of Emperor Meiji, into the reign of Emperor Taishō where coinage stopped in 1920. The decision to stop coinage of 20 yen pieces came as Japan's gold reserves were quickly depleting from excess imports.[7] The gold reserves were eventually stabilized which allowed coinage to resume in 1930, though gold coins were described as "not in general use".[8] This resumed coinage was brief under Emperor Shōwa as Japan abandoned the gold standard in December 1931.[9] The reasons behind this move were that Japan's gold reserves were again being depleted, and allowing the yen to depreciate would help the economy which was struggling at the time.[10] Gold coins of the 20 yen denomination were last minted in 1932, it is unknown how many Shōwa era coins were later melted. Some of these coins were kept away in bank vaults for decades before being released as part of a hoard in the mid 2000s.[11][12]

All 20 yen coins are scarce as the amount remaining today are dependent on how many were saved or kept away. The most common coins found date between 1904 and 1920 (Meiji Y.37 to Taishō Y.9), with examples selling in the thousands of dollars both online and at auction.[18] These more common coins include one of the highest mintages of the series that occurred in 1917 (year 6) during Taishō's reign. Early Meiji era coins are harder to find than coins dated after 1896, and except for the rarest issues are all priced in five digit amounts.[19] The rarest of these early issue coins include those made between 1876 and 1880 (year 9 to 13) as mintage totals dropped off during this period. Coins dated 1880 (year 13) were only released as part of presentation sets[lower-alpha 4] that were widely destroyed or melted down between 1931 and 1945.[20] Less than 10 coins dated 1880 (year 13) of the original mintage of 103 are thought to exist today, one of these pieces sold for $230,000 (USD) in 2011.[20] The lowest known mintage of the series occurred in 1877 (year 10) with 29 coins struck, only 1 mint state example is recorded by PCGS.[21]

Millions of minted coins were recorded during the Shōwa era, but it is unclear how many of these coins survived. Examples from Shōwa's 7th year of reign (1932) were once considered to be virtually unknown until a hoard was discovered in the mid 2000s. Between 2005 and 2007 the Ministry of Finance released over 30,000 gold coins of 5, 10 and 20 Yen denominations that had been kept in vaults.[12][22] It is recommended by those in the numismatic field that all 20 yen coins be authenticated first by an expert, as counterfeits exist.[19]

• Double eagle
• Gold coin
• Gold as an investment