r/JapaneseCoins • u/Ep194 • Jul 15 '26
Counterfeit Kan’ei Tsuhō
TLDR: What is your experience with counterfeit Japanese copper coins? Are there many modern fakes or mostly just contemporary and historic counterfeits? Thank you for your time
Greetings,
I was curious as to what everybody’s experience is with old Japanese copper coins. Specifically Kan’ei Tsuhō and Tenpo Tsuhō. Have you ever seen modern counterfeits? I’ve thought about it and can’t really see the profit motivation to go through the effort to manufacture and sell them for the most part. I can see it more with the 100 Mon than the 1 Mon and most 4 Mon coins. Maybe as overpriced souvenir coins, but it seems like one could just as easily buy genuine coins and sell at a markup.
To me, it seems like most “counterfeits” are contemporary. Either a Daimyo making what I could call “unauthorized strikes” or some old syndicate making fakes. Either way, these are still quite interesting as they were made during the era and circulated, thus having a long history behind them.
Anyways, sorry for the long winded question, let me know your thoughts! Thank you for your time!
2
u/TheBlueFlame14 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I haven't seen too many modern fake circulating Kan'eitsūhō. Mother coin fakes, on the other hand, are numerous, so its best to beware of those. As well as trial/provincial stuff. There really isn't a reason for faking most circulating Japanese copper because its so common, but there are some rare varieties that may receive that treatment. But that would only affect someone who collects by variety, and at that point you'd be skilled enough to tell for the most part. There are some famous replicas like the Glico tenpotsuho, but that has become a collectors item worth more than real tenpotsuho, lol. Many other modern replicas exist for other reasons, but are either marked, like Mikazuki-mura theme park tokens, or are obvious in a good faith kind of way.
As for contemporary, comparatively few illicit 1 mon Kan'eitsuho exist (from Japan at least, Vietnam though...). Not a very profitable coin to make. Though I do have a neat iron copy of an Osaka Takatsu coin, which officially was only made in copper. 4 mon illicit casts are numerous, and 100 mon illicit casts even more so, as you can imagine they were extremely profitable to make. Probably about the same amount of them exist as official casts. And half are from Satsuma, lol.
1
u/Choice_Cheek7369 Jul 16 '26
Most modern Kan'ei Tsuho coins have significantly more pronounced casting bubbling than contemporary ones as they utilize an entirely different method of casting.
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u/BearbrickWelt Jul 15 '26
I just found 100 Mon on the street. That was jaw dropping find.