Coin Pièce Japan 10 ringgit Aluminium Sh?wa Tenn? 1940 Tokyo

The 10 Sen coin was issued in Japan during the Sh?wa era, under the reign of Emperor Hirohito, also known by his posthumous name Sh?wa Tenn?. This series covers the years from 1940 to 1943, corresponding to years 15 to 18 of the Sh?wa era according to the Japanese imperial calendar. The coins were minted by the Tokyo Mint.

This coin is made entirely of aluminium, a metallurgical choice characteristic of the period, reflecting the industrial and economic constraints linked to the context of the Second World War. Japan, like other belligerent nations, progressively substituted precious or strategic metals with lighter and less costly alloys for the production of its everyday currency. The use of aluminium made it possible to reserve more precious metals, such as copper and nickel, for priority military and industrial purposes.

The coin has a diameter of 17.5 millimetres and a weight of 1.5 grams, making it particularly light, a direct consequence of the use of aluminium as the primary material. Its face value is 10 Sen, a monetary unit representing one tenth of a yen in the Japanese monetary system of the time.

The designs featured on the coins of this series are rooted in the Japanese iconographic tradition of the Sh?wa era, with symbolic representations linked to imperial and national identity, such as floral motifs or references to the official emblems of the Empire of Japan. The inscriptions indicate the face value as well as the year of minting according to the imperial era calendar. These coins are today significant numismatic testimonies of this particularly remarkable historical period for Japan.