Friday 19 December 2014

MY COLLECTION - ALBUM NO 8 - ASIA (LESS SOUTH AND SE ASIA) - JAPAN, PRC, TAIWAN & S KOREA COINS









CHAPPIDI ABHIRATH REDDY,g
C/O COL GKS REDDY,


Secunderabad - 500 015.



Japan Coins




          The Japanese yen ( or en?, symbol: ¥; code: JPY) is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in theforeign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro.[2] It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro, and the pound sterling.





Introduction of the Yen


          In the 19th century silver Spanish dollar coins were common throughout Southeast Asia, the China coast, and Japan. These coins had been introduced through Manila over a period of two hundred and fifty years, arriving on ships from Acapulco in Mexico. These ships were known as the Manila galleons. Until the 19th century these silver dollar coins were actual Spanish dollars minted in the new world, mostly at Mexico City. But from the 1840s they were increasingly replaced by silver dollars of the new Latin American republics. In the later half of the 19th century some local coins in the region were made in the likeness of the Mexican peso. The first of these local silver coins was the Hong Kong silver dollar coin that was minted in Hong Kong between the years 1866 and 1869. The Chinese were slow to accept unfamiliar coinage and preferred the familiar Mexican dollars, and so the Hong Kong government ceased minting these coins and sold the mint machinery to Japan.

       The Japanese then decided to adopt a silver dollar coinage under the name of 'yen', meaning 'a round object'. The yen was officially adopted by the Meiji government in an Act signed on May 10, 1871. The new currency was gradually introduced beginning from July of that year. The yen was therefore basically adollar unit, like all dollars, descended from the Spanish Pieces of eight, and up until the year 1873, all the dollars in the world had more or less the same value. The yen replaced Tokugawa coinage, a complex monetary system of the Edo period based on the mon. The New Currency Act of 1871 stipulated the adoption of the decimal accounting system of yen (1, 圓), sen (1⁄100, 銭), and rin (1⁄1000, 厘), with the coins being round and manufactured using Western machinery. The yen was legally defined as 0.78 troy ounces (24.26 g) of pure silver, or 1.5 grams of pure gold (as recommended by the European Congress of Economists in Paris in 1867; the 5-yen coin was equivalent to the Argentine 5 peso fuerte coin), hence putting it on a bimetallic standard. (The same amount of silver is worth about 1181 modern yen, while the same amount of gold is worth about 4715 yen.)

          Following the silver devaluation of 1873, the yen devalued against the US dollar and the Canadian dollarunits since they adhered to a gold standard, and by the year 1897 the yen was worth only about US$0.50. In that year, Japan adopted a gold exchange standard and hence froze the value of the yen at $0.50. This exchange rate remained in place until Japan left the gold standard in December 1931, after which the yen fell to $0.30 by July 1932 and to $0.20 by 1933. It remained steady at around $0.30 until the start of the Second World War on December 7, 1941, at which time it fell to $0.23.


My Collection.  My Collection of Japanese coins is very meagre.






One Yen - Japan - Aluminium - 1955






Ten Yen - Japan - Copper - 1951




Fifty Yen - Japan - Cupro Nickel - 1967






One Hundred Yen - Japan - Cupro Nickel - 1967





Five Hundred Yen - Japan - Brass - 2001



People's Republic of China Coins


      The renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China. The name (simplified Chinese: 人民币; traditional Chinese: 人民幣; pinyin: rénmínbì) literally means "people's currency".

          The yuan (元/圆) (sign: ¥) is the basic unit of the renminbi, but is also used to refer to the Chinese currency generally, especially in international contexts. The distinction between the terms "renminbi" and "yuan" is similar to that between sterling and pound, which respectively refer to the British currency and its primary unit.[citation needed] One yuan is subdivided into 10 jiǎo (角), and a jiǎo in turn is subdivided into 10 fēn (分).

        The ISO code for renminbi (which may also be used for the yuan) is CNY (an abbreviation for "Chinese yuan"), or also CNH when traded in Hong Kong. The currency is often abbreviated RMB, or indicated by the yuan sign ¥. The latter may be written CN¥ to distinguish it from other currencies with same symbol (such as the Japanese yen).[citation needed] In Chinese texts the currency may also be indicated with the Chinese character for the yuan, 圆 (or 元 informally).

       The renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. Renminbi is sometimes accepted in Hong Kong and Macau, and are easily exchanged in the two territories, with banks in Hong Kong allowing people to maintain accounts in RMB. The currency is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of China.

          Until 2005, the value of the renminbi was pegged to the U.S. dollar. As China pursued its historical transition from central planning to a market economy, and increased its participation in foreign trade, the renminbi was devalued to increase the competitiveness of Chinese industry. It has previously been claimed that the renminbi's official exchange rate was undervalued by as much as 37.5% against its purchasing power parity (see below). More recently, however, appreciation actions by the Chinese government, as well as quantitative easing measures taken by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks, have caused the renminbi to be within as little as 8% of its equilibrium value by the second half of 2012.

      Since 2006, the renminbi exchange rate has been allowed to float in a narrow margin around a fixed base rate determined with reference to a basket of world currencies. The Chinese government has announced that it will gradually increase the flexibility of the exchange rate. As a result of the rapid internationalization of the renminbi, it has become the world's 8th most traded currency.


History


          A variety of currencies circulated in China during the Republic of China (ROC) era, most of which were denominated in the unit yuán(pronounced [jʏɛn˧˥]). Each was distinguished by a currency name, such as the fabi ("legal tender"), the "gold yuan", and the "silver yuan".


          As the Communist Party of China took control of ever larger territories in the latter part of the Chinese Civil War, its People's Bank of China began in 1948 to issue a unified currency for use in Communist-controlled territories. Also denominated in yuan, this currency was identified by different names, including "People's Bank of China banknotes" (simplified Chinese: 中国人民银行钞票; traditional Chinese: 中國人民銀行鈔票; from November 1948), "New Currency" (simplified Chinese: 新币; traditional Chinese: 新幣; from December 1948), "People's Bank of China notes" (simplified Chinese: 中国人民银行券; traditional Chinese: 中國人民銀行券; from January 1949), "People's Notes" (人民券, as an abbreviation of the last name), and finally "People's Currency", or "renminbi", from June 1949.


My Collection of PRC Coins










One Fen - PRC - Aluminium - 1964






Two Fen - PRC - Aluminium - 1964






Five Fen - PRC - Aluminium - 1956






One Jiao - PRC - Aluminium - 1981






Five Jiao - PRC - Aluminium Bronze - 1992






Five Jiao - PRC - Copper - 2002






One Yuan - PRC - Nickel - 1993



Republic of China (Taiwan) Coins


          The New Taiwan dollar has been the currency of Taiwan since 1949, when it replaced the Old Taiwan dollar. Originally issued by the Bank of Taiwan, it has been issued by the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2000. The currency code TWDand common abbreviation NT$.



          The New Taiwan dollar was first issued by the Bank of Taiwan on June 15, 1949, to replace the Old Taiwan dollar at a ratio of 40,000 to one. The first goal of the New Taiwan dollar was to end the hyperinflation that had plagued Nationalist China due to theChinese Civil War. After the communists captured Beijing in January, the Nationalists began to retreat to Taiwan. China's gold reserve was moved to Taiwan in February.


          Even though the New Taiwan dollar was the de facto currency of Taiwan, for years the silver yuan remained the legal currency. The value of the silver yuan was decoupled from the value of silver during World War II. Many older statutes have fines and fees given in this currency.

          According to statute, three New Taiwan dollars is worth one silver yuan. Despite decades of inflation, this ratio has not been adjusted. This made the silver yuan a purely notational currency long ago, nearly impossible to buy, sell, or use.

          In July 2000, the New Taiwan dollar became Taiwan's legal currency. It is no longer secondary to the silver yuan. At this time, the central bank began issuing New Taiwan dollar banknotes, and the notes issued earlier by the Bank of Taiwan were taken out of circulation.

          The exchange rate compared to the United States dollar has varied from less than ten to one in the mid-1950s, more than forty to one in the 1960s, and about twenty-five to one in 1992. The exchange rate as of October 2013 is 29.4 to one.


My Collection of Taiwan Coins






One Chiao - Taiwan - Nickel - 1955






One Yuan - Taiwan - Copper - 1981






Five Yuan - Taiwan - Nickel - 1989






Ten Yuan - Taiwan - Cupro Nickel - 1981



South Korea Coins




          The won (원) (symbol: ₩; code: KRW) is the currency of South Korea. A single won is divided into 100 jeon, the monetary subunit. The jeon is no longer used for everyday transactions, and appears only in foreign exchange rates. The won is issued by the Bank of Korea, based in the capital city, Seoul. The official currency of North Korea, issued by the Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea which is based in its capital city, Pyongyang, is divided into the same number of units, and is known as the North Korean won.


          During the Colonial era, the won was replaced at par by the yen, made up of the Korean yen.

          In 1945 after World War II, Korea became divided, resulting in two separate currencies, both called won, for the South and the North. Both the Southern won and the Northern won replaced the yen at par. The first South Korean won was subdivided into 100 jeon.

          The South Korean won was initially pegged to the U.S. dollar at a rate of 15 won = 1 dollar. A series of devaluations followed, the later ones in part due to the Korean War.

          The won was reintroduced on June 9, 1962 at a rate of 1 won = 10 hwan. It became the sole legal tender on March 22, 1975 with the withdrawal of the last circulating hwan coins. Its ISO 4217 code is KRW. At the reintroduction of the won in 1962, its value was pegged at 125 won = 1 U.S. dollar.


My Collection of South Korean Coins






Ten Won - South Korea - Brass - 1990






Fifty Won - South Korea - Nickel - 1997






One Hundred Won - South Korea - Nickel - 1996






Five Hundred Won - South Korea - Nickel - 1997








Note - Some of the images of coins in my collection, have been taken from the Gallery to the extent available, to save on time & effort involved in photography & editing.

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