Old gold and new gold standards

Early Meiji Gold Coinage

Early 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 yen gold coins belong to the 1871 standard; reduced-size 1897 designs form a separate later family.

明治金貨

Obverse of an early Meiji twenty-yen gold coin — As6673 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · exact denomination representative

Reverse of an early Meiji twenty-yen gold coin — As6673 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · exact denomination representative

Core routes: 15
Issue studies: 12
Cleared image pairs: 10
Indexable routes: 27

Context

Historical and monetary setting

Machine-struck dragon gold embodied the first decimal standard. The later Coinage Law changed the gold definition and coin sizes, so old and new gold must not be merged.

Identification

How to classify the evidence

Check denomination, design generation, Meiji era date, mass, diameter, fineness, edge, and die details together.

Evidence boundary

What this page does not claim

No uncited annual mintage or price table is published.

Standards

Old gold and new gold are separate

Image	Generation	Years	Denominations	Predecessor	Successor
Representative contextual image: Obverse and reverse of an early Meiji twenty-yen gold coin.↗	old gold	1870–1880	1 Yen, 2 Yen, 5 Yen, 10 Yen, 20 Yen	Tokugawa and early Meiji ryō-based gold	1897 new gold coinage
Not available	new gold	1897–1912	5 Yen, 10 Yen, 20 Yen	1871 old gold coinage	later imperial gold coinage

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Related transition references

Bakumatsu and Early Meiji Coinage Foreign Silver in Japan New Currency Act of 1871 Early Meiji Silver Coinage Early Meiji Copper and Bronze Coinage Japanese era-date guide

Evidence

Sources and scope

These links support the claims on this page. Source authority does not imply permission to republish source images.

Early Meiji coin display records Bank of Japan Currency Museum

Identification of early gold, silver, trade, rin, and sen coinage.

Open source

Coins from the Meiji era onward Bank of Japan Currency Museum

Official museum comparison table for modern coin denominations and specifications.

Open source

150 Years of the Japan Mint Japan Mint

Osaka mint establishment, modern machinery, institutional history, and coin standards.

Open source

Imperial Diet record for the 1897 Coinage Law National Diet Library

Primary legislative evidence for the later Meiji monetary-standard change.

Open source