Obverse
Inscription around hole
Lettering:
文
寶 永
久
Translation: Eternal money of the Bunkyū Era
Engraver: Itakura Katsuyoshi
Reverse
11 waves
Edge
Plain
Comments
In the 2nd month of the 3rd year of Bunkyū, a copper coin with the inscription BunkyūeihU was put into circulation. These coins were mostly made out of the old one mon coins, thus their alloy does not contain zinc.
The coin was intended to replace the unpopular iron Kan'eitsūhU 4 Mon, however, people used the coin by compared value to iron 1 Mon coin. In 1865, BunkyūeihU was 8 Mon (while Brass Kan'eitsūhU 4 Mon worth 12 Mon), and in 1867 BunkyūeihU was 15~16 Mon (while Brass Kan'eisūhU 4 Mon worth 20~24 Mon).
The Bunkyu Eiho was the last of the traditional cast cash coins to be introduced. In 1868, the minting machinery that had been in use in Hong Kong was brought to Osaka, and by 1870 machine struck gold, silver, and copper yen and sen coins had started to be made. BunkyūeihU had been used for, generally, 1.5 Rin (0.0015 Yen) until the law of demonetizing old currencies came into effect in 1954.
ONE BUY = ONE COIN