Strange Request - Coin Identification?

Hi, strange request I know but I was wondering if anyone could possibly aide me in identifying the following coin. I know nothing more than it is supposedly a Japanese Yen.

If anyone could give me any other information such as year etc I would be most grateful.

 

Looks more like a token to me and not like any Japanese Yen coins I've seen - but what do I know?

 

I don't think it's a token but I could be wrong. The closest match I've got was this one on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Japan-1891-Si...oryZ3391QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

It looks like a 1 yen coin to me - take a look at the meiji 7-20 & 7-30 coins on this page -> http://www.lioncoins.com/nippon1.htm - although the crossed flags are not present on these, the rest of the coin design is very similar.

 

Thanks very much for the information limey Really appreciated.

 

I'm no expert, but after a little reading it's those flags that are bizarre. Can't find a reference to 'em anywhere.

Almost all of Japanese coins are marked with the chrysanthum (as seen in the eBay link) from what I've read on the net.

It's got me curious :icon_bigg

 

It's Meiji Year 3, but has a different insignia than the one on limey's link (which is a cool link, btw). The one in the link says "Type 1" so perhaps there were others. Either way:: it's old. Wonder when they phased the old shit out?

EDIT: http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u22014220
http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n62028948

 

I also posted this on the CoinCommunity.com and so far the flags have got people stumped too.

Link: http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=25244

Thanks for your help though guys .

 

Nice find, that was my intial thinking but after seeing no references anywhere, I gave up.

 

Not letting this go that easy

Chinese coin link with similar flags here. I find this interesting I can't find a easy reference to it.

This is coin sized right ?

 

http://www.coinvault.com/i/c6126.jpg

Same front different back

 

Just for size referance (on the right is a Chinese 1914 Dollar btw).

 

Unorthodox: fakes can be more worth than the real one. My father has a fake Dinar, which he bought as a real one. So don´t feel discouraged over it is maybe a fake one.

 

Certainly a fake coin dating back to 1870 is worth quite a bit!

 

@ Unorthodox
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080219f1.html

:katamari: