Number of Minted 1940 Natl Foundation Medals Discovered

[fukuoka]

Just got in two (Japanese language) books: both official histories of the Japan Mint. One published in 1942; the other in 1953. Strange to say but they have so much different content! Lots to pore over, but here is at least one official statistic in the number of 1940 Natl Foundation medals minted. (Sorry but no number were listed for the other medals. DANG!)

Men's version: about 202,000

Women's version: about 1,600

I was surprised at the low number of the latter.

Cheers, Rich

[Dieter3]

The 2600th Year Anniversary medal? This is interesting, but possibly inaccurate - I have observed document# 222,258 (have it in my notes). That 1600 would make the female version downright rare if you ask me!

Edited July 31, 2011 by Dieter3

[fukuoka]

A splash of cold water on my face. Thanks Dieter--we all need the cross-checking of others to help confirm data. I went back and re-read the sentence, and I missed one key phrase: 'The number of these minted at the Mint was...' Such a phrase implies that there were other places it was made. One other idea is that since this book was printed in 1942 (which means the data was probably a year old by the time of printing), there may have been more medals made to meet the demand. We can see this with the 1928 Showa medal, which was still being made as late as 1930.

Thanks again for the info.

Cheers, Rich

[Dieter3]

AH!! Yes, I didn't even think of that angle either! That certainly makes sense. Wouldn't it be nice if they could have mentioned medals made OTHER than at the Osaka mint too!?? But that'd be too easy..... ;)