Shōwa 50 Sen

This 50 sen coin from the Shōwa era was struck in .800 fine silver, a material choice that grew problematic as Japan's mines struggled to meet wartime demands.

That alloy made it heavier than its predecessors, weighing in at about 7.5 grams, which numismatists like me notice when sorting through hoards. The obverse typically shows the chrysanthemum crest, while the reverse features the denomination and year in Japanese script. Mintage figures for specific years are spotty; records from the 1940s might have been destroyed in postwar chaos.

We know production halted in 1945, but exact numbers remain elusive. If you handle one, you'll feel the edge's reeded design, a subtle anti-counterfeiting measure.

Plenty of myths swirl about these coins funding the war effort, but that's mostly exaggeration. They just circulated as small change.