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WWII 'PHANTOM' CERAMIC COINS FOUND IN JAPANA hoard of WWII-era Japanese ceramic coins has been found in a warehouse in Kyoto. -Garrett 
A wooden box with some loose "phantom" coins and some bagged coins. Photo from the Japan Mint Shofu Inc., a dental equipment manufacturer, found 15 wooden boxes filled with small pottery discs in a warehouse of Kyoto in August 2023, the Japanese outlet The Mainichi reported on Oct. 21. The Japan Mint identified the unusual discs as a rare type of WWII currency known as "phantom" coins, according to an Oct. 18 Facebook post. Photos show the reddish brown coins. "Phantom" coins or "phantom" currency are an unusual type of Japanese Yen coin made of ceramic during the metal shortages of WWII, according to an FAQ page from the Japan Mint. Mass production of these coins began in July 1945 but stopped roughly a month later due to the end of the war. The ceramic coins were never issued but were destroyed instead, leading to their ghostly nickname. In total, about 15 million ceramic coins were made, mint officials said in a news release. The recently rediscovered boxes likely contain over 500,000 of these coins. 
Close-up photos show the front and back of a "phantom" coin. Photo from the Japan Mint Close-up photos show the ceramic coin, adorned with Mount Fuji on one side and a cherry blossom on the other, Asahi Shimbun, another Japanese outlet, reported. The "phantom" coins were found "on the site of the former Shofu Industries, which was responsible for manufacturing the coins," the Mainichi reported. Mint officials said the manufacturing company dissolved in 1967. World War II Remembered co-author Joe Boling writes: "Kazuya Fujita (retired geology prof at Michigan State) had already picked this up on the Japan Mint website and sent it to me. "That particular clay coin was available in bags full 20-30 years ago. It is by far the most common of them. There are many other patterns in white and chocolate colors (most of the ones in the open box in the article are NOT the bright red-orange that most of them were, and that was seen in the close-up shot in this article). You don't see many of them any more." 
Great story. Len Augsburger and Ed Hohertz passed along the Miami Herald article. Frank Draskovic passed along an Archaeology Magazine piece. Len reached out to Joe Boling for his comments. Thanks, everyone! -Editor
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Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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