Office of the Historian

No. 420.
Mr. Bingham to Mr. Evarts.

United States Legation,
Tokei, October 22, 1879. (Received November 28.)
No. 996.]

Sir: I have the honor to acquaint you that His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Government has established a branch office of the imperial mint of Japan in this city under regulations, a copy of which, as published officially in the Japan Weekly Mail of the 18th instant, together with the official notification thereof, I have the honor to inclose herewith for your information.

You will observe that the rates for assaying gold and silver bullion are specified in the regulations.

I have, &c.,

JNO. A. BINGHAM.
[Inclosure in No. 996.]

regulations for receiving bullion for coinage at the branch office, tokio.

imperial mint, osaka.

Notification A, No. 101 of the finance department.

It is hereby notified that gold or silver bullion imported by the public (both Japanese and foreign) for the purpose of being coined will, for the sake of convenience, be received at the branch office of the mint, established in the premises of finance department, in accordance with the following regulations.

Note.—The date of commencing to receive bullion will be notified hereafter.

OKUMA SHIGENOBU,
Minister of Finance.

October 10, 1879.

regulations for receiving bullion for coinage.

Art. 1. Bullion imported into the branch office of the mint will at once be received by the superintendent of the office after weighing it accurately in the presence of the importer (or his representative) and determining its fineness by premelting and assaying; and coin (gold coins for gold and trade silver yen for silver) will be given in exchange within the periods mentioned in Art. 6, deducting the charges mentioned in Art. 4 out of the actual value of the bullion.

All charges with the exception of those for coining will be received in currency.

Note.—The loss of metal incurred in the process of premelting must be borne by the importer.

Art. 2. Bullion will only be received in the following quantities: Gold, 50 ounces and upwards; silver, 500 ounces and upwards; gold or silver, impure bullion, old coins, and gold and silver alloys, of 200 yen in value and upwards.

Art. 3. Bullion will be received daily from 9 a. m. to 12 noon, with the exception of the following days: Sundays, annual and casual holidays, from 1st to 3d January; from 16th June to 15th August, and from 25th to 31st December.

Art. 4. According to the description of bullion, the following charges will be made at the branch office:

For gold bullion requiring or not requiring refining:

Charges for Premelting:
Yen.
For less than 500 oz 1
For 500 oz. but under 1,000 oz 2
For every 500 oz. or fraction of 500 oz. over 1,000 oz 1
Charges for assaying:
For less than 500 oz 2
For 500 oz. but under 1,000 oz 4
For every 500 oz. or fraction of 500 oz. over 1,000 oz 2

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Charges for coinage:

For any amount, 1 per cent.

Charges for transit and insurance: Yen 65 per yen 10,000.

(If the coin is to be taken delivery of in Osaka, only half of the last-mentioned amount will he charged.)

Note.—In case of impure gold bullion, yen 1.377 of the fees for refining will be charged per 10 oz. of pure gold contained, besides the charges above-mentioned, but in such cases no charge for premelting will be made.

For silver bullion requiring or not requiring refining:

Charges for premelting:
Yen.
For less than 1,000 oz 1
For 1,000 oz. but under 2,000 oz 2
For every 1,000 oz. or fraction of 1,000 oz. over 2,000 oz 1
Charges for assaying:
For less than 1,000 oz 1
For 1,000 oz. but under 2,000 oz 2
For every 1,000 oz. or fraction of 1,000 oz. over 2.000 oz 1

Charges for coining:

For any amount, 1 per cent.

Charges for transit and insurance: Yen 65 per yen 10,000.

(If the coin is to be taken delivery of in Osaka, only half of the last-mentioned amount will be charged.)

Note.—In the case of impure silver bullion, yen 0.213 of the fees of refining will be charged per 10 oz. of pure silver contained, besides the charges above mentioned but in such cases, no charge for premelting will be made.

For old gold or silver coins (Japanese) and gold and silver alloys requiring refining:

Charges for assaying:
Yen.
For less than 1,000 oz 2
For 1,000 oz. but under 2,000 oz 4
For every 1,000 oz. or fraction of 1,000 oz. over 2,000 oz 2

Note.—If the importer shall desire the bullion to be returned to him after it has been premelted and assayed, or if the bullion is returned to him on account of its being unfit for refining, the following charges for premelting, besides those for assaying will be made:

Yen.
For less than 1,000 oz 1
For 1,000 oz. but under 2,000 oz 2
For every 1,000 oz. or fraction of 1,000 oz. over 2,000 oz 1

Charges for refining:

For bullion which contains less than 100 parts of gold per 1,000:

Yen 3.230 per 10 oz. of pure gold contained.

Yen 0.213 per 10 oz. of pure silver contained.

For bullion which contains over 100 parts but less than 200 parts of gold per 1,000:

Yen 1.904 per 10 oz. of pure gold contained.

Yen 0.128 per 10 oz. of pure silver contained.

For bullion which contains over 200 parts of gold per 1,000:

Yen 1.377 per 10 oz. of pure gold contained.

Yen 0.085 per 10 oz. of pure silver contained.

Note.—The above rates are fixed, on the condition that the bullion contains less than 100 parts of impurities per 1,000. If, therefore, the bullion contains over 100 parts of impurities per 1,000 the following additional fees will be charged, and if the bullion contains over 200 parts of impurities per 1,000 the said additional fees will be doubled. Bullion which contains over 250 parts of impurities per 1,000 will not be received.

Yen 0.349 per 10 oz. of pure gold contained.

Yen 0.022 per 10 oz. of pure silver contained.

Charges for coinage:

For any amount 1 per cent. of pure gold or silver contained.

Charges for transit and insurance: Yen 65 per yen 10,000.

(If the coin is to be taken delivery of in Osaka, only half of the last-mentioned amount will be charged.)

For gold or silver bullion, the fineness of which is apparently known and which does not require premelting. (Foreign gold or silver coins will be received only by the mint in Osaka, but if already premelted, will be received at the branch office.)

Charges for check assay: The same charges as those for assaying gold or silver bullion (as previously given).

Charges for coinage: For any amount, 1 per cent. (for either gold or silver).

Charges for transit and insurance: Yen 65 per yen 10,000.

(If the coin is to be taken delivery of in Osaka, only half of the last mentioned amount will be charged.)

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Art. 5. Should the amount of bullion imported by the public be in excess of the operative capacity of the office, acceptance of the bullion will be refused.

Art. 6. The coin will be delivered on the expiration of the following periods, after the bullion has been assayed and its fineness determined. When old coins (Japanese) are received the delivery will be made as early as possible after the completion of the assays.

After the date of the completion of the assays (except holidays).
In case the gold or silver bullion is fit for coinage 25th day
The bullion is of impure gold or silver or of gold and silver alloy over yen 200 28th day
Same, over yen 500 30th day
Same, over yen 1,000 32d day
Same, over yen 5,000 35th day
Same, over yen 10,000 40th day

Note.—To those who wish to obtain com before the above dates, com will be delivered after deducting yen 1 per yen 10,000 for each one of the days previous to the expiration of the above periods.

Art. 7. The impurities, other than gold and silver, which may be contained in the bullion imported will not be returned to the importer.