Artifact of the Month: 50 Sen Banknote
1978.21.1 – Gift of Mrs. Kenneth Pickern

Sometimes, the internet is a curator’s friend. For 42 years, this Artifact of the Month has been misidentified in our records. The donor thought that her late husband had passed on to her a 50-yen banknote that he’d acquired when he was stationed in Japan during World War II. She noted in her correspondence, that it had been worth “about 20 American dollars when he got it.” When the Redding Museum of Art and History received the donation in 1978, they did not have immediate access to the resources required to verify or refute this identification, so it went into the records as “yen.” To be fair, it was a natural assumption to make. Americans are more familiar with yen, this denomination wasn't around for very long, and no one on staff at the time could read Japanese.

Periodically, the Collections and Exhibits staff and volunteers go “shopping” in the digital records and on the shelves of our Collections Facility for new Artifact of the Month ideas for our guests to choose. We presented this banknote as “yen” at the voting station. After all, why shouldn’t we trust the records? This object won the voting poll two months in a row, so we put it on the schedule and began researching it -- only to discover it isn’t a 50-yen note, it is a 50-sen note, which is worth half a yen (or about 23 cents in 1942). Were we disappointed? No!

It might not be worth a lot of money as cash OR as an historic artifact, but this object provides a window into the fascinating world of Japanese currency. It also reminds those of us who work with the collection to be careful about our assumptions and to always do additional research before we exhibit our collection.