CNG 97, Lot: 949. Estimate $200. Sold for $550. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JAPAN, National coinage. temp. Tenpō–Ansei Eras. 1830-1860. AR Mameita-gin (16.5mm, 6.95 g). Edo (Tokyo) mint. Struck 1837-1858. Daikoku, God of Wealth, standing facing, holding uchide no kozuchi (golden mallet) and sack of rice; po in Hanji on chest / Daikoku, God of Wealth, standing facing, holding uchide no kozuchi (golden mallet) and sack of rice; po in Hanji on chest. Hartill, Japanese 9.54; BMC Japan 1189; JNDA 09-68. EF, toned. Struck on an exceptionally full flan. Rare.

Daikoku, the Japanese god of wealth and one of the popular ‘Seven Lucky Gods,’ is a syncretic deity evolved from the combination of the Hindu god Shiva and Ōkuninushi, a Shinto deity. Tradition holds that one can assure oneself of good fortune by successfully stealing a statue of Daikoku without being caught, a custom known as fuku-nusubi, “theft of fortune.”