Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Mun Ho
| Issuer | Korea |
|---|---|
| Year | 1757-1806 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Cast |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse bears four Chinese characters arranged around a central square hole in the classic cash coin format. Reading top to bottom, the characters 常平 (Sangpyeong) identify the Sangpyeong Treasury, the government department responsible for price stabilization and coin issuance during the Joseon Dynasty. Reading right to left across the horizontal axis, the characters 通寶 (Tongbo) denote the standard currency designation meaning 'circulating treasure.' The inscription is rendered in regular script (kaishu) in relief against a plain field, with each character occupying one of the four cardinal positions surrounding the hole. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Chinese (traditional, regular script) |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The 1 Mun issued under the Joseon dynasty's central government mint, the Hojo, was part of a cash coin system that Korea had struggled to sustain for over a century before this series — earlier monetization attempts in the 1670s had collapsed largely because the population simply preferred barter. By the mid-eighteenth century, coin use had taken firmer hold in urban markets, though rural exchange remained stubbornly commodity-based well into the nineteenth century.
KM#30 pieces vary considerably in alloy color, reflecting inconsistent copper-to-zinc ratios across provincial casting operations.