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1 Mun Ho
| Issuer | Kingdom of Joseon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1778-1806 |
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| Reference(s) | KM#31 |
| Obverse description | Cast brass cash-type coin with a central square hole. The obverse bears four Chinese characters arranged in cruciform fashion around the central perforation, reading clockwise from the top: 常 (Sang), 寶 (Bo), 平 (Pyong), 通 (Tong), forming the legend 常平通寶 (Sangpyong Tongbo), meaning 'Sangpyeong circulating treasure.' The characters are rendered in regular script (kaishu) within a plain, undecorated field, with no border other than the outer rim. |
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| Reverse description | The reverse features a central square hole flanked by two Chinese characters in the horizontal field. The mint control mark 户 (Ho), designating the Treasury Department (Hojo), appears in the upper field above the central perforation. The numeral 九 (gu, meaning nine) appears in the lower field, identifying this piece as belonging to series 9 of the Treasury Department issue. The characters are cast in regular script within a plain, unadorned field. |
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| Additional information |
The "Ho" suffix on this issue designates it as struck by the Hojo, the Board of Taxation in Seoul, one of several competing government bureaus authorized to mint cash coins during the latter Joseon period. Central authority over coinage was never fully consolidated; the result was a proliferation of mint marks distinguishing output by issuing office rather than by geographic mint in the Western sense.
KM#31 falls within the long Sangpyeong Tongbo series, which ran continuously from 1633 onward after chronic copper shortages and failed paper currency experiments forced the court to recommit to metallic coinage.