1 Mun Hun, Cash

Struck under the authority of the Hojo (the Treasury Bureau), this issue belongs to the vast proliferation of cash coinage that flooded Joseon-era Korea as multiple government offices, military bureaus, and provincial agencies were each granted minting rights throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. The resulting monetary chaos — dozens of issuing authorities, inconsistent alloy quality, and chronic overproduction — contributed directly to persistent inflation in the grain and cloth markets that underpinned everyday Korean commerce.

The casting mint for this piece is identified by the reverse characters, the only reliable way to distinguish one bureau's output from another's.