1 Mun Tong Guk Chung Bo

The Tong Guk Chung Bo was among the earliest cast bronze coinages attempted in Korea, issued under King Seongjong and continued through successive Goryeo reigns in a largely unsuccessful bid to displace the barter economy — primarily rice and cloth — that Koreans stubbornly preferred for everyday exchange. Official circulation efforts repeatedly stalled against deeply entrenched trading habits that no royal decree could quickly overturn.

Production ran for over a century, yet actual circulation remained thin outside the capital.