Motif of the official President Seal of South Korea with a pair of Phoenix birds facing each other on either side (interestingly this is not a mirror image however because if you look closely only the one on the right is holding a pearl in its beak as if passing it to the other Phoenix). In the centre is a Taegeuk symbol (that signifies the ‘supreme ultimate’), derived from the Chinese Taiji, popularised in the west as the Yin and Yang. The Taegeuk was chosen for the design of the Korean national flag in the 1880s. On the flag it substitutes the black and white colour scheme often seen in most taijitu illustrations with blue and red, respectively, along with a horizontal separator, as opposed to vertical. The lines above and below the Taegeuk symbol on the bullion round are all from the Korean flag, the trigrams representing movement and harmony as fundamental principles with each trigram represents one of the four classical elements.
Obverse lettering
REPUBLIC OF KOREA KOMSCO 1oz FINE SILVER
999
Obverse script
Latin
Reverse description
A phoenix bird in flight with its wings spread wide, its talons extended, and its stunning tail feathers hanging below. It is holding a pearl in its beak (from the folklore tale ‘The Bright Pearl’). There is also a latent security feature struck directly into the bullion round to the right of the Phoenix that adjusts as you tilt it at different angles revealing 한국 (meaning Korea) and the outline of the Korean peninsular.
Reverse lettering
KOREAN
PHOENIX 2023
Reverse script
Latin
Mint
Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (한국조폐공사), Daejeon, South Korea (1951-date)
