10 Chon Specimen

North Korea's first domestic coinage series, introduced in 1959, replaced the transitional issues that had circulated since the establishment of the DPRK in 1948. Specimen strikes from this inaugural aluminium series were produced for official presentation purposes — distributed through diplomatic channels and to foreign numismatic bureaus as the regime sought international recognition during the Cold War's most rigid ideological sorting.

Very few reached Western collections before the 1990s.