1000 Won Speed Skaters

North Korea's proof coinage program has operated largely as a hard-currency export since the 1970s, producing collector issues almost exclusively for foreign buyers through intermediaries in Europe and Asia. Domestic circulation of silver coinage is functionally nonexistent — the won itself has been subject to redenominations as disruptive as the 2009 currency reform, which wiped out household savings by capping exchange amounts and triggered rare public protests in Pyongyang.

These pieces are struck at the Pyongyang mint but typically distributed through licensed dealers in Germany and Austria.