Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
2 Mun Son; Autumn
| Issuer | Joseon (1392-1897) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1742-1752 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mun (1392-1892) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Cast copper cash coin with a central square hole. Four Chinese characters are arranged in cruciform fashion around the central perforation: 常 (Sang) at top, 平 (Pyong) at bottom, 通 (Tong) at right, and 寶 (Bo) at left, together reading 常平通寶 (Sangpyong Tongbo), denoting the Sangpyeong Office currency of the Joseon Dynasty. The characters are rendered in regular script (kaishu) in shallow relief against a flat field, consistent with the cast production technique of the period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Cast reverse featuring a central square hole flanked by two Chinese characters in regular script. The character 宣 (Son/Seon), denoting the Seonhyecheong (Rice and Cloth Department) mint, appears at the top. The character 秋 (Chu/Autumn), one of the characters from the Thousand Character Classic (Cheonja-mun) used as a batch or series designator, is positioned at the bottom. The flat field is otherwise plain, with no additional decorative elements, typical of Joseon-era cast cash coinage. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The "Son; Autumn" designation refers to the issuing authority and casting season — Korean cash coins of this period were produced in short seasonal runs by rotating bureaus, with the heavenly stems and seasonal markers stamped to track production accountability rather than for collector convenience. The Joseon court expanded its minting apparatus significantly in the 1740s to address chronic copper coin shortages that had plagued commercial circulation since the initial 1678 standardization of the mun currency system.
Cast rather than struck, meaning die consistency across the series is inherently loose. The Oseong reference remains the authoritative classification for Joseon cash, though attributions between adjacent types continue to generate disagreement among specialists.