2 Mun Yong, Earth

The "Mun" coinage of Joseon was produced by a sprawling network of government offices, military bureaus, and temples — each authorized to operate its own furnace and each stamping its own mint identifier onto the reverse. By the mid-eighteenth century, the proliferation of issuing authorities had created a monetary system so fragmented that the court repeatedly attempted consolidation, with limited success. The specific "Yong" designation here identifies the Hullyeondogam, the military training command in Seoul, as the issuing bureau.

Cast rather than struck, these coins were poured into sand molds in sprues of multiple coins simultaneously — a production method that explains the casting flash still visible on many survivors.