The "mun" coinage of the Joseon dynasty was administered by a sprawling network of government offices, military bureaus, and temples — each authorized to strike independently, which is precisely why reverse mint marks like the trigram on this piece matter so much to attribution. The Space-The Arousing designation corresponds to the Zhen trigram from the I Ching, one of several used as furnace or batch identifiers rather than mint locations per se.
By 1742, Joseon's copper supply was chronically strained, and the court repeatedly debated suspending mun production altogether. That this series continued through the decade reflects fiscal pressure more than monetary confidence.
The "mun" coinage of the Joseon dynasty was administered by a sprawling network of government offices, military bureaus, and temples — each authorized to strike independently, which is precisely why reverse mint marks like the trigram on this piece matter so much to attribution. The Space-The Arousing designation corresponds to the Zhen trigram from the I Ching, one of several used as furnace or batch identifiers rather than mint locations per se.
By 1742, Joseon's copper supply was chronically strained, and the court repeatedly debated suspending mun production altogether. That this series continued through the decade reflects fiscal pressure more than monetary confidence.