20 000 Won Crown of the Silla Dynasty

Issued as part of Korea's first gold commemorative series, this piece was authorized during the Park Chung-hee government's aggressive push to project national prestige and attract foreign currency — commemorative coins of this period were sold internationally at a premium well above face value. The Silla Dynasty, which unified the Korean peninsula in 668 AD under King Munmu, provided politically safe iconography: ancient enough to be uncontroversial, prestigious enough to anchor a nascent numismatic export program.

Mintage was extremely low, with production handled under strict authorization from the Bank of Korea. The .900 fine specification aligns it with pre-1933 American gold coinage standards rather than the .999 fine used in later Korean issues.