5 Mun Sim, Curved Sim

The 5 Mun issues of 1883 were produced under the Joseon court's fitful attempts at monetary modernization, a process driven partly by pressure from Japanese commercial interests who found the older mun coinage inconvenient for trade settlement. The "Curved Sim" variety refers to the calligraphic form of the 心 character in the mint designation — a distinction that matters to specialists because multiple furnaces struck this type simultaneously, with subtle die differences tracing output to specific casting facilities.

Within two years, the entire mun series was effectively abandoned as Korea moved toward a decimal currency structure. These pieces circulated briefly and hard.