Catalog
500 Won Crane
| Issuer | Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
|---|---|
| Year | 1990 |
| Type | Non-circulating coin |
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| Obverse lettering | 조선민주주의인민공화국중앙은행 999 27g D.P.R. OF KOREA 1990 |
| Reverse description | Two Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) are depicted standing amid wetland vegetation including cattails and aquatic plants, rendered in finely detailed high relief against a mirror proof field. The birds face slightly toward one another, their characteristic plumage and long legs faithfully reproduced. The curved legend ENDANGERED WORLD WILDLIFE arcs across the upper periphery in bold Latin capitals, while the denomination 500 WON appears in the lower exergue. |
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| Additional information |
North Korea's early commemorative silver program, launched in the late 1980s, was aimed almost entirely at foreign collectors and currency dealers — hard currency the regime desperately needed as Soviet subsidies began collapsing. These coins were never intended to circulate domestically and most reached the market through Pyongyang's state-run Korea Daesong Bank trading arm. The 1990 date places this issue squarely in the period just before the Soviet dissolution, when hard currency acquisition became acute.