Catalog
500 Won Parrot
| Issuer | Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
|---|---|
| Year | 1995 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Won |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field features the national emblem of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, depicting a hydroelectric power station below a five-pointed star with rays, flanked by sheaves of rice bound with a ribbon bearing an inscription in Hangul, all within a polished mirror field. Two crossed olive branches are displayed in the lower portion of the field. The Hangul legend 조선민주주의인민공화국 (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) arcs along the upper periphery. The fineness indicator '999' appears to the lower left, the weight '31g' to the lower right, and the date '1995' is inscribed across the lower central field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field displays a large, polychrome enamel depiction of a macaw parrot perched on a branch, rendered in vivid blue, green, orange, and yellow plumage with red feet, set against a dark mirror-polished background. The denomination '500WON' appears in a rectangular cartouche at the lower left of the field, and the date '1995' is inscribed to the upper left. The legend 'FAUNA OF ASIA' curves along the right periphery in raised Latin letters. |
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| Additional information |
North Korea's commemorative silver program of the mid-1990s was issued almost entirely for export — these coins were never intended to circulate domestically and were sold through foreign dealers and numismatic agencies to generate hard currency for the regime. The timing is pointed: 1995 fell squarely within the period of catastrophic famine that killed an estimated 600,000 to one million North Koreans, making the hard-currency earnings from collector coin sales a non-trivial budget line for Pyongyang.