North Korea: 5 won 94(2005)

[Harald]

Recently, also the 5 won from the series of juche 94 has become available


up to now it had only been depicted in a book by the DPRK Central Bank.


It is unlikely that it has ever been released for circulation. Now, it apparently
is sold to collectors.

cheers
--
Harald

[milkshakespeare]

I don't know if this is old news already, but there are two varieties of the 5 won 2005 coin. The other has a large coat of arms on the obverse (nearly touching the legend), while on the other variety the coat of arms is significantly smaller (large gap of several millimetres between the CoA and the legend). The one with the large coat of arms seems to be more commonly available.

[Afrasi]

Even old news are news - at least to me.    Thank you for sharing this!

[natko]

Didn't know either for those varieties, also didn't know it doesn't circulate...I guess value is too small.

What that book says about all those commemoratives listed in Krause catalog? I simply don't understand why some modern fantasy coins are listed there, for instance coins of Somalia, Congo, etc...coins that not only are made for collectors, but they're made to confuse them to circulation pieces, while not even being issued by any form of government. And for some of those eyes are shut completely.

Also I didn't quite understand older 1 star and 2 star coins...were they given to foreigners as exchange upon arriving in country or they were given as souvenir sets to them. I understood the latter, but not sure.

[Gerhard Schön]

What that book says about all those commemoratives?

This book was published in 2006 and it lists and illustrates various commemorative coins. However, like all of the coin publications from Pyongyang, it is far from being complete on the subject. Even all of their books together do not come close to a complete coverage. You would have to consider all the sales brochures issued by the Mint of the Central Bank as well. Many other coins are being shipped from Pyongyang to their exclusive overseas distributors only. Combining all these sources, I have compiled the current listings for the Schön World Coin Catalogue of well over a thousand coin types of North Korea. Their commemorative coins are made for collectors but they are legal tender.

Also I didn't quite understand older 1 star and 2 star coins. Were they given to foreigners as exchange upon arriving in country or they were given as souvenir sets to them.

The real circulation coins with 1 and 2 stars were given to visitors from Socialist and Western countries to be used as money and to see how they circulate. Similar coins with additional Korean inscription "specimen" were made available as souvenirs.

[natko]

Thank you Gerhard! I thought N. Korea is totally closed to those foreign proofs, it made sense they don't fill in budget from Western companies. I thought it's the same like Somalia for example, that private mints earn on something that can't be sanctioned.

Thanks for explanation on coins with stars, know that need to get them now.

[Vincent]

The 5 won coin did actually circulate. See these comments: http://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=148080.