South Korea: 2018 Winter Olympic Games Commemorative Coins

[Bimat]

PyeongChang selects local company as distributor for Olympic coins

2016/06/21 11:52

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) -- The organizers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games on Tuesday selected a local numismatic company as the official distributor of Olympic coins.

The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) signed a partnership agreement with Poongsan Hwadong, a supplier of commemorative coins and bank notes for more than four decades.

The POCOG said the PyeongChang 2018 coins will be issued in two batches, with the first batch of 290,500 to be produced in November. Pre-orders can be made starting in late September at selected financial institutions across the nation, and the products will be distributed in early December.

The POCOG said it will select separate distributors in the Americas, Europe, Japan and China to boost interest in the coins and also the first Winter Games in South Korea.

"We expect the commemorative coins to further boost the people's interest in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics," said Yeo Hyung-koo, secretary-general of the POCOG. "Revenues from the sale of the coins should also help with the POCOG's finances."

Poongsan Hwadong, established in 1972, has served as distributors of commemorative coins for other major sporting events, such as the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, and the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

Poongsan has also been the domestic distributor of the coins for every Summer Olympics held outside South Korea since 1984, every Winter Olympics since 1988, and every FIFA World Cup since 1994.

Source: Yonhap News

[Verify-12]

Seems like Hwadong has the market cornered in this area in S. Korea.  Hwadong also operates the most active auction house in Korea for those pricey, older rare Korean coins.   They are also the submission center for NGC in Korea.

They have a big presence at the Korea Money Fair, holding auctions for rare coins.    I wonder when the NEXT Korea Money Fair will be held?   I haven't heard of one since 2013...   I thought it was going to be an annual show.   At least I was hoping so.   I would love to attend, but they have held them in September/October, and I'm only there in the summer.

[Figleaf]

Poongsang corporation is one of the largest producers of coin blanks in the world. The South Korean government has such a large home bias, especially for government orders, that some people wonder if they still live up to their WTO obligations. Combine the two and you will understand why they dominate their domestic market.

Peter

[Bimat]

PyeongChang 2018 Launches the First Set of Commemorative Coins

SEOUL, KOREA
23 September 2016 - 10:30am
Lee Song-hoon

The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) on Sept. 22 launched the first set of coins commemorating the upcoming Games at a special event. PyeongChang 2018 honorary ambassador and Olympic gold medalist KIM Yuna, POCOG President LEE Hee-beom, Bank of Korea Deputy Governor KIM Min-ho, KOMSCO (Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp) CEO KIM Hwa-dong, Poongsan Hwadong Chairman & CEO RYU Jin and other dignitaries attended the event to celebrate another PyeongChang 2018 milestone.   

PyeongChang 2018 coins will be issued in two batches, with the first batch of 290,500 to be produced by November 18. Pre-orders can be made throughout Korea from September 26 to October 7 at ten financial institutions (KB Kookmin Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Nonghyup Bank, Suhyup Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Korea Post Office, BNK Kyongnam Bank, DGB Daegu Bank, BNK Busan Bank) and Poongsan Hwadong offices (POCOG coin supplier) and is planned to be issued for five days from December 5 to 9. International sales will begin in January 2017 through six official sub-distributors in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

The coins are designed with images which represent PyeongChang 2018 and the seven Olympic winter sports. The PyeongChang commemorative coins also received positive reviews, such as 'the design is one of the best Olympic coins as it embodies the Korean culture, cutting-edge technology, and dynamic sports', at the World Money Fair 2016 held in Berlin, Germany.

POCOG President Lee mentioned, "PyeongChang will be the second city to host the Olympic Games in Korea after Seoul 1988. Therefore, we hope to boost excitement for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games with the commemorative coins and other events."

Source: Business Korea

Image Caption: POCOG President LEE Hee-beom (left) and PyeongChang 2018 honorary ambassador and Olympic gold medalist KIM Yuna pose with the first set of the commemorative coins.

[Verify-12]

Looks like 11 coins in total.   And a decent mintage figure, too (not too many, and not too few).

A much better issue plan than the commemorative coins for the 1988 Seoul Olympics!

For the 1988 Olympics, Komsco and the Bank of Korea literally lost their minds:  They made 36 different coins designs, and with the exception of FOUR of them, each coin was struck in Mint and Proof strike; a total of SIXTY-EIGHT(!!!) separate kinds of coins.   And here's the kicker:  Most of EACH variety of these coins were minted in the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of pieces!   ...and this doesn't even count the six earlier "Olympics Promotional Coins," with EACH of these coins issued in Mint, Proof, and Frosted Proof varieties for an additional EIGHTEEN coins.

So, the commemorative coins on the theme of the 1988 Seoul Olympics number a total of 86 different strikes!   WOW! 

In the inevitable hangover from the Olympics the following year (1989), and with the Games rapidly fading from memories as they always do, the Bank of Korea discovered that it still had a sizable portion of these coins still left unsold; over 2.5 million pieces!   ...AND retailers in South Korea were making demands that the Bank reimburse them for their own unsold stocks of these coins that they thought would sell like hotcakes...

[Figleaf]

If I understand you correctly, they made 36 types and made most of them available in two finishes and in two types of packaging. That's discouraging for those who mind finish and packaging, but it is their own choice to collect this way. As far as I am concerned, a coin in different packaging is the same coin and a coin with a different finish is also the same coin.

That still leaves 36 types, which, just like 11 designs, is excessive and a large part of the reason collecting Olympic coins has lost its popularity of the early days. I remember showing some interest in the first Canadian Olympic coins when they were issued and being told by a Canadian dealer who stocked them in quantity: "don't buy them; they'll never amount to anything". Or more recently, an Australian dealer who said "only idiots will buy Australian Olympic coins". Both turned out to be right. Now that non-organising countries start issuing pieces for their participating athletes (somehow they must all be called "team"), I am ready to see this collecting field sink into the mud completely, ignored even by collectors of the coins of their own country.

Clearly, Olympics organisers and national sports organisations have no dignity. It's more important to make money by any means than to participate.

Peter

[augsburger]

Coin collecting is about your own way. Some people have more money and use it as an investment, others collect what they can or what they've limited themselves to. I'd suggest that hosting the Olympics is not a cheap affair, and trying to claw back some of this money by selling souvenirs is probably a wise move. Coin collectors will pay the money, so they take advantage of those people.

[Figleaf]

Hosting the Olympics has become expensive because of the security and hoopla attached to it, not because of the sporting event itself, which yields useful construction, infrastructure and upgrading, all of which is seldom deducted from cost (and, admittedly, hard to value.) Countries wanting to outdo the neighbours or predecessors should be prepared to pay for their own propaganda. "Security" is the price we pay to terrorism. Since all profit, all should pay. There is no case for putting part of the burden on coin collectors, rather than tax payers.

I agree these pieces could be attractive souvenirs. That would also be the case if they would not have a denomination and be flogged as "coins". I'd be a great deal more lenient for coins like yours, that can be found in circulation, but you will note that neither the Canadian nor the Australian pieces I mentioned above were suitable for circulation.

Peter

[Verify-12]

If I understand you correctly, they made 36 types and made most of them available in two finishes and in two types of packaging. That's discouraging for those who mind finish and packaging, but it is their own choice to collect this way. As far as I am concerned, a coin in different packaging is the same coin and a coin with a different finish is also the same coin.

Yes, you understand correctly.  If one personally doesn't consider different finishes to be important considerations, then that's one's own preference, I guess.  If a silver coin is being sold in both Proof and Mint versions, I will always prefer the proof version over the Mint strike, as I would imagine most other coin collectors would.  I don't think that I would want BOTH finishes, just the most attractive one.   And that would be the proof finish, so "finish" does matter to the majority of collectors, I am guessing. 

The packaging for the 1988 Seoul Olympics was the SAME blue hard cover cases for each of the four 7-coin sets issued over the span of the following dates:  February 1987, September 1987, February 1988, July 1988, and the final four-coin silver-only set in a red hard case released in September 1988.   However, I believe that most, if not all of these coins, were also sold separately as single coins, too.   And then there were the previous "Olympic Promotion" coins minted in 1982 and 1983, soon after Seoul was awarded the Olympics in 1981.  There were six of those in three finishes each.

Clearly, Olympics organisers and national sports organisations have no dignity. It's more important to make money by any means than to participate.

And this is why I don't collect Olympic commemoratives of any kind.  I also have a distaste for the Olympics in general (the doping games countries play in order to win, the fascist ceremonialism, etc.) but I would like that it would reform so that the Olympics becomes a focus on non-doped athletic competitions only.  That alone would be a nice start. 

In any case, I notice that these Seoul Olympics commemorative silver pieces sell as some of the lowest-priced silver coins for their size and weight on the collector market.   I've seem many selling for somewhat close to melt value.  That's probably the result of the mintages in the hundreds of thousands for each coin.   Just one example out of the 36 coins:  The silver coin of the 2nd set, issued in September 1987, and listed in the Krause Publication's Standard Catalog of World Coins as KM#51 "Tae Kwon Do," appeared as 560,020 Mint finishes, and 140,240 Proof finishes!  Interestingly, the Korean Daegwangsa catalogue notes that this coin's design is actually depicting "Judo", and NOT "Taekwondo," which makes sense since Taekwondo was only a demonstration sport in the 1988 Olympics, not a competition sport, hence no coin for it! 

[Bimat]

Pyeongchang 2018 releases second batch of commemorative coins

By Max Winters
Sunday, 10 September 2017

The Pyeongchang 2018 Organising Committee has launched the second batch of commemorative coins in South Korean capital Seoul.

The coins have been issued in two runs, with the first batch of 290,500 produced in November.

Varying in value, gold coins are worth ₩30,000 (£20/$26/€22) and ₩20,000 (£13/$18/€15).

Silver coins, which showcase the "ice and speed" disciplines, are worth ₩5,000 (£3.30/$4.40/€3.60) while brass coins featuring snowboard, figure skating, skeleton, luge, biathlon, ice hockey and curling have a value of ₩1,000 (£0.66/$0.90/€0.70).

They are designed with images that represent Pyeongchang 2018 and the seven Olympic winter sports.

Pyeongchang 2018 President Lee Hee-beom as well as honorary ambassador and Vancouver 2010 figure skating champion Yuna Kim attended the launch event.

Orders to purchase the coins can be made from tomorrow until September 29 at 11 financial institutions.

It is hoped the commemorative coins and notes will help boost awareness of the Games in South Korea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in bought tickets for the Games last week after it was revealed that only 22.7 per cent of tickets available had been purchased so far.

This figure is thought to mark the lowest in recent Winter Olympic history at this stage of preparations.

Only 4.85 per cent have been sold in South Korea, even though it was forecast that the host nation will account for 70 per cent of the overall total.

A total of 1.18 million tickets are available for the Olympics.

It is hoped that 90 per cent of this total, so 1.07 million, will be sold beforehand.

Source: Inside The Games

[Verify-12]

Yes! The 2nd Series of Pyeongchang Olympic coins have been revealed, along with a 2,000-Won "commemorative banknote."

The Bank of Korea has revealed the second series (2차) of the upcoming Winter Olympics commemorative coins for release on September 11th. All are in proof finish, as is to be expected, and have reeded (milled) edges. They are:

(1) Gold 30,000-Won: 4,500 max. mintage, 99.9gold, 35mm, 31.1g
(1) Gold 20,000-Won: 15,000 max. mintage, 99.9gold, 28mm, 15.55g
(7) Silver 5,000-Won: 175,000 max. mintage, 99.9silver, 33mm, 15.55g
(1) Brass 1,000-Won: 70,000 max. mintage, 65 Cu/35 Zn, 40mm, 26.0g

There are two new Paralympic commemorative coins: One Silver 5,000-Won of 25,000 mintage, and one Brass (65% Cu / 35% Zn) 1,000-Won of 70,000 mintage.

All designs by the Bank of Korea, the South Korean Mint (Komsco), the Pyeongchang Olympic Committee, and "lots of consultation from outside experts."

I wonder if everyone got along okay on this list of folks who got together to design these coins? From what I read about the Olympics promotional coins minted in 1982 and 1983, the Korean Olympic Committee and the Bank of Korea did not get along together very well after a disagreement between them about the Committee's ability to skim the seigniorage off of the minting of the coins to help support the Korean Olympic effort. The Bank "stuck the rules to them" and blocked them from taking the seigniorage. Like the 1978 42nd World Shooting Championships coins, the Korean Olympic Committee was able to attach premiums to the coins when they sold them, though.