Korea, Pattern coin set 1958-70, 2002-08 (2009)

Started by andyg, September 04, 2010, 11:40:18 AM

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andyg

Does anyone know the meaning of the extra two characters on the coin on the right?
always willing to trade modern UK coins for modern coins from elsewhere....

Figleaf

견 = Gyeon 븐 = Beun. Silk Haven. Now what?

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

ciscoins

Or "dogs haven". Both variants look like nonsense.

Maybe this is something like "no stars / 1 star / 2 stars" varieties of the coins of previous issues?
Ivan
Moscow, Russia

andyg

#3
Possibly,  I've an idea that it means 'reproduction' :-[
always willing to trade modern UK coins for modern coins from elsewhere....

andyg

Here's the full set.
always willing to trade modern UK coins for modern coins from elsewhere....

ciscoins

Where did you get them? These varieties are not listed in Krause.
Ivan
Moscow, Russia

andyg

Quote from: ciscoins on September 04, 2010, 08:49:41 PM
These varieties are not listed in Krause.

Which makes me think they are fairly new and possibly not real coins....
always willing to trade modern UK coins for modern coins from elsewhere....

translateltd

I believe the vowel in the second syllable is o (the small extra vertical stroke in the middle is there, but is quite hard to see).  Kyeonbon = pattern/sample/model, which at least makes more sense numismatically.


translateltd

#8
Let's take this one step further.  Even though the Koreans don't like to admit it, there is usually a one-to-one correspondence between Korean and Japanese words, despite the difference in writing systems.  So if we look at the underlying Chinese characters (used by Japan and still present in a phantom capacity in Korea), 見本, these are the characters that the Japanese print on "Specimen" banknotes.  So "Specimen" is the most likely actual meaning for "Kyeonbon" shown on these coins.

(Note that "eo" is just a typographical convention representing a short "o", as in the English "dog"; "o" is always long, as in "bone", though a nice pure vowel, not the awful diphthongs that almost all English speakers use by default!)

andyg

Thanks Martin, I bought the earlier set as 'Specimen' but didn't think it would actually be written on the coin!  Armed with my new knowledge I've emailed the seller to see if I can find out more....

A big thank you to all for this interesting thread :)
always willing to trade modern UK coins for modern coins from elsewhere....

andyg

I found out some more about these, not from the ebay seller who has remained silent, but from Wolfgang.

They have apparently recently been issued to for sale to tourists as a money making exercise.
always willing to trade modern UK coins for modern coins from elsewhere....

Figleaf

So what are they? Circulating coins? Can they be spent? Are they sold at face value? Are they souvenirs, patterns or coins? In view of North Korean issue policies, I am inclined to opt for souvenirs, to be listed in "unusual coins", not in SCWC as coins, at best in SCWC as pattern set.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

andyg

Quote from: Figleaf on September 12, 2010, 09:39:58 PM
So what are they? Circulating coins? Can they be spent? Are they sold at face value? Are they souvenirs, patterns or coins? In view of North Korean issue policies, I am inclined to opt for souvenirs, to be listed in "unusual coins", not in SCWC as coins, at best in SCWC as pattern set.

Peter

No, No, No, Yes, No, No ;)

They are in essence the same as the 2002 North Korean 'coins' which are listed in the standard catalogue. Sold at a premium to collectors.  The 5 Won in this thread is exactly the same.
always willing to trade modern UK coins for modern coins from elsewhere....

Figleaf

Their place is in "unusual coins" then. It's wonderful how information can shorten your want list, but I would still prefer it to lengthen my want list :-\

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

translateltd

Are they perhaps in the same class as Polish coins marked "proba" - I know the latter often differ somewhat from the circulating issues in design detail, but appear to be available in greater numbers than normal trial/pattern strikes so presumably are sold off officially.  I would suggest that leaving them in the regular SCWC but in a separate section at the end of the DPRK listing would be the best approach, as moving them to UWC would likely cause confusion (*we* may know what the extra letters mean, but anyone finding the coins would look in SCWC first, find the plain and starred versions, and wonder why the "letter" types aren't included).  They're still official issues, after all, not fantasies produced by private mints or for fictitious or unrecognised entities.