Does anyone know of a good reference site or books on Korean Cash? I have a few in my collection and I would like to attribute them properly. Thanks in advance. Joe Here's a few examples:
You only have one real option in this case; Wybrand op den Velde & David Hartill’s 2013 work Cast Korean coins and charms. An amazing book, Hartill did the Charms, Op den Velde did the cast coins. It covers everything from ancient times, up until the last Sang Pyong Tong Bo’s, including some of the latest developments the field of Korean numismatics (it was published in 2013). The only other option you have is Mandel, but his work is a little outdated, and it lacks a couple of newly discovered Sang Pyong Tong Bo varieties. Still a great book, specifically if you only want to attribute only a couple of common varieties. But I’d go with Hartill/Op den Velde, to be honest. Also, a great website, partly based on Mandel, is http://primaltrek.com/koreancoins.html, lots of information, but it doesn’t have an overview of which furnaces were in use in what mint, in what year, etc. As you undoubtedly know, they are all Sang Pyong Tong Bo’s. The first two coins you posted are inscribed Chin 賑 (for 賑恤廳, the Seoul Charity office) on the reverse, both from furnace number two. The next is from the general military office, inscribed Chong 捻(the abbreviated form of 捻戎廳), furnace number ten. The last has the character Kum 禁 (for 禁衛營, the Court Guard Military Unit), furnace one. You’ll need the diameter to properly identify the denomination, variety and date.
Thanks for thinking of me; I was feeling a little neglected... I don't know much about Korea's Cash Coins. I'm into South Korea, really. I know of a few references that can help: Primal trek's page is the ideal online source. Other text references include: The current year Daegwangsa catalog or Ohsung catalogs (South Korea's "red books"). Daegwangsa: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HN-THE-KORE...795398?hash=item3d15907b86:g:qjgAAOSwQjNW9xgQ Ohsung: http://www.geochangsa.com/shop/shop...&type=X&sort=order&cur_code=001&GfDT=bmp0W15N Other text sources that haven't been mentioned is The Coinage of Corea and their Values by C.T. Gardner. Another is reference is an official Bank of Korea publication written in 1982 called Korean Money ( 韓國 의 貨幣 ), a part Korean and part English book that is available in its entirety on PDF at this page: http://dl.bok.or.kr/search/DetailView.ax?sid=16&cid=88896 To find the PDF version at this address, go to this page, and scroll down and click on this link: It takes a while for the PDF to populate (at least on my computer!) @jlblonde if you cannot get it to work, PM me. I can send it to you. Oh, and I wrote a review of this book here at YouTube:
Also available at the Newman Numismatic portal are FREE online versions of "Calcoin News" with Alan D. Craig's seminal 1953 serial article, The Coins of Korea available there, too. GREAT resource! This Craig article is all about the Sangpyongtongbo coins... PM me if you just want pics of these articles.
