The coin that this article is written about is comparatively new, but if Byzantine fits the designation of ancient, this coin can too. It is a fairly interesting coin due to the fact that Korea had many problems introducing a monetary economy until the 17th century. This coin belongs to one of those failed attempts. It is a Tong Guk Tong Bo (東國通寶), which translates to Eastern Country circulating currency. Eastern Country was another name for Korea. I always found the dating for this coin a little weird, because it (and its secondary Zhong Bao [重寶, heavy currency] type) is listed as being cast from 998-1097. All the other coins in the same series (Sam Han [三 韓, translated as three Han, at one point Korea was made up of three states all ending with Han], Hae Tong [海東, translated as Eastern Sea, yet another name for Korea], and all their secondary types are listed as being cast from 1097-1107. It was also listed as being from the same king, Sukjong of Goryeo, but the dating for the first type was not in his reign. Anyhow, King Sukjong was also notable for issuing large silver vases in the shape of the Korean Peninsula containing one kun (about 600 grams) of silver. Apparently they were very popular for bribes, but no specimens have been found today. Despite the success of the vases, the many types of coins mentioned above failed in their role as a unit of exchange and bartering with rice and cloth once again became the norm. As mentioned above, it would take a very long time for Koreans to transition to a monetary economy, despite further attempts in the 15th century. Success came in the 17th century, when the novel idea of making people accept the coins in commerce and as payment entered the mind of the king. The three types mentioned above come in a variety of Chinese scripts, among them seal(篆書), clerical(隸書), running (行書), and regular(楷書). The characters themselves are also Chinese, similar to the Japanese cash coins. Mine is a regular script issue. All of the coins mentioned above were made by sand casting in a mold. I find it a fascinating process. On the reverse, you will see that the centering is a little off. That is because the mold shifted while the bronze was cooling. Also, it happens to have some bronze disease (most notably next to the character guk)! Does anyone know what to do about it? I have read about its corrosive properties and want to work to prevent more damage to it if possible. Here is the coin. It weighs 3.25 grams and is 27 millimeters. I hope you all learned something, or at least enjoyed reading it. I appreciate any advice you all have on the bronze disease in advance.
Very interesting! I do not collect from this part of the world... something I should remedy! If you search the forum for bronze disease treatments you'll likely find plenty of threads discussing it. I have never dealt with it sorry! Hopefully someone will chime in.
Oh, well that’s great! Thank you! I will still watch it closely, but that is more to comfort myself than anything else.
@Victor_Clark I thought about it last night and realized my case with bronze disease is similar to when you have a pain in your chest and you look up the possible cause on the internet - sometimes a little piece of knowledge is bad, and you get worked up because of it.
Nice Thread & cool coin, thanks! And relax, don't be paranoid with your coins. Bronze disease has a very bright green and a dusty texture . Your coin seems ok, IMHO. Keep an eye on her (from time to time) and keep it in a dry place (I use acid-free envelopes, my house is a bathtub... ).
I believe that bronze disease can also be a duller green as well. But it is always powdery. Soft enough that a toothpick or even Q-tip will brush it off. It usually leaves a depression behind, unless it’s just starting.
Oh! the Q-tip comment made me understand it better, and in that case, it is happily bronze disease free, as many people have said. Thanks to all for your helpful comments of "No"!
If it isn't coming off pretty easily, it's definitely not bronze disease. You never have to poke at it very hard. Especially if it's right on the surface. Anyway, cool coin as well! I have a few Asian coins on the way, it's cool to venture into a new collecting area. I know next to nothing about them, so there's not a lot I can add other than that.
Please post them when you do. I'm in my Oriental phase, as I call it. I've noticed I gravitate towards different areas of history over different periods of time, so this is when I like the Far East. The nice thing about it is that I don’t lose the interest in the other things I learned about beforehand.
