I added the "Hwan"-denominated coins (1959~1962) to my webpage, "South Korean Coin Database." This page is meant to appear in "database format," similar to other such pages that Numista publishes online. The difference being that the information that my database provides about South Korean coins is much more accurate and more detailed than any other on the web. http://dokdo-research.com/hundredhwancoindata.html
These and MANY, MANY more countries' coins in the 1910s to 1960s period. Not so much anymore. Interestingly enough, it's South Korea that has picked up much of this work, making a lot of other countries' coins and banknotes nowadays (Israel, Peru, etc). The South Korean coin-blank manufacturer, Poongsan, makes the majority of the world's coin blanks. Poongsan also makes the blanks for EVERY one of South Korea's medals and coins, so much so, that some people wonder whether they live up to their World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. I have a PDF from the US Mint that lists all the countries, coins, and details of the coins. I got that list here from a CT contributor. I think because of the information in this PDF, a numismatic writer caught onto the idea that in 1960, the US Mint was making that year's Lincoln cents, then stopped, switched out the dies, and started minting the South Korean Hwan coins and Liberian coins, and before they could switch back to the Lincoln cents to finish out that year's mintage of cents, they broke the Lincoln cent master die (or some piece of tool steel), necessitating the pressing of a new hub. According to the author, they had problems (blobbing) with the loops and circles in the 9s and 0s of the date "1960" on the first dies, so they just decided to re-cut the date with bigger 9s and 0s into the new dies. This accounts for the small date (early) and Large Date (later) varieties of the 1960 Lincoln Cent. Or so the author says. This article was in the February 2017 edition of COINage Magazine.
I had no idea either South Korea was so involved in making coins. I think Ive seen that pdf before. However, by chance i came upon an actual book by the treasury. Got it for fifty cents at a used book store in a library
SWEET! Joe, can you shoot a pic of the title page, or whatever page has the date, publisher, etc, and post it here? I would like that to properly cite this document in my writing on these coins.
To add to the complications, KOMSCO supplies planchets to some countries. I think the last time I'm aware, KOMSCO strikes coins for Thailand. Believe it may have supplied planchets to Australia at one stage??? I could be wrong.
Interesting stats there. There's no question that there was lots of attrition on these before they were melted and this attrition is ongoing. Do you have an idea of the value of the 100 Hwan coin at the time it was withdrawn. Face value is a very important consideration to the percentage of coins people are willing to submit to the government.
The face-value of this coin for the short week of June 10th to June 17th 1962 (when the government allowed it to be deposited into bank accounts) was just 10 (new) won, and this was only for deposit. The coin was completely demonetized and withdrawn after the 17th of June that year.
That said, it took me a while to get a 100hwan coin at a reasonable price. Most of the sellers wanted at least 10 dollars (including shipping). Not a coin that you would commonly find in junk box...
