There could very well be NO South Korean coins minted for circulation other than the 10-Won coin in 2023, according to the Korean Mint's orders for coin blanks for this calendar year. Info in Korean below. South Korea's business strikes that circulate are: 500-Won, 100-Won, 50-Won and 10-Won. You will notice that there will be about 220,000 coin blanks available for each denomination for minting coins to be included in mint sets and gift sets (blue rectangle, above) and only just over 95 million 10-Won coins for circulation (red rectangle, above). Also, the Korean Mint (KOMSCO) online shopping mall started accepting reservation orders for the new 2023 Bank of Korea mint sets beginning this last Monday, April 17th. Since the Korean Mint apparently hasn't ordered coining blanks for the circulating 500-Won, 100-Won and 50-Won outside of the 120,000 pieces to be included in this mint set, this coin set could be very sought-after. If the above business-strike coins aren't minted, you can expect insane resale prices for this 2023 mint set!
Oh, you won't be able to purchase unless you have a Korea-based bank account or Korea-based credit card. Not friendly to foreigners...
Nice! Before I got one, too! I buy two, actually. One to keep and one to bust the coins out to put into airtites for my year sets for each denomination.
Awesome, I was thinking about getting two but my wife's friend who lives in Seoul said she had to wait for the next drawing, if that makes sense.
Yep. They'll have another drawing in a month or two. People are not having that much trouble getting these sets this year. My source will have six of them pretty soon...
Nice set. I didn't catch this thread until just now. I'll have to see if my connection can score one. Mark, Q for you. What is the difference between Won and Hwan? Why are both terms used in your Dansco's?
Yes, my wife said July will be the next one. Hope to pick up another set for an army buddy of mine. We were stationed in Korea at Camp Casey for a few years. Loved the country, and hope to go back for a visit in a few years. Regards.
won (圓): The currency in China and Korea for many years was referred to as won, or in Chinese transliteration into English 'yuan' (圓), indicating a "round currency." The 1st South Korean won (1945 to Feb. 1953) used the above Chinese character and was pronounced as you see. It could be written in hangeul as '원.' They first used Japanese printed Bank of Chosen yen notes, then they began printing their own won notes. hwan (圜): Then because of the Korean War and its resultant hyperinflation, they introduced a new currency (from a currency reform, at a rate of 100 old = 1 new) in February 1953. The government decided to name the currency with a different Chinese character to differentiate it from the previous money. They named it with this character: 圜, which can be pronounced the same way, and indicates the same thing ("money"). However, to further help in differentiating this money from the previous money, the government wrote the hangeul as '환' hwan. I'm pretty sure people still pronounced it won, or even used both pronounciations. won (원): THEN, when South Korea became the very poorest country on Earth, came another currency reform in 1962 (at a rate of 10 old = 1 new), bringing us the current money of South Korea, the 2nd South Korean won, (or as some English-language publishers note, "Reform Currency"). They went back to pronouncing and writing THIS currency as won (원), but they did not ascribe any corresponding Chinese character to it. So today, and since June 1962, the South Korean currency is the won 원 (no Chinese character).
