I think the two characters are "hill" and "mountain". My Grandfather brought this back from Korea after the war. Anybody seen this before or have any additional info?
Okay. I got the character on the right. In Korean, they say "kang". It means "mountain ridge" according to this Korean Chinese-character translation page. Other translation sites from China say that it's "Post, position". I think "mountain ridge" is correct. I am trying to find the other one. Don't expect me to find it! I've tried this before with these old, arcane Chinese Characters on coins Dang, why couldn't the Chinese have gone with a graphophonemic system of writing (characters = sounds) instead of this maddening ideographic character alphabet of which there are thousands!!????
I have the (Edgar J.) Mandel Number for this amulet and the Korean DaeGwangsa (DK) catalog number. Mandel: 72.6 and DK: 9-329 Here's the listing below -from my own personal DaeGwangsa catalogue, with the Korean catalogue pricing in South Korean Won at the very bottom (KRW to USD exchange rate hovers at around 1,000KRW to 1USD). Mind you, these prices are ALWAYS very... uh, "hopeful." Finding a buyer for it outside of Korea might prove difficult, if you're intending to sell it.
Wow! Thank you mlov43! Mine is missing the necklace loop on top but looks a little nicer with some orange patina. Could be coloring? Do you know the Date?
I do not know the date. These are at least late Joseon Dynasty (1700 and newer). The loop could have been ground off, or your piece could be a reproduction. I know next to NOTHING about these Korean amulets. A dealer here in Minnesota was very grateful when I agreed to sell to him my year-old copy of the DaeGwangsa catalogue, which lists all of the known amulets. The coloring is not patina, but paint. Many of these were originally painted.
Found it! This: Means this: I guess it means...hill, like a burial mound. Except the Koreans say, "Neung" (능).
