大朝鮮 vs 朝鮮 "Great Korea" vs "Korea" (Korea Yr. 505 = 1896, 5 Fun)

Found a scan of the book cover.



Issued by the Bank of Korea. I believe it was issued in 1969 / 1970.

If you can find it and offered at the right price, do not hesitate to get it. It will be well worth the money.

 

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FINALLY! For over 20 years, I have been looking to identify my coin. The picture of the coin you have is exactly like the one that I have, except, mine has 43 instead of 47. I'm still a little confused. Is my coin Taiwanese, Japanese, or Chinese? I'm quite ignorant when it comes to using my phone for a camera and then I will need to learn how to transfer the image to my computer.
I really appreciate your help identifying my coin. I would still like to nail down exactly what country the coin is from, the year it was minted or used, and what the coin is made of. I doubt it is valuable but since it was my father's coin, it's very valuable to me. I lost him when a tractor trailer ran over him in 1996. He had been in WW II, Korean War, and Vietnam. Wounded in all three. He left his coin collection to my brother and me. I have other coins to identify that he got in WW II.
Again, Thank you for your help.

 

It's a Japanese 100 yen coin, 1968. Very common, worth face value if they are not silver (about a dollar). Up to year Showa 41 (1966) they were 60% silver with a different design. Made of copper-nickel. Here's a detailed entry.

 

From what I understand, my coin is from 1968. That means my father got it when he was stationed in Vietnam. He had only about 60 days left on his rotation when he was walking across a helicopter pad and a Vietcong dropped a mortar on him. He was medivac to Fitzsimmons Hospital and was forced to retired. I loved my Dad but the enemy was trying to kill him. He was in the Navy during WWII in a submarine. From what I heard (since I wasn't born until 1947) he was a corpsman on the sub. They were being attacked while they were on the surface and one of the men were trying to secure the "cannon"(don't know what it was.). He got hit and my Dad went out to get him. He just about got down when he got hit by Japanese fire. Purple Heart number 1. He was sent to Hawaii to recover from his wounds. The war was over before he got out of the hospital. He stayed in the Navy after the was. I was born in December 1947 Aiea Heights Hospital at Pearl. After his time was through, he was told that he would lose a rank if he reenlisted. So, he got out, but he didn't like civilian life, so he decided to re-enlist, but the navy was still going to take his rank. He went over to the Army Recruiter and he re-enlisted with the Army because they gave him 2 ranks. He was a medic and when Korea started up, he was sent to Korea. I think my Dad, even though I love him, is more stupid than brave. His outfit was under fire and some of their men got hit and he went out under fire to help them. He got a couple of them back but got hit when he went back to help others. A man named James William Holloway, pulled him out from under fire and saved his life. Anyway, Purple Heart Number 2 and a Silver Star. He evidently learned something after his second Purple Heart. He went back to school to become a Doctor. In 1954, he was transferred to Landstuhl Army Hospital. In 1967 he was transferred to a MASH unit in Vietnam. That's where he got number 3. He wasn't trying to save anybody this time. After all this, a stupid truck driver kills him. That's the man I got my coins from and started me on the long trek of coin collecting. I miss him.

 

Hello everyone, new to the forum here. I think it's worth noting that 朝鮮 literally means Joseon, not Korea. The Kingdom of Joseon ruled the Korean peninsula from 1392-1897, after which the Korean Empire was proclaimed. The designator 大朝鮮 (Great Joseon) did, however, exist prior to the 1890's. Per Korean Wikipedia:

"조선은 공식 명칭으로 대조선국(大朝鮮國) 또는 조선국(朝鮮國)이라 하였으며, 주로 대조선국을 어보(御寶), 국서(國書) 등에 사용하였다"

Translated: "Joseon was formally named 'Great Joseon Country' (大朝鮮國) and also 'Joseon Country' (朝鮮國), with the use of 'Great Joseon Country' more common on official seals of the king/queen and national documents.​

Because Joseon coinage prior to the first western-style test strikes in the 1880's was all cash coin-based, there was never any need for the words "朝鮮" or "大朝鮮" to be included in designs. The rare "Joseon Tongbo" (朝鮮通寶) cash coins presumably only used 朝鮮 because of space constrictions (only 4 characters on the obverse of a cash coin given the square hole).

However, those aforementioned western-style test strikes in the 1880's and the subsequent circulation strikes began using 大朝鮮, presumably because this was technically the official name for the country. The earlier mentioned Yuan Shikai reason for removal of the "Great" 大 is correct. Per this doc from the Nat'l Institute of Korean History, when discussing the 5 Yang issues:

"뒷면에 ‘대조선 개국 501년’을 발행 연도로 넣었다. 그러나 위안 스카이(袁世凱)가 큰 대(大) 자를 없앨 것을 요구하여 1893년 이후 주조한 화폐에서는 ‘조선 개국 502년’으로 바뀌었다."

Translated: "The reverse had the date 'Great Joseon Gae-guk 501.' However, Yuan Shikai requested the 'Great' (大) to be removed, so beginning in 1893 the date was changed to 'Joseon Gae-guk 502.'"​

This blogpost goes even further with regards to the Yuan Shikai explanation:

"조선이 독립국이란 것을 인정할 수 없고 황제국도 아니니 국호에서 ‘大’자를 빼라는 것이지요. 할 수 없이 조선이라는 국호를 사용하다가 간섭이 뜸해지면 다시 대조선이라는 국호를 쓰곤 하였지요”

Tr: "[Yuan Shikai] refused to acknowledge that Joseon was an independent nation and argued that since it wasn't even an empire, the 'Great' should be removed. Joseon had no choice but to stick with simply 'Joseon,' then return to 'Great Joseon' once the controversy had died down.
​

It's already been mentioned, but it's interesting that the dates that "Great Joseon" reappears seem to coincide with the end of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. KM 1106 uses "Great Joseon" and was minted first in 1892, halted for several years and resumed in 1896; KM 1107 with "Joseon" between 1893 and 1896; KM 1108 with "Great Joseon" in 1895-1896. Given the internal political strife and external pressure that Joseon faced in these last few years, as well as the growing power vacuum in East Asia, the re-inclusion of "Great" makes sense.