I recently noticed that there just might be at least two different varieties of the 1973 South Korean 10-Won coin. This semi-key date coin seems to have something approximating a "small date" and a "large date" variety. In the coin on the left (the "small date"), the "9" curves more, and stops at about the same level as the bottom of the "1." In the "large date" (right), the "9" is straighter and plunges more noticeably below the bottom of the "1." The "7s" also look different, with the top of the small date angled upward, whereas the large date seems straight. You can also see some "machine doubling," if not some actual "doubling" on the back of the "3" in the small date version. If you just eyeball the two coins, side by side, you can see some size/shape difference in the dates... Fascinating...
I see what your saying. Have you mentioned this to other korean collectors.....maybe it can be recognized, etc.
I am mentioning it to them now. I don't think anyone has noticed, and if they have, it has never been published. These date varieties for this coin are not recognized by the Korean coin catalogues. They generally don't officially recognize varieties of any kind, nor publish them in their catalogues. The only time they do, is when there is a change in the design or the metal used to make planchets for a coin. This is what I like about "World Coins." You can find something and be the first to publish it. Maybe I'm not the first to recognize this, as far as I know for this coin variety, but perhaps I'm the first to write about it?
The 3 definitely appears to have been doubled. This is not machine doubling - notice the notches at the top left and right bar of the 3? This is either hub doubling of some sort, or perhaps a repunched date (I'm not sure how dies were made in Korea at the time). The thing with varieties like this is that most collectors of foreign coins don't value them. US collectors love them, but they are seen as insignificant in most other parts of the world. There are probably thousands and thousands of unidentified minor varieties on world coins like this - things that would be front page of the coin magazines on a US coin get completely overlooked on foreign coins.
Quite true. A few are avidly sought but even major varieties are usually ignored. They get my interest when they are easily spotted and scarce. This date is scarce enough in BU that even if the variety is common in circulation it will still be a little tough in nice BU.
Hey, I have NO IDEA about how "common" any of these varieties are! This is the first time that I'm noticing this difference in dates. I have six of these 1973 10-Won coins. Five are the "small date" with the re-punched (and doubled) "3" and one is the coin on the right, the "large date."
First, I'm not sure that the dies WERE made in Korea at all at this time. Here's what I know: The first domestically-made coins in South Korea were struck at newly-made Mint near the south-coast city of Pusan (new spelling: Busan) in late 1966. The collars and working dies for these coins were manufactured in Great Britain by John Pinches Co. Ltd., a private medallist firm in London. The trail sort of goes cold from there. I have not figured out who made the 10-Won coin master/working dies from 1967 to 1982, nor where these pieces of tool steel were fabricated for striking the 10-Won coin. And except for 1976, this coin was struck every year since 1966. Second, it IS known from published sources (published by the Mint and a former designer) that the master dies for two later coins that came out in 1970 (100-Won) and 1972 (50-Won) were made at the Osaka Mint in Japan. In 1975 the Koreans made their very first locally-produced master dies for a commemorative coin. The first master dies made for a circulation coin were made for the 500-Won coin in 1982. However, who made the working dies for South Korean coins in this period? There seems to have been an increasing capability at the South Korean Mint over the years, and perhaps during the years when they were importing master dies from overseas, they had started to punch their own working dies at some time in the late 1960s or sometime in the 1970s. This is all conjecture on my part. So this repunched date could have happened in Korea, or perhaps Japan, or maybe in Britain. This is one of my research questions that I'll ask if I can get an audience as a journalist after I register with the Bank of Korea's media department, perhaps this coming Summer.
The people who were involved in making these dies are probably still alive (at least some of them). It will be really cool to hear what they have to say - and the information they provide will tell us a lot about the coinage of this country at this time. I look forward to seeing your research!
Oh Soon-hwan is still alive. He was the South Korean Mint's first engraver who was trained in relief engraving for coins and medals. He joined the Mint in 1973, but didn't really start engraving coins until the early 1980s. He writes articles about Korea's currency history every month here:http://www.hwadong.com/currency/curr_PdsList.jsp?planId=100000001&menu=menu3
