35 years of Bank of Korea mint sets

The first official Bank of Korea mint sets were released in 1982. These sets have been produced every year since, with the exception of a four-year gap in production between 1983 and 1987. Over the years, these mint sets have undergone several changes to the appearance of the cases and slipcovers, as well as in the arrangement of the six circulating coins in the cases. The square-case sets that were produced for fifteen years between 2000 and 2014 all featured different Korean-themed case and slipcover designs, and had a better artistic aesthetic than the previous sets.

In 2015, the mint set was again redesigned and presented in a hard plastic case. This was the first hard case design since 1983, reversing the 28-year trend of using blister packs. Although mint sets featuring South Korean coins can be found dating back to the 1970s, those sets were obvious clones of Bank of Japan mint sets and are not recognized by collectors in Korea as official Bank of Korea mint sets.

 

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Nice, informative display!
It reminds me of how the US Mint Sets have also had different packaging over the years.

 

Don't know why I haven't added a set from Korea to my collection. I have Japan and China. I'll have to remedy that soon.

 

Another fact about Bank of Korea Mint sets is that they made special "Foreign" mint sets from the years 2001 to 2014. These were meant to be given as diplomatic gifts, or sold overseas at special events meant to promote South Korea.

These "Foreign sets" are identical in appearance to the regular sets, with the exception that all of the titles and lettering are in English only. Very little or no Korean hangul alphabet is written on the "Foreign" sets. If you see one of these for sale/bid outside of Korea, they will often be sold at the regular set prices, as the sellers often do not know that what they are selling is actually special. While tens of thousands of the regular sets were made each year for the years 2001 to 2014, only 3K to 5K "Foreign Sets" were made. These, of course will sell for twice or three times the price of a regular set (IF the seller knows what she's selling!) I got this Foreign set on the right for the price of a regular 2009 set from a seller in the UK, who obviously didn't know the difference.

Regular BOK Mint Set for 2009.................."Foreign" BOK Mint Set for 2009





And then there are the "Foreign" sets for 2001 to 2004: The six coins in these sets were minted in "satin" (or "matte"?) proof, and sell for at least $250 to $400 USD. Notice the difference in the appearance of the coins below.

Regular BOK Mint Set for 2001........................"Foreign" BOK set for 2003

 

Here's that 2003 BOK "foreign" mint set for sale at eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/South-Korea...967879?hash=item4aff6dd4c7:g:BlYAAOSwZetXPHlW

 

I personally like the 1982 proof mint set - they really do stand out. Price wise... I have to pass reluctantly

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Korea-1982-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

Yep. She's a beauty... However, as the seller of that particular set did not offer returns, I would be a little suspicious. Are these photos of the actual item? I wonder...

 

Do the "foreign" sets have a stronger strike than the "Coins of Korea" English lettering sets for the 2005-2014 years (I noticed that these English sets tend to have the words "Coins of Korea" on the front cover.)? I'd imagine that if they were presented to diplomats, then these would be the first strikes, and maybe even have a relatively better/more prepared die.

 

They all have the title, "Coins of Korea". Both the Regular and Foreign mint sets do. It's just that the Foreign ones don't have the Korean hangul writing on them at all on the cover/slipcase. That's how I tell. I believe that the Foreign sets do have better strikes for the years 2005 to 2014. I cannot really tell for sure, but the coins look like they are in better shape to me. I do not think that they used any special process, maybe just made sure they used ones without severe bag marks(?) These Foreign sets were NOT given as diplomatic gifts, according to one of my Korean sources. They were given to foreign visitors to the Mint, usually members of minting agencies who came to Korea to see how the Koreans make their banknotes with more anti-counterfeiting features than any U.S. or Euro banknotes.

 

Ah, I see. The first two images below are some of the ones I saw online. They're from 2015 and 2016 which I'm guessing are the Korean language ones as opposed to the English language ones. I assumed that the "foreign" ones were all like that previous to 2015. Maybe they removed the "Coins of Korea" post-2014.

The third image below is of a 2006 Korean mint set. Since that one has both Korean and English typed on the cover (as opposed to English only), that would be the "foreign" one we've been discussing (which is similar in typed format as the picture comparisons you show earlier). So, I'm on the same page with you - the latest 2015-2016 sets confused me.

By the way, what is the ancient (?) type coin in the fourth and final image below? It looks as if it's supposed to be a coin shaped as a turtle - is that actually supposed to be a turtle ship, perhaps? It may just be a turtle, but the huge turtle ship that's front and center of the 2006 mint set's cover makes me wonder.

 

1) Regular sets (2000 ~ 2014):
they will be bilingual (with Korean AND English writing on the outsides). The exception are the 2015 and 2016 sets. These only have Korean writing, and there are NO Foreign versions of them (that I have seen).

2) Foreign sets:
they will have ENGLISH only writing on the outsides.

3) Proof coins of the six circulating sets exist as: A special 1982 proof set, the year 2000 Bank of Korea (not-sports related) sets, and the Foreign sets for 2001 ~2004.

4) Prior to 2000, all sets were "Regular" mint sets.

The turtle is a charm coin. These are collectible in the numismatic market, but I know very little about them. The writing imitates an old coin, the "Sang Pyong Tong Bo" coin of the pre-1880s era.

 

For all the sets from 1982-2000, what is the price range? Like 20 dollars to 400? I'm trying to see if they're all expensive or if some are more common. I think I've seen some at an antique market for 10 dollars or so but I assumed it was common

 

Yes, that's about right. The cheaper ones are the 2005 ~ 2014 Regular sets. I would NOT accept any that have dark toned coins in them, or that are spotted at all. You can find cheap anything if it has crappy coins and/or a mangled case. See this page for reference, and page through this store's mint sets for sale. Pretty typical prices, but you can find cheaper if you know how (for prices in USD, just cut off the zeros and you have a rough estimate of the price; 385,000 won = $385.00): http://www.sujipbank.com/shop/goods/goods_list.php?category=002003009&sort=price+desc&page_num=12

Some of the coins you see on this retailer's page are "Foreign" sets. Here's an image of it, below. And iPen can tell which ones are Foreign sets! Right?

 

Yes, I can tell now

Does the site ship to the US? I found one (or, three) that I like!

EDIT: I tried but it seems to only allow Korean addresses / provinces.

If there is a way, or if there's another site to source these coins, please let me know!

 

There IS a way to do business with the proprietor of Sujipbank, Mr. Kim Jung-sik. I have always used the following email, with the Korean title of the item, price and the Item Code of the coin that I wanted cut and pasted into the email. Send to kjsat@korea.com Below is an example of an email format that I know works for them. Sujipbank will then email you the price for the item and shipping combined in USD. If comfortable with the price, you should go to paypal and pay for the item using his email, kjsat@korea.com unless otherwise instructed...



Dear Sujipbank,

I would like to purchase the coins you can see below.
Could I purchase these coins from you using Paypal?
Please let me know!

한국은행창립 20주년기념동메달 2종세트

제품코드: 2554-25
275,000원

My address is:

Joe Blow
2949 Secession Way
Frostbite Falls, MN 55207
USA

Kind Regards,
Joe Blow

 

Thanks for all of your help - it's been a delight!

I sent them a purchase request to that email you provided for three sets.

 

Oh, just to clarify: On his site, if you have a "red blinking icon" at an item description, that says "sold out". Beware of those. He keeps up sold stock on his site for a while before removing it, but immediately marks them as sold out when an item sells.

 

Thanks for post.

1982 is the date that most S Korean singles become "common". Obviously many of these coins are being removed from the sets.

 

I think that you're right about coins being broken out of sets. Some of the highest-graded of these coins that I've seen in NGC holders are most certainly from Bank of Korea mint sets. The coins I that I've seen, especially in 1995~1997 mint sets, make me convinced that they were struck using specially-made dies.

 

This is what I like about mint sets. In most cases the coins in sets average far nicer than those made for circulation. In many cases it's a moot point though since most of the singles found come from mint sets.