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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;mlov43, post: 1807852, member: 16729&quot;]Way cool.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is a lesson in ethics:&nbsp; I&#039;ll try to take note...</p><p><br /></p><p><b>About the coin itself</b>:&nbsp; This is just my own speculation:&nbsp; I read that Korean gold miners were paid in Mexican silver dollars.&nbsp; Perhaps this (or maybe other such activity in China) can explain the Chinese-character chopmarks.&nbsp; I (poorly) deciphered the chinese characters into Korean.&nbsp; This is what I think it says in Korean pronunciation:&nbsp; Hyeon 현 &quot; (black, dark), Boon 분 (a division of some sort, like the &quot;FUN&quot; in Korean coins),&nbsp; Sam 삼 (three),&nbsp; Kae 개 (to make better).&nbsp; This is from Left to Right (but it could be read right to left, or the recessed chops are a &quot;company name&quot; and the middle two characters are a denomination).&nbsp; Perhaps gxseries or another poster here who&#039;s into Asian coins can help.</p><p><br /></p><p>About the Korean gold miners:&nbsp; Mineral tycoon, Samuel H. Dolbear (with investors like Adolph Coors, that&#039;s right-the Coors Beer guy) was one of a few Americans who opened Korean gold mines under concession from the old Korean government (pre-division) of Joseon (Chosun), beginning in 1896, and operated them well into the Japanese Occupation period.&nbsp; The American-owned Oriental Consolidated Mining Company held the largest gold mines in northern Korea until 1939, when they were sold to Japanese interests.&nbsp; Gold accounted for well over half the minerals produced in Korea and was the most important mineral export in the 1930s.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sam Dolbear also owned silver and gold concessions around the world in other locations.&nbsp; It was known that these Korean gold miners were paid in Mexican silver...</p><p>(source: Origins of the Korean War Part I, by Bruce Cumings)</p><p><br /></p><p>Is this what it is?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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