Pretty stoked to see these Paris Mint S. Korean gold coins for sale! Not that I can afford them. You can see them for sale at ebay. That big one has a mintage of 52. The one with President Park has a mintage of 55. ...these are the rarest of all South Korean coins.
According to panzerman, the King Sejong gold coin costs at least 25000 USD, so obviously I am never going to buy it, I will instead focus on acquiring the Queen Seondeok one, and a Joseon Bronze Mun coin of King Sejong.
What's with the crazy big holder? Is it because it was just a tad to big so it got bumped up in to the next category of generic size big holders?
Ah! That is the question... I saw one of the more common "Silla Gold Crown" 20,000 Won struck at the Valcambi Mint (like the one in the big holder) go for around $7K in 2011. But because these are the much more rare Paris Mint strikes... well, who knows? I think there was a Heritage auction in which a 12-coin set (gold and silver) of these Paris strikes sold a few years back. Check ascsearch. About 30 of these entire sets were imported to Korea as gifts for President Park's staff. One coin is missing from the set you see here: the 25,000 Won, King Sejong the Great. That one had a Valcambi mintage of 300, and a Paris Mintage of 25. I wrote an article about these coins a few years back: http://dokdo-research.com/fivemillenia.html :
Here are some examples of the 12-coin sets. The Valcambi Mint sets have the 25K Won big coin, and the Paris Mint (11-coins) set did not include it. I guess the Paris Mint 25K Won coin was "sold separately." Paris Mint Valcambi Mint Exterior case design Interior
Along with the Valcambi and Paris Mint gold coins, the South Korean 1970 "5,000 Years of Korean History" commemoratives appeared as 6-coin silver sets. These silver sets were issued in the typical vinyl and plastic cases in which the issuing company (Italcambio) distributed its other world-coin commemorative sets. Here is the Korean silver set (right) alongside another Italcambio product, a silver set for Dahomey, a francophone African country now known as Benin (left). Italcambio had issued similar precious-metal commemorative sets for various countries around the world, about 27 countries in all. It used the Arezzo, Italy "Gori &Zucchi Mint" as well as the State Mints in Germany at Karlsruhe to mint these Korean silver coins. Italcambio was a major player in the coin collecting world in the USA in the late 1960s and early 1970s. "Money that is Art, Art that is Money" was the tagline of their full-page ads in the numismatic magazines of the time. The company was (and still is) based out of Caracas, Venezuela(!!) and was established by the Italian, Mario Pizzorni, an art-collecting entrepreneur with organized-crime connections. So it figures that while Italcambio was selling its Korean coins in the 1970~1974 period, it had its distribution center in Florida. While it no longer operates as a "private mint," its "banking business" is still around. Probably laundering money... Italcambio deserves to researched and written about for an article in one of the more popular coin publications, simply because of the number of world commemorative sets that they produced, along with its colorful past. Some of the gold coins were issued in their own jewel cases, like this 10K Won gold Valcambi strike. Just as interesting was the story behind how the "Moonies" (a.k.a. the Unification Church) attempted to skim something off the top of the sale of these coins in the early 1970s.
Mark: I read your article. Very impressive. Interesting comments about Italcambio. I am surprised that the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) hasn't shut down or at least placed Mario Pizzorni on itsSpecially Designated Nationals list. BTW, I collect Japanese pre-WWII coins, and thus have a passing interest of Korean coins issued under the Japanese occupation.
Well, all of this took place at least 35~40 years ago, and Mario Pizzorni is now dead. Perhaps some of Italcambio's business dealings had to do with the demise of its business in the USA? There is actually pretty scant information (in English) about Mario P. and his company, Italcambio C. A.
It's a shame to see the original holders not included. Sure people say buy the coins, not the holders but I find the original mint packaging important as well. There is an excessive rare Korean proof mint set made back in 1892 (!!!) and this is just impossible to obtain. These are pictures floating around.
Latest one I could find was 2023 Stacks-Bowers, but that was for a LOT of all 12 coins from this "5,000 Years of Korean History" series (1970/71), with this coin included. I cannot see it at acsearch, either. Then again, I didn't login. The Stacks lot sold for 50,400 in April 2023. ADDENDUM: If you're in the market for this coin, European auction houses are your best bet, it seems.
Thanks, I am interested in two coins from the series, the King Sejong one if its price isn't crazy and the Queen Seondeok (her name is spelt Sunduk on the coin itself) one, which I have already put in a bid for at one German auction.
Good! That's a nice gold coin, the Queen Seondeok. "Crazy price" is what you ~may~ encounter with the King Sejong coin. Especially since a single examples of the 25,000-Won coin haven't shown up in any auction I can find. They only show up when an entire 12-coin Valcambi set is up for auction. Mind you, the Paris Mint examples of this coin number only 25. It is literally the RAREST South Korean coin, ever. If you want to, keep your eyes peeled for the Paris Mint strikes of these gold coins. You'll notice the Paris Mint's "Cornucopia" mint mark on them on the coat of arms side at either 4 or 8 o'clock. They are much less common. I wrote an entire chapter about these coins in my 400-page book on South Korean coins.
According to panzerman, the King Sejong gold coin costs at least 25000 USD, so obviously I am never going to buy it, I will instead focus on acquiring the Queen Seondeok one, and a Joseon Bronze Mun coin of King Sejong.
A little less than a week to go and I am the high bidder, hopefully the highest bid I have put in will be enough to win it.
