I wanted to make this separate post to address an issue that came up about an Olympic silver coin @sonlarson shared in another thread. His coin was the South Korean 10,000 Won silver "Archery" coin, KM#62, released with the fourth allotment (or series) of the 1988 Summer Olympics commemorative coins in July 1988. The Korean Daegwangsa catalog claims that the Korean Mint struck 109,570 in mint finish, and 209,490 in frosted proof finish. The coins in this fourth series are cited in all Korean numismatic literature as having 1988 dates. The Korean catalogs do not even mention the existence of an error (although this is common practice). However, there was an error in the minting of these coins. Some are dated 1988 and some are dated 1987. Obviously, a mismatched obverse and reverse die-pairing of some sort. The "issue" here is that the Krause Publication's Standard Catalog of World Coins (39th Edition) listing for this coin has an addendum that states: "Note: 1988 is an error date" and lists $200 for the 1988 mint strike in UNC, while the 1987 mint strike is listed at $32. (Also the 1987 proof at $40; while the 1988 proof is $90). However, this Korean blog post http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?...wDate=&isShowPopularPosts=false&from=postView" says that the 1987 is the more difficult coin to find in Korea, while 1988 is more common. It also says that Korean dealers have said that some American buyers had come to Korea in the past to buy up the 1988 Archery coins, probably led by the information published by Krause. I am inclined not to believe the information in the Krause catalog about this error, and especially because they have some glaring factual errors regarding the mintages for these Olympic coins, as if someone had just copied-and-pasted "117,500 mint / 227,500 proof" for all of them. The O-Sung and Daegwangsa catalogs cite identical mintage figures to each other, but totally different figures from Krause. The problem, it seems to me, is that the 1987-dated Archery coin should be considered the "error" in any case, since the other coins in the series it was issued with were all dated 1988 and released that year. Even the coins in the series prior were all dated 1988. So, is 1987 or 1988 the error date? Perhaps Krause is implying that the 1988-dated coins are fewer in number/condition and therefore have a higher value? And how would they know about rarity if they include both dates in their mintage figures? Where do you come down on this?
From reading the article I get the sense that the ones dated 1987 were distributed outside of South Korea in 1987 and inside South Korea in 1988. As far as value goes, I am happy with the higher. Unfortunately anyone using Krause for a reference will value the 1988 as the higher dollar coin. I did notice that the mintage numbers were all the same, but I often find variation with Krause mintage numbers and actual mintage numbers. here is the COA that came with the coin I already have another Proof 10,000 Won on the way as well as Three 5,000 Won Proof coins. All cost me less than $20 each. Interesting and inexpensive Silver Coins.
That may be an explanation. If so, then the neither date is an error! ...and what implication does that have for Krause's "error date" notation? Notice the "1987" date on sonlarson's COA. If the 1988-dated 10,000-Won coins' COAs have "1988" on them, then that evidence would imply that the coin was minted on purpose (not erroneously) in the two different years. @sonlarson 's interpretation makes sense, because the Bank of Korea did issue the '88 Olympic coins as singles, as two-coin sets, as four- and five-coin (no gold) sets, and the all-inclusive 7-coin sets (with gold) you see above. They were distributed outside of Korea by Seibu Department Stores in Japan, in Hong Kong by Numis Ventures, and in the USA by Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, Inc. A two coin set with 10,000 and 5,000-Won coins: SO: What may have happened is that this silver 10,000-Won coin was minted in 1987 as a single or as one of a two-coin set and sold overseas (both as proof and mint finish). It was then added to a 7-coin set, not the next set (3rd), but the 4th set and minted in 1988 for distribution in Korea. If this is the case, then neither date is an error. What I know (at least for now) is that no other '88 Olympic coin had two different dates. The fact that this one did has made us (and Krause) think that one had to be an error. It may be an error. It may not. Only a trip to the Korean Mint to look at production records would answer the question definitively... As far as mintages: The Koreans have listed official mintages figures (number of coins ordered), as well as another figure for the number actually issued minus damaged pieces or detected errors that were removed. For all of the 10,000 Won silver pieces from the entire series (Running, Volleyball, Diving, Archery, Show Jumping [equestrian], Soccer, Gymnastics, and Cycling), the mintage figures that I have from a Korean source states that 1,836,599 was the manufactured amount, but only 1,389,074, or 75.6% of these coins were issued. This may explain the mintage differences that we encounter here.
