North Korean Coins

North Korea was unique among communist states in having a triple-layered controlled economy.

Several other communist countries (such as PR China and Cuba) issue or used to issue special currency for visitors, to avoid contaminating the local economy with uncontrolled Western money. It also has the side-effect that refugees fleeing these countries with "issued for locals only" money find that any money they took with them is worthless and unconvertible.

But North Korea was the only one to issue two separate "visitor's currencies": one for capitalist westerners, another for visitors from their fellow communist countries. I guess they didn't entirely trust their fellow communists to do the right thing and not try to subvert the proletariat!

The ones for capitalists had two stars added to the design. The ones for foreign communists had only one star. Coins intended for the locals were plain. I don't know if this system is still in use; for the coins, the only dates listed in the catalogues are 1959 and 1974.

North Korea used to be one of the tougher countries for "one from every country" collectors like me to find. But since the late 1990's, the North has discovered that capitalists are prepared to hand over their hard-earned cash for their coins, which has resulted in a plethora of NCLT "commemoratives".

In 2002 the People's Republic of Korea, better known as North Korea, did issue a series of aluminum coins that are fairly easy for collectors to get hold of. 8 coins feature animals; horse, chimpanzee, leopard, giraffe, vulture, snake, bighorn sheep, and hippopotamus. A second set commemorating the FAO features an ancient ship, a viking ship, a modern train, and a jet plane. All of the above coins are 1/2 chon in denomination.

To further the FAO set, there are 1 chon coins featuring a steam locomotive, and an antique automobile. The 2 chon coin has an antique touring car.

So, these sets are quite popular with collectors for not only adding North Korea to a set, but adding particular animals, planes, trains, or cars. :)

Image: nkoranmal7r.jpg
18.98 KB

Image: nkoreatrans02r.jpg
18.73 KB

quote:

---

Is the 1/2 Chon equal roughly (and I'm talking VERY roughly here) to like what a half penny would be here (in the States)?

---

100 Chon = 1 Won. 1 US dollar = 2.2 North Korean Won

quote:

---

I was thinking of trying to get older currency as I'm not too keen on supporting the newer commeratives.

---

North Korea has only been a country since 1948. I think the oldest coins were dated 1959. They have always been communist so you can't get away from supporting the Reds. Fortunately the government will need a lot more than coin sales to turn the economy around.

quote:

---

I've read that there are forgeries from China on ebay and was wondering if anyone had tips or recommendations

---

Stick with trusted dealers. I think there is a list somewhere on this forum. You could also go outside ebay to find the coins. I buy a lot of my modern world coins from https://www.joelscoins.com.