A father and a son sharing a common hobby is truly a special experience and adds to the bonding between the two. From your son and his head-start at the hobby, and the excitement he shows in the video, I can already tell that collecting coins will stick with him for a very long time, as a lifetime interest and passion. It's good to see more young numismatists in Korea! I sure hope more YNs like your wonderful son appear and grow up to form the next generation of numismatists in Korea.
Thanks all! We are going to make one with his banknotes soon. He really like showing folks his collection; especially, when people come over to the house. :)
He has this obsession with always having an older coin than me. If you guys have any tips on coins that are older than 118 BC let me know.
Quite inspiring Lembafc I have also been inspired by my father into coin collecting from an early age For my 8th? Birthday my father built me a pirate treasure chest. Inside was a black string sealed pouch filled with world coins. You can imagine the impact on an 8 year old boy on receiving such an amazing gift. I still remember the occasion clearly. This also encouraged me to find out more about the history of each coin. I could show my friends a coin and tell a story about it. Now 50 years later I occasionally send my parents special coins and write about the history. I also like to share my findings with Coin Community Forum members.
Here is my old Korean coin from the time period 1742 to 1752. So it is over 250 years old. I note that the writing on the coin does not look like the beautiful Hangul and Hanja writing that is used in Korea now. I wonder what the text on the coin means?
I also note that the coin was issued by the Seoul Charity Office. Maybe the Seoul Charity Office gave this money to poor and homeless people so that they could buy food and have a place to live? That would be my simple interpretation
@Squire, they did not use Hangul back then like they do today. They used nearly exclusively Hanja, which is what you see on the coin, unless script had to be written in hangul. The hanja on the front of the coins is read Top-Bottom-Right-Left as Sang Pyeong Tong Bo, which is Korea's (Joseon's) first successful coin.
On the reverse at the top is the mint mark for the Charity Office as you stated and the bottom character is the character for "2" indicating this is a Dang 2 Jeon coin (also called 2 Mun)
Thanks a lot for the translation of the Hanja writing on my old Korean coin That has really "opened the door" to further investigations of Korean history on my part...
This is great. It was my Grandfather that got me started in coin collecting. Thanks for sharing. I have tried to use my coins as tools for learning and sharing. The history of Korea was one of the most surprising and rewarding of my remedial studies. Whenever I hear of people talking of conflict and aggression, I want to change their minds. An understanding of our common wants and fears is often a good place to start. A look at the Gutenberg printing press and a comparison to one that Koreans used much earlier was an eye opener for me.
Here is one of my favorites... Sang Pyong Tong Bo 2 Mun 1679-1691? Kaesong Township Military Office Hartill #34.36A
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