Posted 04/13/2026 09:56 am
I wrote the most comprehensive information on these gold and silver "Five Millenia History of Korea" commemorative coins that I put in my book on South Korean coins.
In response, I received an email from a gentleman who worked for a London coin dealer in the early 1970s. He said that his boss did not want to sell these coins as he thought it would sully his reputation as a dealer. These coins produced by Italcambio were often denigrated by notables in the hobby at the time (i.e. R.S. Yeoman). They called the coins "supercrowns" or "pseudocoins." This London dealer likewise didn't want to sell them to his regular customers, even though customers asked about them when the coins first came available. The dealer thought that since the coins were big and numbered like medals (as you can see in the photo above), they weren't really "coins." Adding to this was the fact that the issuing authorities (the countries themselves) did not issue the coins, but subcontracted their manufacture and marketing to Italcambio. That was Yeoman's main point of contention, and he relegated such coins as these to the back of his World Coin catalog in a section called "Controversial Recent Issues."
The whole story behind these Five Millenia of Korean History coins is much more involved and interesting than what you read here. The 70s were a crazy time...
In response, I received an email from a gentleman who worked for a London coin dealer in the early 1970s. He said that his boss did not want to sell these coins as he thought it would sully his reputation as a dealer. These coins produced by Italcambio were often denigrated by notables in the hobby at the time (i.e. R.S. Yeoman). They called the coins "supercrowns" or "pseudocoins." This London dealer likewise didn't want to sell them to his regular customers, even though customers asked about them when the coins first came available. The dealer thought that since the coins were big and numbered like medals (as you can see in the photo above), they weren't really "coins." Adding to this was the fact that the issuing authorities (the countries themselves) did not issue the coins, but subcontracted their manufacture and marketing to Italcambio. That was Yeoman's main point of contention, and he relegated such coins as these to the back of his World Coin catalog in a section called "Controversial Recent Issues."
The whole story behind these Five Millenia of Korean History coins is much more involved and interesting than what you read here. The 70s were a crazy time...
