While the Krause Publications’ Standard Catalog of World Coins mentions varieties of the South Korean 100-Won and 50-Won coins (without explaining at all what they are), the Catalog does not mention a very common and obvious variety of the 1969 Five-Won coin. On these Five-Won coin varieties, the intervals between the numerals of the date on the reverse of this coin have wider spacing on one strike versus another.
This is obviously the result of the Korean Mint using different date logotypes when creating the dies to produce these coins. According to the South Korean Mint’s official historical publications, 1969 was the first year that the Korean Mint began pressing their own working dies, such as the ones made to strike these coins. This probably explains the two varieties here. Korean collectors have noticed the existence of these varieties for years now.
They’ve also noticed that the Wide Spaced Date Variety is much less common especially in higher grades compared to the Closely Spaced Date Variety. One collector in Korea claims that he has only found one Wide Date Variety in mint state condition, whereas plenty of the other variety are easily available (you will see his coin below, so keep reading!). I find that this “Wide Spaced Date Variety” of the 1969 Five-Won coin is also less commonly found in the North American coin market.
Considering just how blazing hot the Korean numismatic market has been in the 2021~2022 period, this seems to indicate that the Wide Spaced Date Variety is a rather valuable condition rarity!
Diagnostics
There are a few different ways to determine if any given 1969 Five-Won coin is the more rare Wide Date Variety.
Method 1: The Closely Spaced Date Variety has the “9” directly below the “E” in “KOREA.” The Wide Date has the “9” directly below the space between the “E” and the “A” in “KOREA.” You have to look closely, but it is possible to use this diagnostic to determine the variety. Take a look. ↓
Method 2: Korean numismatist Kim Hyeong-eun (who goes by the YouTube moniker, “Time Machine”) has found a more effective diagnostic that exposes the radical difference between the spacing of these two noticeably different logotypes.
Using the flat, back-end of the denomination numeral “5,” simply draw a line parallel to, and touching, that back end of the numeral. Now, extend the line directly through the date “1969.” In the Closely Spaced Date Variety, the line you draw will connect with the top of the last “9” in the date. In the Wide Spaced Date Variety, the line you draw will fly over the top of that last “9” in the date, completely missing it. Take a look. ↓
The Varieties are “Officially” recognized!
Third Party Grading: Coin collectors can submit their coins to companies in the USA known as “Third Party Graders.” These companies provide a grading service — one in which they pass your coin under the eyes of three “professional graders” who individually assign your coin a numeric grade on a 70-point scale. The third and last grader is the “tie-breaker” in case the first two graders disagree on the grade. Then the coin is popped into a supple plastic “core” that holds the coin. The core and coin are then sonically sealed between two clear, hard-plastic clamshells that entomb the coin. Coin collectors often refer to the result as a “slabbed coin” (due to its appearance), a “holdered coin,” or a “graded coin.” Inside this “coin slab” is also a paper tag that displays the name of the coin, its country of origin, and the Third Party Grading company’s assigned grade on that 70-point scale. Third party grading has become a fixture of the U.S. and Korean numismatic markets and usually for those coins that are considered more valuable or unusual.
My Attempt: I once tried to get a Wide Date Spacing 1969 Five-Won coin variety that I own recognized in August 2021 when I submitted one to the Third Party Grading company, Numismatic Grading Company (NGC). NGC refused to do so. This is the message NGC gave me in explanation: “Currently NGC is not interested in recognizing minor date spacing and placement. Because of this we will not be able to offer you the variety check you requested.”
This is how they sent the coin back to me in its “slab” ↓. The variety attribution, “Wide Spaced Date,” should have been typed onto the paper tag inside. But no…
The problem was that the varieties for this coin were not yet “recognized varieties” by NGC at the time.
Well, that situation changed soon enough.
Time Machine (Kim Hyeong-eun, mentioned above) submitted both varieties to NGC in early 2022. Somehow, NGC changed their minds!
This is how Time Machine got his coins back from NGC ↓.
NGC also changed its census to reflect the fact that they now recognize the Closely Spaced Date and Wide Spaced Date Varieties ↓.
Some coin collectors have told me that the reason NGC changed their minds was because of the multiple appeals — both mine and Time Machine’s appeals.
It is still unknown how the coin market will respond to the news of NGC’s recognition and variety attribution. We will see once an NGC-graded Wide Date Spaced Variety of the 1969 Five-Won in mint state condition appears for auction!
If Time Machine puts his NGC-graded Wide Spaced Date Variety up for auction, we will see for sure. That is the best condition example of the Wide Spaced Date variety of the 1969 Five-Won that I have ever seen.
His coin in its graded holder with that grade could easily sell for upwards of the equivalent of $2,000 USD in the Korean numismatic market!
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Time Machine’s YouTube Channel is here (in Korean): https://www.youtube.com/c/TimeMachineCollectionWorld%ED%83%80%EC%9E%84%EB%A8%B8%EC%8B%A0
For a preview of (and to PURCHASE!) my new book, South Korean Coins in the Era of Development, including its table of contents, see:
