Preface:
South Korean coins are currently gaining huge popularity in worldwide coin markets. This trend is not just a phenomenon resulting from the uptick in interest in numismatics during the covid pandemic; realized prices for South Korean coins have seen upward trends for at least the past 10 years. From 2020 to 2022, that interest has soared.
Below are the main key date coins in the South Korea series with which you need to become familiar, and some necessary information about them, for those who want to start seriously considering collecting, investing, or dealing in them.
The vast majority of high-grade South Korean coins bought and sold in Korea appear in NGC graded holders. The Korean market has no problem with PCGS, but NGC has evidently cornered the market with the South Korea series. The market for these coins in Korea has been one of the main drivers of prices for these coins outside of Korea, with eBay’s “Global Shipping Program” now allowing many in Korea to access the North American and European eBay platforms for the first time. However, these more vigorous price levels for South Korean coins have been standing on their own in markets outside of Korea without the help of Korean buyers for years now. It is true, nonetheless, that it is the combination of Korean buyers entering the North American and European eBay platforms along with the “covid-pandemic effect” that have really spiked realized prices in the 2020–2022 period.
ONE WON COIN
1966 One-Won
This coin is the lowest denomination South Korean coin. The 1966 date is a first-year strike, and in that year the country first issued the One-Won alongside the Five-Won and 10-Won coins. These were the first Korean coins to be issued in the new won (the name of the currency of South Korea from June 1962 to present). The 1966 date is likely a condition rarity, since many of these first One-Won coins that one encounters in the coin market seem to have circulation wear. This coin only appeared in brass (60% Cu, 40% Zn) for the 1966 and 1967 strikes. All later dates are aluminum composition.
The copper One-Won is the only South Korean won coin to have been officially withdrawn from circulation (on December 1, 1980), although it is technically still legal tender.
The 1966 One-Won does not often appear in third-party graded holders above MS-65. The majority of mint state-graded coins in the NGC census are MS-63 and MS-64.
There is a common clashed dies error in this date.
Recent (2022) pricing for top grades [1966 One-Won]: Hwadong auction (Korea) in September 2021, NGC MS-66=1,110,000 won ($935); Hwadong auction (Korea) in April 2022, NGC MS-65=560,000 won ($440); eBay auctions in May 2022, NGC MS-66 =$820; May 2022, NGC MS-65=$380.
1995, 1996, and 1997 One-Won
South Korea’s currency authorities severely limited the issue of the One-Won coin after the early 1980s. By the early 1990s, the One-Won was effectively no longer in circulation and began to be minted exclusively for official Bank of Korea mint and gift sets in 1995. As these set were limited in production, the One-Won coins placed in them were likewise low-mintage.
The 1995, 1996, and 1997 One-Won coins exhibit the “Currency Arrangement Plan” design scheme that first appeared on these coins in 1983. This new design was simply an update that was meant to standardize a basic design scheme across all six circulating South Korean coins.
The 1995, 1996 and 1997 One-Won coins were minted at only 15,000 pieces in each of these years. Ostensibly, they never circulated. These dates have the lowest-mintage for the One-Won. They are therefore considered “absolute rarities.”
10,000 of the 15,000 mintage from each of these three years appeared exclusively in Bank of Korea coin sets. When freed from their mint sets, these three dates are almost always found in the South Korean numismatic market and often in graded holders. It is very difficult to encounter these three dates of the One-Won coin outside of the Korean market.
Recent (2022) pricing for top grades:
1995 One-Won: Hwadong auction (Korea) in September 2021, NGC MS-65=170,000 won ($145); Hwadong auction (Korea) in July 2021, NGC MS-63=96,000 won ($85)
1996 One-Won: Hwadong auction (Korea) in May 2022, NGC MS-68=900,000 won ($718); Hwadong auction (Korea) in March 2022, NGC MS-67=280,000 won ($230); Hwadong auction (Korea) in November 2021, NGC MS-66=160,000 won ($135)
1997 One-Won: Hwadong auction (Korea) in March 2022, NGC MS-67=300,000 won ($245); Hwadong auction (Korea) in March 2022, NGC MS-66=211,000 won ($175)
Minor Key Dates: 1968 (66.5 million mintage; first year in aluminum); 2000 (30,000 mintage; only appeared in a mint set); 2003 (20,000 mintage; only appeared in a mintset) and 2004 (25,500 mintage; only appeared in a mint set). These last three dates are very difficult to find outside of Korea, and especially independent of a coin set.
There are One-Won coins that have also been struck in matte proof or reverse proof finish for special “foreign gift sets” for the following years: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
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