Корейская монета мун: История и эволюция (1625–1892)

1625–1892 currency of Joseon

The mun (hangul=문) was introduced as the main currency of Korea in 1625 and stayed in use until 1892. Prior to the mun, cash coins with the inscriptions tongbo (通寶) and jungbo (重寶) and silver vases called ŭnbyŏng were used as currency in the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392), as well as imported Chinese currency. The mun resembled and was derived from the Chinese wén (cognate also to the Japanese mon, Ryukyuan mon, and the Vietnamese văn). Coins denominated in mun were cast in copper alloys such as brass or bronze and were round with square holes. From the 17th century until the end of the 19th century, coins denominated in mun bearing the inscription Sangpyeong Tongbo (상평통보, 常), introduced in 1633, were the most widely circulated currency. In 1888, coins were struck in small numbers denominated in mun and won (written as "warn", which were equal to 1000 mun). The mun was replaced in 1892 when the yang was introduced. The cast coins of the mun would remain in circulation long after their abolition. They continued to be legal tender in Korea at a value of 0.1 chon (1/1000 won) until 1908, when they were revalued to 0.2 chon, or 1/500 won.

The first definitive record of currency use in Korea appears in the Goryeo period (918–1392). Early in that period, even though some imported Chinese currency from the Tang and Song dynasties were in circulation, commodity currency such as grain and linen continued in general circulation. In the 10th and 11th centuries, iron and bronze coins were issued, but saw limited circulation among the common people. Around this time, the Goryeo government issued a new monetary policy regarding the minting and distribution of cash coins. This decree was implemented to both strengthen royal authority and to regulate the national finances of Korea. King Sukjong of Goryeo created a new monetary system based on round copper alloy coins with square holes as well as the ŭnbyŏng (銀, 은병) shaped like the Korean peninsula. The coins were produced bearing the inscriptions 東 (동국/Dong guk or "Eastern Country"), 海 (해동/hae dong or "East of the Sea"), and 三 (삼한/Samhan). An extremely rare variant of the Samhan Tongbo (삼한통보, 三韓通寶) cash coin exists that bears the character 叁 written in "official script" instead of 三, of which only 2 have currently been found. Historians suggest that the ŭnbyŏng primarily used by the aristocratic classes and that were also often involved in the bribing of government officials. The Sejong era Joseon Tongbo cash coins were only issued in the years 1423 (Sejong 5), 1424 (Sejong 6), and 1425 (Sejong 7) and all of these cash coins distinctively use the regular script font of Chinese characters which tended to be both clearly and distinctively inscribed while their reverse sides tend to be blank (blank reverses are known as "光背"). The Kings of Joseon were consistently creating new legislation aimed at promoting coins and promoted their manufacture to be widely used. These new markets and the merchants that they brought with them substantially raised the importance of currency, cash coins were now highly valued due to their ease of transportation and storage. A number of different 10 mun and 1 jeon versions of the Joseon Tongbo cash coins were also created around the year 1881, these cash coins were experimental and therefore quite rare and not many contemporary records were written about them. The adoption of the Sangpyeong Tongbo was slow, this was because the Korean economy didn't have much need for coinage in "commercial" quantities. The mother coin was initially prepared by engraving a pattern with the legend of the cash coin which had to be manufactured. In the manufacturing process mother coins were used to impress the design in moulds which were made from easily worked metals such as tin and these moulds were then placed in a rectangular frame made from pear wood filled with fine wet sand, possibly mixed with clay, and enhanced with either charcoal or coal dust to allow for the molten metal to smoothly flow through, this frame would act as a layer that separates the two parts of the coin moulds. The mother coin was recovered by the people who cast the coins and was placed on top of the second frame and the aforementioned process was repeated until fifteen layers of moulds had formed based on this single mother coin. After cooling down a "coin tree" (錢樹, 전수) or long metallic stick with the freshly minted cash coins attached in the shape of "branches" would be extracted from the mould and these coins could be broken off and if necessary had their square holes chiseled clean, after this the coins were placed on a long metal rod to simultaneously remove the rough edges for hundreds of coins and then these cash coins could be strung together and enter circulation. Because of the way that the Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coins looked likes the leaves of a tree branch during this process, they were known as yeopjeon (葉錢) which could be translated as "leaf coin". The widespread success of the Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coins also brought about many social changes to Korean society. One of these changes was the emergence of byeoljeon, these were non monetary decorative objects that reflected on the desire of people to gain more wealth. Most Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coins tend to be cast of high quality and have a yellowish colour and very clearly written Chinese characters, these were usually produced earlier at one of the 52 government mints, as well as to rebuild the Gyeongbok Palace. After its introduction, the mun started to suffer from inflation. This was because the intrinsic value of the 100 mun coin was only five to six times as much as 5 mun coins, leading to the consumer price of e. g. rice to expand sixfold within 2 years. This eventually lead to traders preferring silver foreign currency such as the Mexican peso, Japanese yen, Russian ruble, and Chinese sycees. As a result, some people started to melt smaller Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coins down to make counterfeit money. People who had older, lower denomination Sangpyeong Tongbo avoided exchanging them with the newer 100 mun coins and withheld their Sangpyeong Tongbo from the market. The new 100 mun series would be discontinued in April 1867 after being produced only for 172 days. Despite no longer being produced, the government of Joseon continued distributing them into Korean markets until an appeal from Choe Ik hyeon convinced the government that these coins had an adverse effect on every class of Korean society. The introduction of the 100 mun coin happened concurrent with the Tenpō Tsūhō 100 mon coin issued by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1835 (in reaction to government deficit), the 100 wén coin by the Qing dynasty in 1853 (in reaction to the Taiping rebellion), the Ryukyuan 100 mon and half Shu cash coins, and the large denomination Tự Đức Bảo Sao cash coins in Vietnam. All of these large denomination cash coins also caused inflation on comparable levels.

Following the prohibition of the circulation of the Dangbaekjeon cash coins the government started receiving huge losses. Hence, to secure another source of revenue and to cover its losses, the Joseon government legalise the use of Qing Chinese money in Korea in June 1867, these Chinese cash coins were smuggled into by Korean interpreters of Mandarin Chinese. Among the Qing dynasty cash coin inscriptions it imported were the Jiaqing Tongbao (嘉慶通寶), Daoguang Tongbao (道光通寶), and Tongzhi Tongbao (同治通寶) and these would officially circulate in Korea at par with the native Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coins, this was despite the fact that these Qing dynasty cash coins only had around 1/3 of the intrinsic value of Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coins. In the 11th year of the reign of King Gojong (1874), in January of that year that Joseon banned the circulation of Chinese cash coins within their borders, since the Chinese money accelerated price hikes just as the Dae Dong Jeon would later have. The total amount of Chinese cash coins in circulation at the time amounted to three or four million yang. This was as much as 3/10 or 4/10 of the outstanding Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coins. This sudden contraction of the volume of money in circulation caused an economic depression and led to a rise in unemployment.

The Korean government introduced the Dangojeon (當五錢, 당오전, alternatively Romanised as Tangojeon) in 1883, like the earlier Dangbaekjeon and legalisation of Qing Chinese money this denomination also caused a sharp decline in the value of coinage which brought a lot of turmoil to the Korean economy. The effects that the Dangojeon had caused were not as bad as those that were caused by the gross overvaluing of the Danbaekjeon cash coins, but the effects were nevertheless not beneficial for both the Korean economy and the Korean currency system.

Various other symbols to identify specific coins were also used such as the Thousand Character Classic, "furnace" and "series" numbers, as the Five Elements, astronomical symbols, the Eight Trigrams, the Ten Celestial Stems, the Twelve Terrestrial Branches, as well as a variety of characters with an unknown purpose. to indicate furnace numbers or "series" number. was used to indicate furnace or "series" numbers. was written on their reverses as well as a number of other Hanja characters. At least three different sets of dies were cut for machine struck 5 mun Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coins, these designs resembled the 1883 issue 5 mun cast yeopjeon versions of the coins. Only one of these three sets is known to have actually been engraved. In the year 1891 the chief engraver of the Osaka Mint in Japan, Masuda, created this design. Only one of these three designs ever saw (very limited) circulation.

During late 19th century the only modern banknotes circulating in Korea were issued by the Dai'ichi Kokuritsu Ginkō (First National Bank), a Japanese bank which operated several branches in Korea. Banknotes of the Keijo Pusan Railway Company (1900) Image Value Main Colour Description Date of issue Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse 50 mun(五拾文) Dark blue Image of a steam train; denomination; text. Company logo; text; company seal. 1900 100 mun(百文) Brown Image of a steam train; denomination; text. Company logo; text; company seal. 1900 300 mun(三百文) Image of a steam train; denomination; text. Company logo; text; company seal. 1900 500 mun(五百文) Orange Image of a steam train; denomination; text. Company logo; text; company seal. 1900