FUN: COIN OF KOREA
5 fun, 1898: Korean Empire
The date is indicated as "二": the second year of Gwangmu Era /Gwangmu Era: 1897-1907/ = 1898.
Two mythical dragons inside a circle.
5 FUN - 大韓 - 光武二年 - 오푼: 5 fun - Great Korea - Second year of Gwangmu - 5 fun (denomination of the coin is written in Latin and Hangul — a writing system for the Korean language created by King Sejong the Great in 1443).
5-petalled plum flower (imperial seal of Korea). Denomination surrounded by a wreath of Rose of Sharon and plum.
五 分: five fun (denomination of the coin is written in Hanja/Hancha — Chinese characters used to write the Korean language).
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Hangul was practically not used in literature, as it was considered too simple; instead, the Chinese-based Hancha script was used.
So, on this coin, the denomination is indicated in three scripts: Hanja (in the largest font), Latin and Hangul.
- Copper: 28 mm - 7.1 g
- Reference price: 37$
COIN FUN — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- KINGDOM OF JOSEON (1892-1896) + KOREAN EMPIRE (1898-1902): fun = 1/10 chon = 1/100 yang
FUN as coin name.
Fun coin has nothing to do with anything funny, although such an assumption seems obvious at first sight ))
In fact, it was a historical coin of Korea — first the Kingdom of Joseon, later the Korean Empire.
It was issued at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (just during the period of Korean history, when the state abandoned its historical name Great Joseon State and before the annexation by Japan).
Fun is a variety or derivative of the Chinese fen. Both of these coins were denoted by a single character — 分, which indicated the equality of 1/10 part (fun = 1/10 chon, fen = 1/10 jiao).
By the way, the denomination was indicated in Hanja (分), Latin (fun), and Hangul (페 — pronounced "pun" but spelt with an "f" on the coins).
In numismatics, the fun of 1892-1896 of the Kingdom of Joseon issue and the fun of the Korean Empire issue of 1898-1902, which is as similar in design to it, are considered separately.
