Digital museum showcasing the collection of worldwide legends over the years! 千古不朽博物館展示多年來收藏的世界傳奇故事!
Qing Dynasty
Guangxu Yuanbao
(Korean Pirate Version)
清
光緒元寶
(韓改版)
Item number: A1247
Year: AD 1903-1911
Material: Copper
Size: 27.1 x 27.1 mm
Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2016
This is an intriguing coin produced by Korean profiteers and Japanese ronin. It was crafted using a counterfeit mould of the Zhejiang Province “Water Dragon” Guangxu Tongbao coin, but it is based on the 5 Fun copper coin issued during Korea’s Gwangmu 2nd year (AD 1898). This type of coin is commonly referred to by collectors as the “Korean Pirate Version.”
The obverse features a design based on the Korean 5 Fun coin, rotated approximately 120 degrees to the right. The surface is stamped with the image of a water dragon spitting out a dragon pearl, taken from the “Water Dragon” motif on the Guangxu Yuanbao. Behind the water dragon, faint traces of the original floral and plum blossom decorations from the Korean coin can still be discerned.
Both the Korean 5 Fun and the Chinese Guangxu Yuanbao coins feature a beaded circle on the reverse. This particular coin pays special attention to the reverse’s polishing, removing the two dragon motifs from the Korean 5 Fun that would typically appear within the circle, making the four characters “光緒元寶” (Guangxu Yuanbao) more clearly visible.
Outside the beaded circle, remnants of the Korean script and English letters, as well as the more complete Chinese year inscription “光武二年” (Gwang Mu 2nd Year), are visible. The characters “(浙)江省造” (minted in Zhejiang Province) and the Manchu script “ᠪᠠᡠ” (Bao) from the Guangxu Tongbao are also present.
In the 26th year of Guangxu (AD 1900), after China began minting Western-style copper coins, the provincial mints responsible for these operations, to speed up production, began importing copper blanks that had already been partially processed in Japan. After being stamped, these blanks could quickly be turned into coins. This channel was discovered by unscrupulous merchants from Japan and Korea, who imported 5-fun copper coins from Korea, which were of similar size but only half the price of Guangxu Yuanbao coins.
These coins were often only lightly polished before having the Guangxu Yuanbao inscriptions stamped on them, and they flooded the coastal markets of China. These counterfeit coins circulated widely from the Liaodong Peninsula to Fujian, with Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shandong provinces being the major regions where counterfeit Guangxu Tongbao coins were most found.