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.

物件編號: A1247

年代: 公元 1903-1911 年

材質: 銅

尺寸: 27.1 x 27.1 mm

來源: 大城郵幣社 2016

這是一枚十分有趣的，清朝末年由韓國奸商和日本浪人以韓國光武2年(公元1898年) 發行的五分銅幣為底版，以仿冒的浙江省造水龍版光緒通寶模具鑄造的光緒元寶銅錢，收藏界將這類錢幣稱作「韓改版」。

正面以向右旋轉約120度的韓國五分為底版，在其表面上壓印光緒元寶吐出龍珠的水龍意象。於水龍身後依稀能見原先韓國錢幣的部分花環和梅花裝飾。

不論是韓國的五分或中國的光緒元寶在背面都有一道珠圈。這枚錢幣對於背面的打磨較為用心，將出現在圓圈內的兩條韓國戲龍圖像都塗去，使得「光緒元寶」四個漢字輪廓較為清晰。珠圈外面能看到原先出現在韓國五分錢幣的部分韓文和英文單字和較為完整的漢字年份「光武二年」字樣。屬於光緒通寶的則有漢字「(浙)江省造」和滿文「 ᠪᠠᡠ」(寶)。

光緒26年 (公元1900年)，中國開始鑄造西式銅幣之後，當時各省負責相關事宜的銅元局為盡快趕工，多從日本直接進口已經過初步加工的銅坯，經過印花之後就能直接生成銅幣。這一個渠道被來自日本和韓國的不肖商人發現商機，他們從韓國進口大小相似但是價格只有光緒元寶一半的五分銅幣，常常只有經過簡單打磨就打印光緒元寶的字樣，並且流入中國沿海省份的市場。這些錢幣流通於遼東半島至福建的廣大沿海地區，其中以浙江、江蘇和山東三個省份的光緒通寶為仿冒的大宗。