Koryo Hoard Found?
sumnom
Posts: 5,963 ✭✭✭
I may be the only one on this board who is excited about this but I heard something very interesting and I must share it with you all.
I was shopping for Korean cash in Seoul today and found some very cheaply priced Haedong T'ongbo coins. I assumed they were fakes and kept looking. When I asked the dealer if he had any coins from the Choson dynasty that I might look at, he said, "I have Koryo coins."
"I would like to see some Choson coins."
"I have Koryo! Take a look!"
He had a few dozen Haedong T'ongbo, Samhan Chungbo, and Tongguk T'ongbo (small and large character varieties). The prices ranged from the equivalent of about four US dollars on up to around 20 bucks. Granted, the coins were in very poor condition but this is way too cheap for coins that usually go for at least $75 to $100 if and often very much more. I asked him if they were real and he assured me they were. When iIasked about his suspiciously cheap prices, he said that prices for Koryo coins have fallen through the floor since he discovery of a massive hoard in Kaesong, the capital of Koryo, currently located in North Korea. The coins have been shipped out the north, through China, to South Korea by the many tens of thousands.
I still had a hard time believing it so I told I would come back later and I went to talk to a dealer whom I know a little better and asked about the news. He too said it was true and added with evident frustration that as the coins passed through China, Chinese collectors took most of the best examples before they ever got to Korea.
So it seems to be true. It excites me because these coins were for the most part out of my price range and generally not around to be purchased anyway. Now they seem to be rather common and easily affordable. This is really a monumental change in Korean coin collecting, assuming it is true, and it seems to be.
Has anyone else heard anything about this? I sent a message to Scott Semans about it but haven't gotten a reply yet. I'd be interested to hear wht he has to say about it.
I was shopping for Korean cash in Seoul today and found some very cheaply priced Haedong T'ongbo coins. I assumed they were fakes and kept looking. When I asked the dealer if he had any coins from the Choson dynasty that I might look at, he said, "I have Koryo coins."
"I would like to see some Choson coins."
"I have Koryo! Take a look!"
He had a few dozen Haedong T'ongbo, Samhan Chungbo, and Tongguk T'ongbo (small and large character varieties). The prices ranged from the equivalent of about four US dollars on up to around 20 bucks. Granted, the coins were in very poor condition but this is way too cheap for coins that usually go for at least $75 to $100 if and often very much more. I asked him if they were real and he assured me they were. When iIasked about his suspiciously cheap prices, he said that prices for Koryo coins have fallen through the floor since he discovery of a massive hoard in Kaesong, the capital of Koryo, currently located in North Korea. The coins have been shipped out the north, through China, to South Korea by the many tens of thousands.
I still had a hard time believing it so I told I would come back later and I went to talk to a dealer whom I know a little better and asked about the news. He too said it was true and added with evident frustration that as the coins passed through China, Chinese collectors took most of the best examples before they ever got to Korea.
So it seems to be true. It excites me because these coins were for the most part out of my price range and generally not around to be purchased anyway. Now they seem to be rather common and easily affordable. This is really a monumental change in Korean coin collecting, assuming it is true, and it seems to be.
Has anyone else heard anything about this? I sent a message to Scott Semans about it but haven't gotten a reply yet. I'd be interested to hear wht he has to say about it.
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No, I have not heard anything about this Korean cash hoard, I asked my local dealer a few days ago about Korean cash coins and he says that Japanese and Korean cash are seldom offered to him.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
An-yong i ka ship she o!
PS: please pardon my spelling; I don't know how to write Korean phonics!
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
Cool. Now, buy a bunch and sell to US dealers at big prices! Buyer's beware!!
Sumnom, in which part of town are those dealers? I've got some friends over there that might be interested. They're history buffs, not really collectors.. I've been trying to get them to shop for coins for me, this might give 'em a push. PM me if you're willing to expose your sources
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