A Korean Coin You Should Look For — 1969 10-Won
The ONE Korean coin YOU should look for is the 1969 10-Won coin. Why you ask? I will explain.
First, let’s get a few things out of the way. For those of you who are not familiar with this South Korean coin, here are the detailed specifications for the Series One 10-Won coin, which the 1969-date belongs:
The Series One 10-Won coins, struck between late July 1966 and mid-July 1970, are often referred to as the “bronze” variety 10-Won coins, but are actually composed of a brass alloy of 88% copper and 12% zinc. In 1969, the Korean Mint first started pressing and using their own locally-made working dies, so the 1969 dates may be some of the first South Korean coins to be struck from locally-made tool steel, although the Korean Mint was not yet cutting its own master hubs at this point. The Koreans would not acquire their first Janvier lathe until 1974.
The coin’s main device image is the famous 8th Century Dabo Pagoda that dates from Korea’s Silla Dynasty.
I will assume that you, the viewer, would prefer a coin that has the potential for a return on investment after you’ve enjoyed it in your collection. Therefore, I am advising that you look for 1969 10-Won coins in mint state condition, with decent eye appeal, and have no problems: By “no problems,” of course, we mean that when submitting the coin to a third-party grading company, it will receive a straight-grade with that grading company and not return in a details holder. Like the rest of the 1960s 10-Won coins, the 1969 date is a condition rarity. Meaning it is not too hard to find circulated examples.
Collecting these is perfectly fine, of course, because you can collect any condition coin you prefer and many of these are easily to be found online. However, only uncirculated examples of the Series One 10-Won coins will best be able to provide you with a return on investment, if purchased wisely, as the mint state grades of this coin attract a lot of attention at auction, particularly among Korean collectors and dealers, and because these coins in uncirculated condition are quite difficult to come across in the market nowadays, especially the 1966 and 1969 dates in the 10-Won series.
The official mintage for the 10-Won in the year 1969 has been consistently listed in the South Korean Mint’s decennial “Anniversary” historical publications of 1981, 1991 and 2001 at 46,500,000 pieces. While this mintage is over four times as large as the 10-Won’s 1966 mintage, the 1969-dated coins in mint state are getting almost as difficult to find as the 1966 10-Won in Mint State grades.
This indicates that the majority of the 1969 mintage probably did not sit around in bank vaults in mint bags, but circulated rather heavily in the Korean economy for decades, making extant examples in uncirculated condition difficult to find today. The 10-Won was used heavily in automatic payphones in Korea, especially in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.
South Korea’s Postal Administration, which also oversaw telecommunications, raised the rate of a standard local call from 5 Won to 10 won starting in 1977. Payphone rates increased by 10 won increments over the following 25 years, giving the 10-Won lots of use in circulation. In the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for people to still find 1969 10-Won coins in pocket change.
What does this all mean? It means that Graded examples of 1969-dated 10-Won coins in mint state grades are very sought after in the Korean collector market, and by extension also outside of Korea, which is thanks to the more recent access granted to Korea-based collectors to the North American and European eBay platforms via eBay’s Global Shipping program. 1969 10-Won coins have been hard to find at auction in NGC or PCGS graded holders above MS-63 in the last few years. 1969 10-Won coins attain some of the highest auction values in mint state grades for a Korean business-strike coin, regardless of the auction venue in which the coin appears. Regarding its popularity in the market (by which I mean the bids it attracts), this date is second only to the 1966-dated 10-Won coin in mint state grades. Just a few years ago, the 1970 Bronze 10-Won coin had this distinction of being the second-most sought after date and variety, but its star has probably fallen to about third or fourth place now.
Why should you care about South Korean 10-Won coins dated 1969?
Well, let’s look at some auction results from 2024.
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At South Korea’s main auction venue, Hwadong, one 1969 10-Won coin in NGC MS-64 sold for 370,000 KRW, which is about $260 USD. However, the year before, an example at one grade higher in NGC MS-65 sold for 2,850,000 KRW, which was about $2,300 USD in exchange at the time.
Below are some final hammer prices for Hwadong auctions and eBay in 2023. That MS-65 that sold for over 2,000 USD is shown here at the top. Mind you, these auctions (except for the last one) took place IN KOREA. You will very likely NOT realize such prices for this same coin in these same grades at eBay or other auction venues outside of Korea. However, realized auction prices for these coins in Korea do affect eBay and other auction pricing outside of Korea.
Below are some eBay results from 2024. When selling South Korean coins, auction results vary. There are no guarantees of a decent auction price. However, you may be rewarded with a decent sale price, if you can pick up raw, uncirculated examples that can straight grade at the right buy price.
I think you should keep a look out for 1969 10-Won coins since I believe that the majority of these coins in mint state condition with decent eye appeal are still to be found in the coin markets outside of Korea. With the rising popularity of coin collecting in Korea in recent years in combination with the advent of internet auctions and better access to these auctions to buyers in Korea, many of these better examples have migrated back to Korea after decades of residing in collections and dealer inventories in North America. However, many great examples certainly exist in the North American coin market to this day.
The 1969 10-Won coin you see below is one I’ve recently gotten back that NGC graded at MS-63. This was in September 2024.
With John Albanese now cracking the whip on gradeflation, people are saying that NGC will now be a slightly tougher grader than before, although the coin shown here returned to me in the grade I sort of expected NGC would assign it.
The best way to cherrypick these South Korean first series 10-Won coins is by going to a coin show. Perhaps a big coin show would be best? However I have found nice examples of the 1969 10-Won coin at small coin shows in local dealers’ world coin inventories. If you are in the United States, I’m talking about the kind of coin show that happens at, say, a hotel, a community center or a VFW or American Legion hall.
You will be looking for raw examples in coin binders or boxes, because if you’re going to find them, that’s how you’ll find them in these places. You will almost certainly NEVER find them already graded, unless you’re at a big coin show, and if the coin is graded, the dealer will likely be asking closer to market price anyway. Try to find coins that look like they are in decades-old 2X2s, which is often an indication that the dealer is likely to NOT have kept up with the current market pricing for his world coins.
Make sure to look through the dealer’s “Korea” sections of their world coin binders or boxes as well as under the name “South Korea,” since dealers will use both names when organizing the storage and displays of their world coins. These two names make it possible for you to miss these coins when searching for them in dealer inventories, so be aware of this!
If you find a nice raw UNCIRCULATED example that is NOT cleaned and does NOT have a problem as far as you can tell, and if you think you can accurately assess the grade that a grading company will most likely assign the coin, you might want to make a buy, if you can get it at below the current market for these coins. To find out the current market for 1960s-era South Korean coins, a search of sold auction listings is helpful, but much more informative is this resource below, which is a great way to keep up with the market for such key-date 10-Won coins. There is now a new edition of this Korean Coin guide, with prices current to November 2024.
Once you have a nice example of the 1969 10-Won, you will then probably want to submit the coin to NGC, as this will result in the best sale outcome later when you decide to sell it. And WHY is that? Well, the majority of the potential buyers for this coin, if you sell on eBay, will likely be Korean buyers. NGC submission is important because NGC is the best known and seemingly most trusted grading company in Korea for Korean coins. Coins in holders from the other grading companies are accepted in Korea, but NGC certification will probably result in a higher price compared to the others, as long as the coin receives a Mint State grade and is not in a details holder.
And this is the reason why you should LOOK FOR THIS KOREAN COIN~!
