Item number: A4729

Reference number: KM#1082

Year: AD 1882-1883

Material: Silver

Size: 25.5 x 25.5 mm

Manufactured by: Hojo Bureau Mint, Seoul

Provenance: Auction World 2026

This is a Daedong silver coin (Taedong ŭnjeon), struck in AD 1882 as part of the Joseon Dynasty’s initial attempt to produce modern, holeless silver coinage. It was issued in three denominations: one jeon, two jeon, and three jeon.

The physical form of the coin resembles the traditional round, square-holed cash coins of the Sinospheric currency sphere, featuring a slightly broader outer rim whilst dispensing with both the central square hole and the inner border. The obverse bears the inscription “Daedong i-jeon” (Taedong ijŏn) in regular script (kaishu), read crosswise from top to bottom and right to left. “Daedong” (literally the “Great East”) was employed as an honorific appellation designating the Joseon Dynasty as the “Great Eastern Realm”. The centre of the reverse features a raised circular boss bearing the character “Ho” (戶) cast in relief in regular script, denoting its manufacture by the Hojo (Ministry of Taxation), the institutional equivalent of the Board of Revenue (Hubu) in imperial China, which administered state finances. An incised ring surrounds this central character, and the recessed space between the ring and the brushstrokes is filled with pale blue enamel in the style of cloisonné, presumably intended to project royal authority and intrinsic value.

During the early reign of King Gojong of Joseon, the frequent arrival of foreign vessels at Korean ports and the influx of large Western silver trade dollars undermined the circulation of the indigenous Sangpyeong Tongbo (Sangp’yŏng T’ongbo), prompting Gojong to issue a formal prohibition against Western currency in the tenth lunar month of his third regnal year (AD 1866). In the eleventh month of that year, in order to generate substantial capital to finance the reconstruction of Gyeongbokgung Palace, the regent, the Heungseon Daewongun, adopted the counsel of Left State Councillor Kim Byeong-hak and established furnaces under the Capital Guards Garrison (Geumwiyeong) of the Ministry of Taxation to cast the Dangbaekjeon (value-one-hundred Sangpyeong Tongbo). This coinage was arbitrarily assigned a nominal value one hundred times that of standard cash coins to extract exorbitant seigniorage profits. The Dangbaekjeon induced severe inflation and widespread public refusal; consequently, the court was compelled to suspend casting in the fifth month of the fourth year of Gojong (AD 1867), before officially abolishing the denomination and recalling it without compensation in the tenth month of his fifth year (AD 1868), following a memorial submitted by Choe Ik-hyeon, an Inspector (Jangnyeong) of the Office of the Inspector-General (Saheonbu). To economise, the government imported debased Chinese bronze cash of the Qing Dynasty—including Jiaqing Tongbao, Daoguang Tongbao, and Tongzhi Tongbao—in the sixth month of the fourth year of Gojong (AD 1867). This measure fostered collusion between corrupt officials and merchant syndicates, sparking rampant price inflation and forcing the court to terminate the circulation of Qing cash in the first month of the eleventh year of Gojong (AD 1874).

Following the conclusion of the Treaty of Ganghwa in the thirteenth year of Gojong (AD 1876), Joseon was forced to open its ports to the outside world. As imperial Japan and Western powers expanded their influence, the growth of modern international commerce rendered traditional low-denomination copper-alloy cash wholly inadequate for large transactions, making currency reform an urgent imperial priority. After the outbreak of the Imo Incident (Soldiers’ Riot) in the nineteenth year of Gojong (AD 1882), Qing military forces garrisoned Hanseong (Seoul) and dominated Joseon’s internal administration. The German adviser Paul Georg von Möllendorff, recommended by the Qing court, entered the Joseon government to assume stewardship of fiscal and diplomatic affairs. In an effort to establish a bimetallic standard and restore order to the chaotic market, the Gojong administration resolved to issue modern gold and silver coinage, out of which the Daedong silver coinage (also termed Daedongjeon) was conceived. Following the formalisation of the issuance plan in the seventh month of AD 1882, the government, under Möllendorff’s direction, allocated 30,000 taels of Chinese sycee (“horse-hoof silver”) procured from China via the Ministry of Taxation as bullion raw material. This bullion was struck into three denominations—one jeon, two jeon, and three jeon—and officially released into circulation in the eleventh month of that year. However, because the Daedong silver coins possessed an exceptionally high precious-metal fineness, their release promptly triggered Gresham’s Law: the vast majority were either hoarded by wealthy elites or drained into overseas trade. Compounded by the persistently high acquisition cost of sycee bullion, which prevented sustained mass production, the Daedong silver coinage ultimately failed to serve as a standard currency, and the reform collapsed after only a brief duration.

Following the abortive Daedong silver experiment, the Gojong government adopted the recommendations of Hong Sun-mok in the second month of the twentieth regnal year (AD 1883), establishing the Royal Mint (Chŏnhwan’guk) in the seventh month to cast the Dangojeon (value-five Sangpyeong Tongbo). However, the Dangojeon repeated previous fiscal missteps through rampant debasement, poor metallurgical execution, and over-issuance. To resolve this persistent monetary turmoil and advance national modernisation, the government urgently required the transfer of Western mechanised minting technology. In the twenty-first year of Gojong (AD 1884), the pro-Japanese, radical Enlightenment Party staged the Gapsin Coup; yet, suppressed by Qing forces under the command of Yuan Shikai, the uprising collapsed within three days. In the aftermath, the Korean peninsula became the primary arena of Sino-Japanese geopolitical rivalry. In the twenty-second year of Gojong (AD 1885), Möllendorff, serving as Director-General of the Mint, visited Japan as Vice-Envoy of a diplomatic goodwill mission (Susinsa). Through introductions facilitated by the Japanese authorities, he engaged skilled Japanese technical personnel, including master engravers Inagawa Hikotatsu and Ikeda Takao, formerly of the Japan Mint in Osaka, together with mechanical engineer Mitani Katsuzo. This group of Japanese artisans subsequently struck trial pattern coins bearing the cyclical year mark Eulyu (AD 1885)—specifically a five-mun copper coin and a one-yang tin coin—marking the formal penetration of Japanese minting technology and personnel into the Korean monetary manufacturing apparatus.

In the twenty-fifth year of Gojong (AD 1888), An Sa-su, Assistant Director of the Mint, travelled to Osaka, Japan. Guided by Japanese merchants and Endō Kinsuke, Director of the Osaka Mint, he secured commercial loans from Masuda Nobuyuki, president of the Osaka Copper Works, thereby introducing Japanese capital into the enterprise. In return, the Japanese side demanded managerial control over the Joseon Mint and the official appointment of Ōmiwa Chōbei. This arrangement culminated in the establishment of the Incheon Branch Mint in the twenty-ninth year of Gojong (AD 1892), where Japanese superintendent Yokose Yukihiko and over a dozen Japanese technicians exercised de facto control over production, striking modern denominations including the five-yang silver coin and the two-jeon five-pun cupronickel coin (baekdonghwa). With the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War in the thirty-first year of Gojong (AD 1894), Qing influence was definitively expelled from Korea, enabling Japan to assert comprehensive control over domestic governance via the Gabo Reforms. During this era, cupronickel coinage was illicitly struck in enormous quantities by corrupt officials seeking lucrative seigniorage profits, precipitating catastrophic currency depreciation and rampant inflation. Following the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in the eighth year of Gwangmu (AD 1904), Japan imposed Megata Tanetarō as financial adviser under the First Japan–Korea Agreement. Megata promptly dissolved the Korean Mint, transferred sovereign coining authority to the Osaka Mint in Japan, and placed the First National Bank of Japan (Dai-Ichi Bank) in charge of the discriminatory “Old Currency Adjustment” (Kyūka Seiri). The monetary reforms of the Gojong period thus reached their definitive conclusion amidst the total forfeiture of national fiscal sovereignty.

物件編號: A4729

參考書目編號: KM#1082

年代: 公元 1882-1883 年

材質: 銀

尺寸: 25.5 x 25.5 mm

製造地: 戶曹局(호조국)造幣廠，首爾

來源: Auction World 2026

這是一枚公元1882年，朝鮮王朝首次嘗試無方孔的近代銀元，因而所鑄行之「大東銀錢」。有一錢、二錢和三錢三種面額。

錢幣形制類似傳統漢文化圈之方孔圓錢，有著稍寬的外輪，取消方孔及內廓的設計。錢幣正面錢文為「大東二錢」楷書，由上而下，由右至左對讀。「大東」即以「偉大的東方王國」代指朝鮮王朝。錢幣背面中央有一圓檯，錢文陽刻楷書「戶」字標示其為戶曹所造，相當於漢地王朝之戶部，主司財政。外鐫一環，環與錢文筆畫間填充淺藍色琺瑯，呈掐絲琺瑯樣式，大約用意為展示權威與價值。

朝鮮高宗繼位初期，外國船隻頻繁造訪港口，西洋大型銀元的滲透動搖了常平通寶的流通根基，促使高宗於三年（公元1866年）十月頒布西洋貨幣禁令。同年十一月，攝政興宣大院君為籌措重修景福宮的巨額資金，採納左議政金炳學建議，由戶曹轄下禁衛營設爐鑄造常平通寶當百錢，強行賦予其百倍面值以獲取暴利。當百錢引發嚴重的通貨膨脹與民間拒收，政府被迫於高宗四年（公元1867年）五月停鑄，並於高宗五年（公元1868年）十月採納司憲府掌令崔益鉉奏議廢除並無償回收。為節省成本，政府於高宗四年（公元1867年）六月引進清朝嘉慶、道光及同治通寶等低質銅錢，結果引發官商勾結與物價暴漲，被迫於高宗十一年（公元1874年）正月停止清錢流通。

隨著高宗十三年（公元1876年）《江華條約》的簽署，朝鮮被迫開放門戶，日本與西方列強勢力相繼滲透，近代國際貿易的擴張使傳統小額銅錢難以滿足需求，幣制改革遂成為當務之急。高宗十九年（公元1882年）壬午軍亂爆發後，清朝軍隊進駐漢城並主導朝鮮內政，清朝推薦的德籍顧問穆麟德（Paul Georg von Möllendorff）隨之進入朝鮮政府掌管財政與外事。為建立金銀本位制度並整頓混亂市場，高宗政府決定發行近代金銀幣，大東銀錢（又稱大東錢）遂應運而生。在高宗十九年（公元1882年）七月確定發行計畫後，政府在穆麟德指導下，由戶曹撥用從中國購入的三萬兩馬蹄銀作為原料，壓鑄成大東一錢、二錢、三錢等三種面額，於同年十一月正式發行上市。然而，由於大東銀錢成色極佳，發行後迅速遭遇格雷欣法則，多數銀幣被富人藏匿或流向海外貿易，加上原料馬蹄銀價格居高不下致使政府無力大量生產，大東銀錢最終未能發揮本位貨幣的功能，改革僅維繫短暫時日便宣告失敗。

大東銀錢挫敗後，高宗政府於二十年（公元1883年）二月採納洪淳穆建議，於七月設立典圜局並鑄造常平通寶當五錢，但當五錢再次重蹈劣幣濫鑄與品質低劣的覆轍。為擺脫幣制混亂並推進近代化，政府亟需引進西方機器造幣技術。高宗二十一年（公元1884年）親日激進開化黨發動甲申政變，經袁世凱所率清軍干涉，僅維持三日即告失敗。政變過後，朝鮮成為中日博弈的前線，擔任典圜局總管的穆麟德於高宗二十二年（公元1885年）作為修信副使訪問日本，在日本政府引薦下，結識並招聘了前日本造鑄局（大阪造幣局）雕刻大師稻川彥太都、池田隆雄及機械技師三谷克三等日本技術人員。這批日本工匠隨後試鑄了「乙酉年」（高宗二十二年）記號的五文銅幣與一兩錫幣，標誌著日本造幣技術與人員正式進入朝鮮貨幣製造體系。

高宗二十五年（公元1888年）典圜局幫辦安駟壽前往日本大阪，在日本商人與大阪造幣局局長達藤謹助等人的引導下，向日本大阪制銅會社社長增田信之借款並引進日本資本。日方以賦予日本人典圜局經營權及任命大三輪長兵衛為官吏為條件，促成高宗二十九年（公元1892年）仁川典圜局的設立，由日本監管橫瀨之彥及十多名日本技術人員實際控制生產，陸續壓鑄五兩銀幣、二錢五分白銅幣等新式貨幣。高宗三十一年（公元1894年）甲午中日戰爭爆發，清朝勢力徹底退出朝鮮，日本藉由甲午改革完全控制朝鮮內政。期間，白銅幣因官吏私鑄與暴利而被大量濫造，導致幣值暴跌、物價飛漲。光武八年（公元1904年）日俄戰爭爆發後，日本透過《韓日協定書》派駐財政顧問目賀田種太郎，隨即廢除典圜局，將造幣權移交日本大阪造幣局，並由日本第一銀行主導「舊貨幣整理」，高宗時期的貨幣改革最終在主權淪喪中落幕。