CHON: COIN OF KOREA
1 chon, 1909: Korea (Japanese Protectorate)
Ruler: Sunjong — Korean ruler, the second and last emperor of Korea.
The date is indicated as "三": the 3rd year of Yunghui Era /Yunghui Era: 1907-1910/ = 1909.
The legend on the coin is in Chinese, Korean (Hangul) and English.
大 韓 - 隆熙 三年: Great Korea - Third year of Yunghui.
일전: one chon (jeon).
1 CHON.
Imperial eagle: fabulous phoenix ("secular bird").一 錢: 1 qián (in the context of the monetary unit of Korea — 1 chon).
5-petalled plum flower (imperial seal of Korea). Denomination surrounded by a wreath of Rose of Sharon and plum.
Mintage: 9.200.000.
- Copper: 23 mm - 4.26 g
- Reference price: 27.0$
COIN CHON — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- KOREA (dependent, 1902-1910) — RUSSIAN OCCUPATION, JAPANESE PROTECTORATE: chon = 1/100 won
- KINGDOM OF JOSEON + KOREAN EMPIRE (...-1910): chon = 1/100 won (earlier: 1/10 yang)
- DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA (NORTH KOREA, 1959-…): chon = 1/100 won
CHON as coin name.
Chon (전) — Korean coin, subunit of main local currencies (old yang and modern won). It was first issued at the end of the 19th century: before the division of the single Korea into two separate states (Republic of Korea and Democratic People's Republic of Korea). As of the beginning of the 21st century, it is minted exclusively by North Korea (DPRK).
In fact, in ancient times chon in Korea was the name given to Chinese qian — copper coins of a rounded shape with a square hole in the center.
Korea. At the end of the 19th century several types of trial chon appeared: unusual at that time silver coins with colored enamel, as well as cast bronze coins. Today, these coins are practically not found among numismatists. Chon gained popularity in Korean lands during 1905-1910. At that time, a whole series of small coins of this denomination were minted: 1, 5, 10 and 20 chon made of bronze, copper-nickel alloy and silver. It is interesting that the denomination on these coins is not written in Hangul (modern Korean alphabet, which has been the main one in Korea since 1945), but in Hanja (outdated Korean writing based on Chinese characters). Also, the name of the denomination is duplicated with Latin symbols — CHON.
South Korea. During the entire existence of South Korea, the state has never issued a chon, although since 1945 this coin has been consistently used as a formal exchange coin (accounting unit). However, most sources refer to South Korean chon as jeon.
North Korea. North Korean Cheon in the form of coins have been issued since 1959 until today. These coins of 1959, 1970, 1974 and 1978 entered the history of numismatics thanks to an interesting feature: each of the denominations was minted in three varieties with special markings for three cases of use — with 1 star (for guests of North Korea from the countries of the socialist camp), with 2 stars (for representatives of the capitalist world) and without stars (for local residents).
