KOREA, struck coins
    Korea pretty much kept to itself after the Mongol invasion, content with a formal vassalage to China.  The deal was a bit of tribute, all foreign affairs defaulting to the China position, and China let it do its thing internally.  Chinese weakness in the late 19th century left an apparent opening for interlopers Russia and Japan, and in the event Japan occupied and colonized Korea.  The Japanese were rather rude and crude in their modernizing efforts, the Koreans resented and continued resenting to this very second.  There are approximately no Japanese cars sold in Korea.  The modern style Korean coinage was adopted under the influence of the foreigners.

Mark Lovmo has posted a nice historical page on South Korean coins: http://www.dokdo-research.com/koreancoins.html

KOREA, KINGDOM, 1/2 chon K1124 KM-10 (1906) mostly brown AU, bits of luster, some dark areas, $60.00 sold
Click picture for enlargement.
 
 
 

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SOUTH KOREA, Seoul olympics silver set, 8 each of 5000 & 10,000 won silver coins, 16 total, BUs in capsules, no case or papers, $565.00
Click pictures for enlargements.
All of the apparent surface variation you see in the pictures has to do with the capsules and lighting.  The coins themselves are uniformly perfect.
 
 



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