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1 Mun Seal script
| Issuer | Kingdom of Goryeo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1097-1105 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | 1.3 mm |
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| Obverse description | Cast bronze cash coin of the traditional East Asian type, featuring a central square perforation surrounded by a raised inner rim. Four Chinese characters in archaic seal script (篆書) are arranged in the four cardinal positions around the central hole, reading clockwise: 海, 通, 東, 寶, forming the legend 海東通寶 ('Currency of the Eastern Sea'). The characters are rendered in the stylized, curvilinear strokes characteristic of seal script calligraphy, set within a broad, slightly convex field. The coin exhibits a heavily patinated surface with green cuprite and azurite encrustation consistent with long burial, and an outer raised rim delineates the coin's circumference. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Chinese (traditional, seal script) |
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| Additional information |
Issued under King Sukjong of Goryeo, this coin was part of a deliberate state effort to establish a cash-coin economy in a kingdom that had relied primarily on grain and cloth as transaction media for centuries. The campaign largely failed — Korean merchants and peasants continued preferring commodity exchange well into the Joseon period, leaving many of these coins in effectively uncirculated condition despite their age.
The seal-script designation distinguishes this from contemporaneous Goryeo issues using standard clerical script, a detail that matters for attribution given how frequently these types are conflated in older Western references.