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| Issuer | Joseon (Daejoeon) Government Treasury (戶曹) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1893 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 券換兌鮮朝 兌換署 戶曹 兩拾 換貨用以批 也交正通券 것환으ᄒᆞᄂᆞᆫ이 시ᄒᆞ로ᄂᆞᆫ퉁환 라ᄂᆞᆫ교동용표 (Translation: Joseon Exchange Note, Exchange Office Department Ho Ju, Ten Yang, This voucher is to be exchanged for common copper) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Tai Whan Shou Promises to Pay the Bearer on Demand Ten Yang in Current Coin. TEN YANG. 십 |
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| Comments |
Korea's first domestically printed government notes, this 10 Yang series of 1893 was produced by the Joseon government's own printing bureau — a deliberate assertion of fiscal independence at a moment when Japanese and Chinese commercial influence over Korean finances was intensifying. The bureau had only recently been established, and the technical limitations showed: ink distribution was inconsistent across the print run, and the paper stock was domestic mulberry paper rather than the more durable European rag stock used by foreign-printed issues of the same period.
Circulation was brief and troubled. Public confidence in paper currency remained weak, and the notes were largely rejected by merchants outside government channels. Surviving examples are rare precisely because so few were accepted into ordinary trade.