The Bank of Chosun's postwar 10 Yen/Won notes occupy an awkward transitional moment: Japan had surrendered in August 1945, but Korea's monetary infrastructure didn't shift overnight. This series bridged the Japanese colonial currency system and whatever would come next — which, as it turned out, depended entirely on which side of the 38th parallel you were on. The dual denomination inscription reflects genuine institutional uncertainty about which unit of account would prevail.
Soviet and American occupation authorities both accepted and in some cases overprinted Chosun Bank notes, making provenance and circulation geography difficult to establish for individual specimens.
The Bank of Chosun's postwar 10 Yen/Won notes occupy an awkward transitional moment: Japan had surrendered in August 1945, but Korea's monetary infrastructure didn't shift overnight. This series bridged the Japanese colonial currency system and whatever would come next — which, as it turned out, depended entirely on which side of the 38th parallel you were on. The dual denomination inscription reflects genuine institutional uncertainty about which unit of account would prevail.
Soviet and American occupation authorities both accepted and in some cases overprinted Chosun Bank notes, making provenance and circulation geography difficult to establish for individual specimens.