Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Won
| Issuer | Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
|---|---|
| Year | 1978 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Won |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse carries a central vignette of three figures — a soldier, a woman, and a worker — raising a torch aloft in a heroic Juche-inspired composition, set against a light guilloche underprint. The state emblem of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea appears at the left, with the year date 1978 above it. The denomination 50 is printed in the upper right corner, and the value in Korean script (오십원) runs along the lower margin, accompanied by a serial number in red at centre-left and right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse presents a large intaglio landscape vignette of a tranquil lakeside or riverside scene with conifers in the foreground and a snow-capped mountain range in the distance, rendered in brown and olive tones. Decorative floral and foliate borders frame the left and right edges. The denomination numeral 50 appears in the upper left corner, with the value in Korean script (오십원) repeated at the lower left and lower right, and the issuing bank name inscribed along the bottom centre. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The 1978 North Korean won series was produced during a period when the DPRK maintained two parallel currency systems — one for domestic use by citizens, one for foreign visitors and diplomats using "exchange certificates." This 50 Won belongs to the domestic series, which circulated under tight state controls with little functional relationship between face value and purchasing power in the increasingly dysfunctional command economy.
The "L" suffix in the Pick reference denotes a later printing of the original 1978 design, distinguished primarily by serial number prefixes. Differentiating these printings in the field requires close attention to ink tone and font consistency — the plates were reused across multiple runs spanning into the 1980s.