Standalone Korea Coin Encyclopedia

North Korean Won and Chon Denominations

Won and chon denominations recorded from institutional collection evidence without implying present-day purchasing use.

조선민주주의인민공화국 주화 · 증거별 신뢰도 분리

North Korea 1959 5 chon, obverse — North Korea 1959 5 chon. Verified obverse and reverse, shown as a named example that accurately matches this guide's subject. Image source: Russian howitzer · License: CC BY-SA 4.0

North Korea 1959 5 chon, reverse — North Korea 1959 5 chon. Verified obverse and reverse, shown as a named example that accurately matches this guide's subject. Image source: Russian howitzer · License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Monetary reforms: 5
Denominations modeled: 7
Institutional sources: 10
Approved images: 0
Publication: Published

Denomination evidence

Museum category, law, and observed use stay separate

The Bank of Korea Money Museum lists five minor denominations in a current-currency category. This catalog reports that institutional label without converting it into a current DPRK legal opinion or a claim of retail use.

Denomination	Korean	Institutional category	Current law	Practical circulation
1 chon	1전	current currency	not independently verified	unknown
5 chon	5전	current currency	not independently verified	unknown
10 chon	10전	current currency	not independently verified	unknown
50 chon	50전	current currency	not independently verified	unknown
1 won	1원	current currency	not independently verified	unknown
10 won	10원	institutional object record	unknown	unknown
50 won	50원	commemorative object record	unknown	not established

Confidence and image integrity

Each claim and each image has its own gate

Three exact institutional image references were screened, but none supplied both a reusable exact face pair and compatible commercial derivative rights. No source file was downloaded, altered, or published.

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Related Korea encyclopedia routes

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Currency change after 1945, the 1947 issue, and later reforms without projecting modern state identities backward.

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Coin records whose object identity, legal classification, and observed circulation evidence remain separate.

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Issuer names and production-place evidence, with an unresolved mint institution kept explicitly unknown.

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Verified commemorative objects are not treated as circulation issues merely because they carry a denomination.

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A determination register that withholds export-oriented classification until distribution purpose is independently evidenced.

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Precious-metal objects separated from bullion programs, domestic circulation, medals, and investment claims.

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An explicit quarantine for objects whose issuer, status, purpose, specifications, or quantity cannot yet be resolved.

north korea date guide North Korean Coin Date and Inscription Guide

Hangul, Gregorian dates, and Juche inscriptions are transcribed before normalization; dates are never retroactively relabeled.

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Condition guidance tailored to struck base-metal and precious-metal objects without remote grading claims.

north korea authentication Authenticating North Korean Coins

A cautious identity workflow covering inscriptions, denomination, date, metal, dimensions, edge, and provenance.

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Collection planning by evidence class rather than political theme, rarity claims, or investment promotion.

Sources

institutional object record · 2026-07-31

Open source

Evidence boundary

Unknown current legal status, practical circulation, mint institution, exchange ratios, quantities, export purpose, exact image pairs, and image rights remain unavailable. Museum classification, object existence, denomination, precious metal, and foreign acquisition never substitute for those facts.