South Korea
1 Won - 1962 (ND)
UNC - Pick #30
Catalog Value: $1.00
So here's something that I bought a while back for about 25 cents. I've always found these notes to be interesting and in a personal sense; collectible. The 1962 series of South Korean notes were the first to bear the "Won" denomination, 100 Jeon = 1 Won. The predecessor notes used to bear the "Hwan" denomination. From an English point of view, Hwan and Won sound very similar and people may make the mistake that they are the same thing, they are phonetically the same but in Korean, "Hwan" or "圜"was always written in Hanja (Traditional Chinese Characters) while "Won"or "원" is always written using the Korean alphabet. I have a few notes that bear the former "Hwan" denomination, those came mainly from my Grandparents who kept a few notes before they left South Korea and immigrated to the U.S.
I have about 4 of these 1 Won notes that were actually used in daily commercial transactions. Although my mother was about 10 years old when these were first issued, I'm not sure if she ever saw or used one when she lived in Korea. That's really the only reason why I bought this, it's a little piece of history from the time when my mother was a child. As such, I still buy as much Korean currency as possible (as long as the price tag is reasonable).
Unfortunately, 1 won in current monetary terms is worth close to 1/10th of a cent. I'm pretty sure that the buying power of this note was considerably more back in 1962, but in today's terms, 1 won really isn't worth anything. Enjoy!
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