| Value | 5mun |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 30-33[1][2] mm |
| Thickness | 2 mm |
| Composition | Copper-alloy (brass) |
| Years of minting | 1883–1892 |
| Obverse | |
_%25E2%2580%2593_Treasury_Department_(%25E6%2588%25B8)_Dang_O_Jeon_(%25E7%2595%25B6%25E4%25BA%2594%25E9%258C%25A2)_-_Scan_-_Obverse.jpg) | |
| Design | Sangpyeong Tongbo (常平通寶) |
| Design date | 1633 |
| Design discontinued | 1892 |
| Reverse | |
_%25E2%2580%2593_Treasury_Department_(%25E6%2588%25B8)_Dang_O_Jeon_(%25E7%2595%25B6%25E4%25BA%2594%25E9%258C%25A2)_-_Scan_-_Reverse.jpg) | |
| Design | Dang O (當五) with amint mark at the top andother marks placed at the bottom. |
| Design date | 1883 |
| Design discontinued | 1892 |
| Dangojeon | |
| Hangul | 당오전 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 當五錢 |
| Revised Romanization | Dangojeon |
| McCune–Reischauer | Tangochŏn |
TheDangojeon (Korean: 당오전;Hanja: 當五錢) refers to the 5mundenomination of theSangpyeong Tongbo [ko] (常平通寶)Koreancashcoins introduced in February 1883 following the disastrous introduction of the earlierDangbaekjeon (當百錢) two decades earlier. TheDangojeon had anominal value (orface value) that was five times higher than that of the regularyeopjeon, but itspurchasing power was just twice as high,[3] like the previous series of high denominationSangpyeong Tongbo cash coins, this would prove to be a major cause ofinflation and disrupted the Koreaneconomy.
It was cast in order to pay for the expenditures of the state, the casting of thedangojeon was led by theGerman adviserPaul Georg von Möllendorff. These cash coins would remain incirculation until July 1894.
When theDangbaekjeon (當百錢), or 100 mun denominationSangpyeong Tongbo cash coin, was introduced in 1866 by regentHeungseon Daewongun to finance the state's military expenditures to strengthen Korea's military power to be able to compete with that of the Western powers which were forming an ever growing threat,[4][5] as well as to rebuild theGyeongbok Palace.[6]
After its introduction the mun started to suffer frominflation, this was because the intrinsic value of the 100 mun coin was only five to six times as much as 5 mun coins, leading to the consumer price of e.g.rice to expand sixfold within 2 years. This eventually lead to traders preferring silver foreign currency such as theMexican peso,Japanese yen,Russian ruble, andChinese sycees. As a result of Some people started to melt smallerSangpyeong Tongbo cash coins down to make counterfeit money.[7] People who had lower denominationSangpyeong Tongbo avoided to exchange with the value 100 cash coins, so they didn't put theirSangpyeong Tongbo on the market. The new series would be discontinued in April of the year 1867 after being produced only for 172 days.[8] Despite them no longer being produced the government of Joseon continued distributing them onto the Korean market until an appeal fromChoe Ik-hyeon convinced the government that these coins had an adverse effect on every class of Korean society.[9]
The introduction of the 100 mun coin happened concurrent with theTenpō Tsūhō 100mon coin issued by theTokugawa shogunate in 1835 (in reaction to government deficit),[10] the 100wén coin by theQing dynasty in 1853 (in reaction to theTaiping rebellion),[11] theRyukyuan100 mon[12][13] andhalf Shu cash coins,[14][15][16] and the large denominationTự Đức Bảo Sao cash coins inVietnam.[17][18][19] All of these large denomination cash coins also caused inflation on comparable levels.
Following the prohibition of the circulation of theDangbaekjeon cash coins the government started receiving huge losses.[20] Hence, to secure another source of revenue and to cover its losses, the Joseon government legalise the use ofQing Chinese money in Korea in June 1867.[20] In the 11th year of the reign ofKing Gojong (1874), in January of that year that Joseon banned the circulation of Chinese cash coins within their borders, since the Chinese money accelerated price hikes.[20]
Following the abolition of theDangbaekjeon, the Korean government introduced theDangojeon (當五錢, 당오전) in 1883,[21] like the earlierDangbaekjeon this denomination also caused a sharp decline in the value of coinage which brought a lot of turmoil to the Korean economy.[22] TheDangojeon cash coins were only slightly larger than "value two"Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coins.[23]
The effects that theDangojeon had caused were not as bad as those that were caused by the gross overvaluing of theDanbaekjeon cash coins, but the effects were nevertheless not beneficial for both the Korean economy and the Korean currency system.[23] Both theDanbaekjeon and theDangojeon cash coins were symptoms of the considerable turmoil that were occurring within the royal family and its advisers during the reign ofKing Gojong.[23] From this point onwards, Japanese currency began to flood the Korean market and the Korean mun began to lose its power.[22]
The Korean government was under severe fiscal pressures due to chronic financial difficulties, and new fiscal expenditures such as the costs of dispatching overseas missions, the costs of opening port cities likeBusan,Wonsan, andIncheon, and the installation of new military facilities since the opening of Korea in the year 1876. In order to overcome these financial hardships, the Korean government temporarily manufactured the Dae Dong silver coinage in 1882. However, more aggressive monetary reforms were needed to offset rising expenditures since the opening of Korea to foreign trade.[24][25]
The newDangojeon coin, which was first circulated by the Korean government between the years 1883 and 1884, was partially to blame for a major increase in the inflation as its nominal value was 5 times that of an averageyeopjeon, while in reality its truepurchasing power was only twice as much due to the fact that the market accepted the coinage based on it intrinsic value rather than its nominal one.[26][27][28][29] In the period from January of the year 1886 until January of the year 1888, the prices of all commodities in Korea would tremendously increase. Importedcotton cloth was sold at 11 mun a piece, this price was almost twice as much as it had cost in October of the year 1884.[26] The price of domestically produced cotton cloth would also increase during this same period of time from 2 mun to 7.8 mun, and that of silk cloth would increase from 5 mun to 10.7 mun, between October of the year 1884 and January of the year 1886.[26] A similar inflationary trend occurred with the price of rice, it was observed that rice was sold in the range of 9 mun and 23.7 mun between January of the year 1886 and January of the year 1888.[26] This ineffective currency reform that was the introduction of thedangojeon had caused a steep inflation in commodity prices throughout Korea.[26]
One of the demands of the peasant armies of theDonghak Peasant Revolution was the banning of theDangojeon because of its inflationary effects which severely affected Korea's peasant population.[30]
During the 1890s the Central Government Mint (典圜局, 전원국) created a machine-struckbrassSangpyeong Tongbo cash coin with a round centre hole.[31][32]
At least three different sets of dies were cut for machine-struck 5 munSangpyeong Tongbo cash coins, these designs resembled the 1883 issue 5 mun castyeopjeon versions of the coins. Only one of these three sets is known to have actually been engraved. In the year 1891 the chief engraver of theOsaka Mint in Japan, Masuda, created this design. Only one of these three designs ever saw (very limited) circulation.[23]
As the Mint's machinery was not well suited for punching centre holes in coins the old-style designs were eventually dropped.[23]
After King Gojong established the Jeonwanguk mint in 1883 inIncheon in order to adopt a currency more akin to international standards leading the copperSangpyeong Tongbo coins to eventually be phased out in favour of the silveryang following the adoption of thesilver standard.[33][34][35]
The design of theDangojeon had the same obverse inscription as otherSangpyeong Tongbo (常平通寶) cash coins, but contained theHanja characters "當" (당,dang) on the right side of its reverse, and the character "五" (오,o) on its left.[21] As it was minted by various mints it contains different mint marks above the square centre hole on its reverse, and a "furnace designator" or "series number" below the hole.[21]
