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Directory: Antiques: Regional Art: Asian: Korean: Furniture: Pre 1900: Item # 1362486

Please refer to our stock # 1305 when inquiring.

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Korean Art and Antiques
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New York, NY 10036
917-675-1369

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Old Rustic Korean Coin Chest (Donkwe). Coin chests are highly prized by collectors of Korean antiques. Paper money did not exist in Joseon Dynasty Korea, and the coins were of very small denominations. They had to be strung together in large, heavy quantities to have any worth, so a strong money box was a necessity. Here's a funny quote from 1898 on Korean money by Mattie Ingold, an American missionary physician who worked in Jeonju: "If Korean money were proportionately as great in value as it is in weight and clumsiness, the Koreans would be a very wealthy people." 21w x 11h x 10.5d