1988 Seoul Olympics 5,000 & 10,000 Silver Won Set

No. This two-coin silver set was a common presentation for overseas sales (outside of Korea) when these were being sold. So many of these coins were left unsold after the end of the Seoul Olympics that the foreign distributors of these Seoul Olympics coins asked that the Korean government buy back their unsold stock. Otherwise, they were going to dump them onto the numismatic market at below their sale prices sold in Korea. They could have also simply redeemed them as money, since they have a denomination in Korean won. The Korean government bought them back and sold them to local Korean smelters AT FACE VALUE(!) who melted them.

These are some of the cheapest 92.5% silver coins of their kind that you can find. Look for deals, as their resale value is not the greatest. One thing that IS nice about these Seoul Olympics precious-metal coins is that each coin contains exactly either 1/2 ounce of silver (5,000-Won coin) or 1 ounce of silver (10,000-Won coin).

I wrote a 400-page book on South Korean coins, one chapter of which is the most in-depth discussion of the Seoul Olympics coins you will find anywhere. I also wrote a Korean Coin Price Guide that lists the market pricing for these commemorative coins and all other Korean coins sold in Korea and North America.

Yes! The 1988-dated "Kite-flying" design for the 25,000-Won gold (1/2 ounce gold) is PROBABLY a "rarer" date, since they appear to have been issued overseas only and many of those were melted in the recall. This 25,000-Won "Kite-flying" coin features either a 1987 or 1988 date on its reverse. How many exist? Nobody knows because the data on the recall only listed numbers of coins based on denomination, not design. The "Kite-flying" design is about the only coin that MIGHT be the only Seoul Olympics commemorative that is not easy to find. Collectors in Korea say that they cannot find it at all there.

Another coin listed as "rare" or as a "mule" is the 1988-dated "Archery" design 10,000-Won silver (this one features either 1987 or 1988 date on its reverse). However, that coin is NOT rare. Don't believe the hype... The 1988-dated coin is only harder-to-find to those outside of Korea, since it was issued in Korea only, while the same design with a "1987" date was issued outside of Korea, making it more common in the North America and Europe. However, the 1987-dated Archery coin might be less common, actually, since that coin was involved in the coin recall of 1989 and probably melted in large numbers! Again, nobody knows the exact numbers of currently-existing 10,000-Won coins for each design since they did not note the melted coins by design or date, only denomination.