NOMISMA

1 Won Aluminum Coin

1984 ・ aluminium ・ 20th century ・ Korea Mint

1 Won Aluminum Coin(obverse)obverse1 Won Aluminum Coin(reverse)reverse
Braginjohn / CC BY-SA 4.0(Wikimedia Commons)

The 1 won of the 1980s is an aluminum planchet. The coin pictured is dated 1984. As prices rise by orders of magnitude, the smallest denominations are made of lighter materials, and eventually they quietly disappear from daily transactions. The evolution of a coin's material is itself a record of the history of inflation.