In 1986 Hodori the tiger was the face of two events at once, the Asian Games in Seoul and the coming Olympics, and he appeared on one of the Bank of Korea’s very first Olympic coins. The mascot was drawn by artist Kim Hyun, who based it on a friendly Amur tiger.

The coin shows Hodori with the Latin legend XXIV OLYMPIAD SEOUL 1988 and the value 5000 WON. The other side bears the national emblem of the Republic of Korea above a spray of mugunghwa and a Korean legend reading «24th Seoul Olympic Games», «Bank of Korea», the date and the value.

The first series of the programme came out in 1986 and covered values from 1,000 to 50,000 won; it included two silver 5,000 won coins, one with the mascot and one with tug of war. The coins were struck by the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO).

Proof is a collector’s strike with polished dies: mirror field, frosted relief. A coin with the Olympic mascot is a natural first piece for a Seoul 1988 collection and a good fit for sets of Olympic symbols or tigers on coins.

A coin from the VPcoins catalogue is a gift that is interesting to examine and has a story worth telling.