The inscription seems to read: 大朝鮮 開國五百五年 in Hanja (chinese characters), which says "Great Joseon -- 505th years from (its) founding". This dates the coin at 1897. The Joseon Dynasty is the last imperial dynasty of Korea and was founded in 1392.
Honestly i really don't know anything about Korean coins. I got the date and info from wikipedia and I can read Chinese characters, that's how I put the two together. The date could be off because of the difference in Lunar and Western calendars, or the coin may be a commermorative issue.
I assume you are referring to KM#s 1106-1108, all varieties of the copper 5 Fun minted in Years 501-505 (1892-96) on the one hand; and KM#1116 minted in some of Years 2-6 (1898-1902) on the other hand. A little bit of Korean historical perspective is needed to understand why this is so. Korea was under heavy Japanese influence for many years before Japan threw out the Russians, and occupied Korea as its "Protectorate" in 1905-06. It was fully annexed by Japan in 1910, and administered as a Japanese province, with Japanese currency/coins being used exclusively until the establishment of the Republic of Korea following World War II. Beginning in 1888, under heavy influence of the Japanese, the Koreans began using milled coinage, with a distinct resemblance to contemporary Japanese coins. In 1892 there was a monetary reform, in which the denominations "Fun" (same character as the Japanese "Sen") and "Whan" (same character as the Japanese "Yen") were adopted. 100 Fun = 1 Whan. The traditional dating system based on the Chosen/Joeseon Dynasty year was used on these new coins through Year 505 (1896). Beginning with the only coin minted in 1897, the Japanese custom of dating by the regnal year of the ruler was adopted. The 1/4 Yang of that year, and all coins thereafter during the Japanese Protectorate days, are dated in that manner. Thus KM#1116 is dated either Kuang Mu 2 or 3 (1898/99).
Now I see Thanks much, now that I look at the characters in K-M it looks like 1898.the 5 Fun is larger on that example so I dont have the large characters,either small or medium, I waish I had more examples to compare as the dif in XF between them is small 10.00 and Med 70.00
