Korean numismatic charm

The Yangban however could afford to buy Korean amulets and charms and they frequently decorated the homes of the wealthy aristocracy.

[3] In some instances regular Sangpyeong Tongbo [ko] (Hanja: 常平通寶) cash coins were turned into amulets by making their outer shapes from round to octagonal as a reference to the eight trigrams, while seven holes representing the seven stars from Korean folk art were drilled into them.

[7][8][9] Its reverse inscription reads "寸得冠守絲負工紅"[g] (촌득관수사부공홍; Chondeukgwansusabugonghong; Ch'ontukkwansusapukonghong) where it teaches two other Chinese characters, namely "寸 + 宀 = 守"[h] and "丝 + 工 = 紅".

[10] By the nineteenth century it had become customary for the wealthy families of Korea to tie amulets to much larger pieces similar to what in the western world is called a chatelaine.

[13] A common design for Korean marriage charms displays scenes of a heterosexual couple engaging in different positions of sexual intercourse.

[15] Surrounding the couples having sex are the Chinese characters representing the spring (春), wind (風), peaches (桃), and plums (李), which is a reference to the first four characters of a line from the Chang hen ge poem which translates into English as "Gone were the breezy spring days when the peach and plum trees were in bloom" in reference to the death of Yang Guifei.