1/2 Tael Pattern

These patterns were produced by the Hanoi Mint during the Japanese occupation of Indochina, when the Vichy French administration retained nominal control over local institutions even as Japanese military authorities dictated economic policy. The tael denomination was a deliberate concession to traditional Chinese-influenced weight standards still in everyday use across northern Vietnam and among merchant communities — the metric gram system of official French coinage meant little at the market level.

Production was never authorized for circulation. The occupation's monetary chaos made any new silver coinage practically irrelevant before it began.