Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Cash - Minh Đức Thông Bảo, zinc
| Issuer | Empire of Vietnam |
|---|---|
| Year | 1788 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Cash (970-1868) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Cast zinc cash coin of the Vietnamese Empire, featuring a central square perforation flanked by four Chinese characters in traditional regular script (kaishu), reading clockwise from the top: 明 (Minh), 通 (Thông), 德 (Đức), 寶 (Bảo), forming the legend Minh Đức Thông Bảo. The characters are rendered in a bold, slightly irregular relief consistent with hand-cast production methods of the late eighteenth century. The inner rim surrounding the square hole and the outer rim are both plain and relatively narrow. The fields show the natural patination and surface corrosion typical of zinc alloy cash coins of this period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | 明 寶 通 德 (Translation: Minh Đức Thông Bảo [Uncertain meaning] / Universal currency) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Minh Đức Thông Bảo cash coins were issued under Nguyễn Nhạc, the eldest of the three Tây Sơn brothers who dismantled Nguyễn lord authority in the south before turning on the Lê dynasty in the north. By 1788 the Tây Sơn controlled much of Vietnam but the three brothers had already begun fracturing into competing regimes — Nguyễn Nhạc holding the center, his brother Huệ consolidating the north after expelling a Qing invasion force at Đống Đa. Zinc cash of this period circulated alongside bronze issues and are frequently unattributed or misattributed in Western collections due to limited reference coverage, reflected here by the absent Barker number.