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 - Thánh Nguyên Thông Bảo Unofficial coin
| Issuer | Empire of Vietnam |
|---|---|
| Year | 1650-1895 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Round with a square hole |
| 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 | Four Chinese seal-script ideograms arranged in cruciform fashion around a central square hole, reading top to bottom and right to left: 聖 (top), 通 (right), 元 (bottom), 寶 (left), forming the legend Thánh Nguyên Thông Bảo. The characters are rendered in low relief against a flat, unadorned field, exhibiting the bold, archaic strokes characteristic of Vietnamese cast cash coinage. The square central perforation is neatly formed with straight edges. The coin's surface shows typical casting texture with a warm bronze patina. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Vietnamese cash coins present a persistent attribution problem: imperial mints never held a monopoly on production, and private foundries operated throughout the Nguyễn period supplying coins that circulated freely alongside official issues. This piece falls into that category — cast outside state control but accepted in daily commerce, likely in the provinces where mint oversight was thinnest.
The Barker reference places it within a broad span suggesting the type persisted across multiple reigns rather than anchoring to a single issue event.