1 Lang - Tự Đức

Tự Đức reigned during the most turbulent decades of nineteenth-century Vietnamese history — French gunboats shelled Đà Nẵng in 1858, Saigon fell in 1859, and by 1862 the Nguyễn court had ceded three southern provinces by treaty. The imperial mint at Huế continued striking gold lang throughout this period, partly as a store of value for the court itself, as French monetary pressure steadily undermined the traditional cash-coin economy.

At 37.40 grams, this denomination was never a circulation piece. It functioned as a presentation gift, a reward to mandarins, and a vehicle for hoarding dynastic wealth — a role that explains the relatively high survival rate in choice condition.