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1 Tael
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943-1944 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | Central field bearing bilingual inscriptions arranged in two registers within a raised inner circle. The upper register displays a Lao script legend reading 'ຫນຶ່ງດອນລາ', while the lower register presents four Chinese characters '正銀一兩' arranged in two columns, denoting 'pure silver, one tael'. The surrounding border is plain and unadorned, consistent with the obverse treatment. |
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| Reverse lettering | ຫນຶ່ງດອນລາ 正銀 一兩 (Translation: 1 Liang/1 Bye) |
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| Additional information |
Issued by the Banque de l'Indochine under Japanese occupation, this tael was struck not in Indochina but in Switzerland — the Bern mint produced these pieces while the Pacific theater made colonial minting infrastructure largely inaccessible. The choice of the tael denomination, a traditional Southeast Asian weight unit rather than the piastre system France had imposed, was a deliberate concession to local trade practices in opium-producing highland regions where the coin was intended to circulate.
The Japanese military administration tolerated Vichy French banking operations in Indochina until March 1945, when a swift coup dismantled the colonial apparatus entirely. Coins of this issue saw less than two years of possible circulation before that collapse.