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1 Văn - Tường Nguyên imitation coinage
| Issuer | Empire of Vietnam |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round with a square hole |
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| Obverse description | Central square perforation surrounded by four Chinese characters arranged in cruciform reading 洋元通寶 (Tường Nguyên Thông Bảo), cast in raised relief against a flat field. The characters are rendered in a regular script (kaishu) style typical of Vietnamese cash coinage imitating Chinese prototypes. A plain raised rim encircles the entire design, with the field exhibiting an overall green and brown patina consistent with aged copper alloy. |
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| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Tường Nguyên ("Auspicious Origin") cash coins were struck under Gia Long as he consolidated the newly unified Vietnamese state after 1802, but the designation "imitation coinage" here signals something more specific — these are copies produced outside direct imperial mint authority, a practice tolerated, even tacitly encouraged, when official supply failed to meet the demands of a monetarily fragmented country still absorbing decades of Tây Sơn disruption. Toda's cataloguing of this type reflects how porous the boundary between sanctioned and unsanctioned production was in early Nguyễn-era bronze coinage.