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2.5 Tiền - Bao Dai
| Issuer | Empire of Vietnam |
|---|---|
| Year | 1926-1945 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse lettering | 保大寳鑑 (Translation: Bao Dai Bao Chien) |
| Reverse description | The reverse displays a sinuous imperial dragon rendered in high relief, its scaled body coiling across the full field in the traditional Vietnamese court style. The dragon's ferocious head faces left with an open jaw, flowing mane, and prominent eyes, while its clawed feet are depicted at lower left and lower right. The body is covered with finely detailed globular scales throughout. No legend or inscription appears on the reverse; the design fills the coin to the plain rim. |
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| Additional information |
Bảo Đại's reign began in 1926 when he was just thirteen, and for most of the Indochinese monetary system's lifespan, the Banque de l'Indochine in Paris made the decisions that actually mattered. The piastre system, of which this denomination was a fractional part, was pegged and manipulated repeatedly to serve French colonial fiscal interests rather than local economic ones — the 1931 devaluation being particularly damaging to Vietnamese purchasing power.
By 1945, Japanese occupation had effectively collapsed the colonial monetary framework entirely, making late-date examples from that final year products of a system already in terminal disorder.