Catalog
20 Đồng
| Issuer | Ngân hàng Quốc gia Việt Nam |
|---|---|
| Year | 1952 |
| Type | Pattern or trial banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | VIỆT NAM DÂN CHỦ CỘNG HÒA HAI MƯƠI ĐỒNG 20 |
| Reverse description | The reverse is rendered in the same reddish-brown monochrome. Two symmetrically placed intaglio-style vignettes each show a figure mounted on a water buffalo amid rice fields, evoking agrarian life; a block of Vietnamese text in smaller lettering appears beneath each vignette. The central field carries the denomination legend "HAI MƯƠI ĐỒNG" in bold capitals, flanked by the numeral "20", with the inscription "GIẤY BẠC VIỆT NAM" at the top and the year "1952" at the bottom center. |
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| Comments |
The Ngân hàng Quốc gia Việt Nam — the State Bank of Vietnam — was established in 1951 as a direct instrument of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's drive to operate a genuinely independent monetary system, separate from the Indochinese piastre still controlled through French colonial banking structures. This 20 Đồng note from the following year belongs to the earliest phase of that project, when the new bank was still consolidating its printing and distribution infrastructure under wartime conditions.
Surviving examples in any respectable condition are genuinely uncommon. The paper deteriorates readily in the climate of northern Vietnam, and much of the issued stock saw hard use in rural wartime circulation.