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30 Đồng

Issuer State Bank of Vietnam
Year 1985
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Value 30 Đồng (30 VND)
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Obverse description Intaglio portrait of Ho Chi Minh at right, with a fine guilloche underprint at centre incorporating the numeral 30 over a multicolour rosette pattern. The national coat of arms of Vietnam appears at left centre, flanked by ornate corner vignettes and decorative scrollwork borders. The date 1985 is printed at the bottom centre, with the denomination spelled out in two lines across the middle of the note.
Obverse lettering CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM
BA MƯƠI ĐỒNG
30
1985
(Translation: SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM / THIRTY ĐỒNG / 30 / 1985)
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Comments

The 1985 Vietnamese currency reform was a brutal redenomination: the old đồng was replaced at 10:1, wiping out savings and triggering widespread panic buying in the weeks before the official cutover. This 30 đồng note belongs to the post-reform series introduced under that same decree — an unusual denomination that reflects the socialist preference for denominations calibrated to wage increments rather than commercial convenience.

The series is poorly documented in Western references; Pick's data on Vietnamese issues of this period remains thin, and precise print run figures have never been officially released.