4 Tiền - Tự Đức

Tự Đức reigned during the most turbulent decades of Vietnamese imperial history — French forces seized Saigon in 1859, and by 1883 the empire had effectively lost sovereignty over its own foreign affairs. Gold coinage of this reign was never a mass-circulation issue; these pieces functioned largely as gifts, court presentations, and instruments of official reward within the Nguyễn bureaucratic system. The 4 Tiền denomination sat at a practical weight for such purposes without reaching the ceremonial excess of heavier gold issues.

Survivors in any condition are scarce. French colonial disruption of imperial treasury functions after 1862 almost certainly curtailed production in the later years of the issue range.