5 Tiền - Tự Đức

Tự Đức's reign was the longest of the Nguyễn dynasty's later emperors, but it unfolded under conditions of relentless external pressure — French naval forces seized Đà Nẵng in 1858 and Saigon fell in 1859, with the Treaty of Saigon in 1862 ceding three southern provinces outright. Silver coinage of this reign circulated against that backdrop of territorial contraction, with the court at Huế issuing currency for a domain that was shrinking by treaty with each decade.

The casting methods used at Vietnamese imperial mints produced coins with notable surface irregularities as a matter of course — not a strike defect, but a function of sand-cast production rather than die-struck manufacture.