Catalog
50 Ðồng
| Issuer | National Bank of Vietnam |
|---|---|
| Year | 1956 |
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| Printer | Security Banknote Company (SBNC), Philadelphia, United States (?-date) |
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| Obverse description | Purple intaglio-printed note with a central vignette of a young woman leading a water buffalo through a rural landscape, rendered in fine line engraving against a guilloche underprint. The bank title 'NGÂN-HÀNG QUỐC-GIA VIỆT-NAM' runs across the top in a solid panel, while the denomination panel 'NĂM MƯƠI ĐỒNG' appears in a cartouche to the right of center. Red serial numbers appear twice and a red block letter-number prefix is printed below the upper serial, with two manuscript signatures at the lower center above their printed titles. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Purple intaglio print throughout, with a central agricultural vignette of rice workers in conical hats threshing and spreading grain on a courtyard floor, surrounded by woven baskets, with a dense crop field in the background. Denomination numerals '50' occupy each corner within ornate scrollwork borders, and an anti-counterfeiting warning legend is set in a ruled panel below the central scene. The printer's imprint 'SECURITY BANKNOTE COMPANY' appears in small letterpress at the very foot of the note. |
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| Comments |
The National Bank of Vietnam was established in 1951 under the State of Vietnam, still nominally within the French Union, and this 1956 series marked one of the first substantive efforts to issue currency fully under the authority of the newly independent Republic of Vietnam following the 1954 Geneva Accords. Security Banknote Company of Philadelphia printed for a number of smaller and newly sovereign nations during the 1950s, handling work that De La Rue or the American Bank Note Company occasionally declined or couldn't schedule.
The question mark against SBNC's contract date in most references reflects incomplete archive access rather than genuine doubt about the printer — the plate style and paper are consistent with their mid-decade output.