500 Dong

The National Bank of Vietnam was established in May 1951, which makes a note bearing a 1949 date immediately worth scrutinizing. The Ngân hàng Quốc gia Việt Nam did not yet exist in 1949 — the issuing authority at that time was the Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa's financial apparatus operating under wartime conditions against French forces. Whether the 1949 date reflects a printing lag, a backdated authorization, or a catalog misattribution is a question the Pick reference alone cannot resolve.

The engraver credit "Tong Giam Doc" is actually a Vietnamese administrative title — Tổng Giám Đốc, meaning Director General — not a personal name. It appears on early Democratic Republic of Vietnam notes as an authority signature rather than a craftsman's mark, a detail that trips up Western catalogers routinely.