T? đ?c B?o Sao

T? đ?c B?o Sao
(嗣德寶?)

đ?i Nam
Value	10 v?n , 20 v?n, 30 v?n, 40 v?n, 50 v?n, 60 v?n, 2 m?ch , 3 m?ch, 8 m?ch, 9 m?ch, and 1 quan
Composition	Copper-alloy ( brass )
Years of minting	1861?1883 [1]
Obverse
Design	T? đ?c B?o Sao (嗣德寶?)
Reverse
Design	See below

The T? đ?c B?o Sao ( ch? Han : 嗣德寶?) was a series of large denomination Vietnamese cash coins produced under the reign of Emperor T? đ?c from 1861 to complement the contemporary T? đ?c Thong B?o (嗣德通寶) copper and zinc cash coins with larger nominal values. These coins were very badly received by the general population as their intrinsic value was relatively low compared to their nominal value and for this reason the Vietnamese government reduced the value of a single Ti?n to 50 v?n and allowed these coins to be used for the payment of taxes. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

The T? đ?c B?o Sao is the first Vietnamese cash coin series that uses the denomination v?n (文) replacing the earlier weight based denomination of phan (分). ^{[6] [7]}

History [ edit ]

The T? đ?c B?o Sao or đ?ng Sao (銅?, billets of copper) were introduced by the Ministry of Revenue (?部, H? B? ) in the year T? đ?c 14 (1961) for large transactions and taxes on behalf of stores of the government of đ?i Nam , the introduction of the T? đ?c B?o Sao marked the redefinition of the ti?n or m?ch denominations and the quan (strings of cash coins) where the quan was made equal to 10 m?ch and the m?ch was made the equivalent of 60 zinc cash coins, under these exchange rates 1 quan was worth a string of 600 zinc cash coins. ^[8] The đ?ng Sao series of cash coins was introduced as zinc cash coins were heavy in quantity to carry around for the payment of larger sums of money, to this end the government introduced a system of monetary units determined by their nominal value in zinc cash coins as opposed to their intrinsic market value, it is possible that this might have been inspired by contemporary Chinese coinage of the Xianfeng era in the Qing dynasty where large denomination coins from 4 up to 1000 v?n circulated alongside each other with little to no difference in intrinsic value in a fiduciary system , this system was also used by the Vietnamese. When the T? đ?c B?o Sao was first proposed the Mandarins of the imperial court of đ?i Nam suggested to simply increase the weight of the brass T? đ?c Thong B?o to make them worth more relative to the zinc T? đ?c Thong B?o cash coins as 1 brass cash coin with a weight of 9 ph?n was worth four zinc cash coins. ^[8] The value of the đ?ng Sao cash coins was indicated on the reverses of the coins expressed in their worth in zinc cash coins preceded by the character 準 (chu?n, regarded as equal to), despite the fact that Sao (?) means "paper money", though imperfectly the denominations of these coins attempted to take the respective value of brass and zinc cash coins into account which means that they can't be fully qualified as a fiat currency. ^[8] The Ministry of Revenue of đ?i Nam originally set the exchange rate between the brass T? đ?c B?o Sao and zinc cash coins heavily in favour of the larger denominations which wasn't accepted by the market which resulted in the imperial court attempting to adjust the exchange rate more to the contemporary exchange values of brass and zinc cash coins that were in circulation. ^[9] In January 1868 by decree the exchange rate between brass 9 ph?n cash and zinc cash coins was fixed 1:4 replacing the early ratio of 1:2.67 that had been in place since 1858. ^{[8] [9]} The T? đ?c B?o Sao was generally well received by the population of đ?i Nam despite the fact that their circulation was reduced due to their high purchasing power relative to their intrinsic value until their weight was decreased, which was done by the government to conform to the new official exchange between brass and zinc cash coins. ^[8]

From September 1870 the T? đ?c B?o Sao series of cash coins has had their weight decreased, but kept the same nominal values and denominations. 80% of the T? đ?c B?o Sao cash coins produced in the 1870 series were of the 60 v?n denomination. ^[8] The ratio in the alloy between copper and zinc of this series was highly irregular with the coins of 10 v?n being 25% copper and 75% zinc while the coins of 60 v?n were only 11.1% copper and 88.9% zinc. A decree enacted in 1870 halved the market value of zinc cash coins which maximised the profitability the government was making on the production of the T? đ?c B?o Sao as they were low in weight relative to their nominal value. ^[8] These new policies caused the T? đ?c B?o Sao to fail however as the population were unhappy with these coins which were already little used, as these newer coins of decreased weight were rejected by the people they had to be re-melted as they were only used when people were forced to by the politicians. ^[8] These coins were abandoned almost immediately after their manufacture and were rarely held by private individuals, they were however held in large quantities by metal founders and antique merchants especially in places like Hanoi where there were a lot of Europeans . ^[8]

The other series of T? đ?c B?o Sao cash coins is not denominated in v?n (number of cash coins) but in accounting units like m?ch (陌) and quan (貫, "strings of cash coins"), unlike the previous coins denominated in v?n these coins could be considered to be a fiat currency. ^[8] This series of the T? đ?c B?o Sao is not mentioned in the contemporary Vietnamese annals. ^[8] The intrinsic value of these coins is often only ten times as high as the lower denomination cash coins while their nominal value is a hundred times higher, it is possible that these coins were not introduced as their nominal value would be too different from the current system to be accepted by the population. ^[8]

Reading of the reverse inscriptions [ edit ]

The reverse side of the T? đ?c B?o Sao are read in an unorthodox way, as usually cash coins are read top-bottom-right-left (known as "a cross pattern"), as is the case for the obverse of this series. ^[8] This isn't the case with the reverse which are read in the order of top (12 o’clock), right (3 o’clock), left (9 o’clock), and then bottom (6 o’clock). ^[8] For example the 60 v?n coin's reverse is read Chu?n l?c th?p v?n (準六十文), rather than Chu?n v?n l?c th?p (準文六十), though the incorrect reading was advanced by some authors like Lacroix and is used in sources like the catalogue of currencies in the collection of the Bibliotheque nationale de France . ^[8]

French author Albert Schroeder referenced the correct reading being mentioned in a decree issued in 1861 by the government of the Nguy?n dynasty. ^[8]

The T? đ?c B?o Sao with nominal values higher than 60 v?n have reverse inscriptions that are read in the typical manner (top-bottom-right-left), for example Chu?n đang nh? m?ch (準當二陌) rather than Chu?n nh? đang m?ch (準二當陌) if read using the above method. ^[8]

List of T? đ?c B?o Sao cash coins [ edit ]

List of large denomination cash coins issued under Emperor T? đ?c: ^{[10] [11] [8]}

Denomination	ch? Han (reverse inscription)	Years of mintage	Weight	Toda image	Image
10 v?n	準十文 (Chu?n th?p v?n)	1861	5.66 g.	None
10 v?n	準一十文 (Chu?n nh?t th?p v?n)	1870	5.66 g.	None
20 v?n	準二十文 (Chu?n nh? th?p v?n)	1861?1870	11.33 g.	None
30 v?n	準三十文 (Chu?n tam th?p v?n)	1861?1870		None
40 v?n	準四十文 (Chu?n t? th?p v?n)	1870	12.20 g.	None
50 v?n	準五十文 (Chu?n ng? th?p v?n)	1861	23.40 g.
50 v?n	準五十文 (Chu?n ng? th?p v?n)	1870	12.75 g.
60 v?n	準六十文 (Chu?n l?c th?p v?n)	1870	12.20 g.
2 m?ch (120 v?n)	準當二陌 (Chu?n đang nh? m?ch)	1870	20.52 g.	None
3 m?ch (180 v?n)	準當三陌 (Chu?n đang tam m?ch)	1870		None
8 m?ch (480 v?n)	準當八陌 (Chu?n đang bat m?ch)	1870	35.4 g.	None
9 m?ch (540 v?n)	準當九陌 (Chu?n đang c?u m?ch)	1870	28.03 g.	None
1 quan	準當一貫 (Chu?n đang nh?t quan)	1870	32.96 g.	None

See also [ edit ]

• Dangbaekjeon
• Great Qing Treasure Note
• Tenp? Ts?h?
• Kh?i đ?nh Thong B?o
• B?o đ?i Thong B?o

References [ edit ]