Vietnamese v?n (currency unit)

The Vietnamese v?n ( ch? Han : 文; French : Sapeque ) as a denomination for Vietnamese cash coins was used from 1868 until 1945 during the reign of the Nguy?n dynasty . The inspiration to introduce the v?n may have been to emulate the Chinese wen used on contemporary Qing dynasty cash coins which had just become a fiat currency , however unlike the Chinese system where all Chinese cash coins were cast from the same metals and the wen was the primary unit of account for coins made of the same metals, the Vietnamese system used the v?n as a basic number currency symbol indicating how much zinc cash coins (銅?, đ?ng k?m ) a brass or bronze cash coin ( đ?ng đi?u ) was worth, the Vietnamese cash coins-based currency system used the m?ch (陌) and quan (貫) as units of account that could be based on either zinc cash coins or copper-alloy cash coins depending on the region or context. It was continued to be used as a measurement for zinc cash coins when the French Indochinese piastre was introduced, ^[1] after which the term still appeared on Vietnamese cash coins and represented a subdivision of copper-alloy cash coins rather than the piastre, this was known in French as the sapeque en zinc , as the production of zinc coinage was ceased by the Imperial government of the Nguy?n dynasty around the year 1871. ^{[2] [3]}

The French zinc sapeque was worth generally worth 1 ⁄ 600 of a piastre (a currency based on the Mexican peso ) during the French domination period were primarily used in the French protectorate of Tonkin . ^[4] Meanwhile cash coins that circulated in the French protectorate of Annam tended to be made from copper-alloys and were valued higher than the Tonkinese zinc cash coins, these cash coins still typically used the v?n currency unit. ^{[5] [3]}

The Vietnamese term v?n (文) would appear on the Thanh Thai Thong B?o (成泰通寶), Duy Tan Thong B?o (維新通寶), and B?o đ?i Thong B?o (保大通寶) cash coins produced under French rule , the last of these was officially produced until 1945. ^{[6] [7]}

History [ edit ]

It first used by official decree in January 1868 during the reign of the T? đ?c Emperor which decreed that "the value of the large module copper cash coin passed to 6 (zinc) and the small copper coin to 4 zinc". In 1872 the first brass T? đ?c Thong B?o (嗣德通寶) cash coins with the monetary unit v?n were cast in Hanoi , these cash coins has weight of 7 ph?n and had the reverse inscription "L?c V?n" (六文) on them indicating that these coins were worth 6 zinc cash coins. The introduction of this new currency symbol marked the change in the relationship between Vietnamese cash coins made from copper and cash coins of zinc and it de facto increased the value of the Vietnamese brass cash currency. In November 1879 the official value of 6 copper ph?n was equal to 6 sapeques of zinc. However the foreign cash coinages as well as imitation (counterfeit) Vietnamese cash coins made of inferior alloys that circulated in Vietnam at the time were exchanged for only 3 cash coins of zinc. ^[8]

In the year 1893, large brass Thanh Thai Thong B?o (成泰通寶) cash coins with a denomination of 10 v?n (十文, th?p v?n ), or 10 zinc cash coins, started being produced by the Hu? Mint. ^[9]

During the end of the 19th century a Tonkinese string of zinc cash coins typically had 600 coins while an Annamese string of copper-alloy cash coins only had 100 coins. ^[3]

See also [ edit ]

• Farthing (British coin)
• Mill (currency)

References [ edit ]

Sources [ edit ]

• Eduardo Toda y Guell (1882) ANNAM and its minor currency. Hosted on Art-Hanoi. ( Wikimedia Commons )
• Dr. R. Allan Barker. (2004) The historical Cash Coins of Viet Nam . ISBN   981-05-2300-9

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