The Vietnamese văn ( Hán tự: 文; French: ''Sapèque'') as a denomination for

Vietnamese cash Vietnamese cash ( ; chữ Nôm: ; french: sapèque) is a cast round coin with a square hole that was an official currency of Vietnam from the Đinh dynasty in 970 until the Nguyễn dynasty in 1945, and remained in circulation in North Vietnam u ...

coins was used from 1868 until 1945 during the reign of the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

. The inspiration to introduce the ''văn'' may have been to emulate the Chinese ''wén'' used on contemporary Qing dynasty cash coins which had just become a

fiat currency Fiat money (from la, fiat, "let it be done") is a type of currency that is not backed by any commodity such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender. Throughout history, fiat money was sometime ...

, however unlike the Chinese system where all Chinese cash coins were cast from the same metals and the ''wén'' was the primary unit of account for coins made of the same metals, the Vietnamese system used the ''văn'' as a basic number currency symbol indicating how much

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

cash coins (銅鐱, ''đồng kẽm'') a

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

cash coin (''đồng điếu'') was worth, the Vietnamese cash coins-based currency system used the '' mạch'' (陌) and '' quán'' (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 The piastre de commerce was the currency of French Indochina between 1885 and 1952. It was subdivided into 100 ''cents'', each of 2~6 '' sapèques''. The name ''piastre'' (), from Spanish pieces of eight (pesos), dates to the 16th century and h ...

was introduced, 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 ''sapèque en zinc'', as the production of zinc coinage was ceased by the Imperial government of the Nguyễn dynasty around the year 1871. The French zinc ''sapèque'' was worth generally worth of a piastre (a currency based on the

Mexican peso The Mexican peso (Currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, code: MXN) is the currency of Mexico. Modern peso and dollar currencies have a common origin in the 16th–19th century Spanish dollar, most continuing to use dollar sign, its sign, "$". ...

) during the French domination period were primarily used in the French protectorate of Tonkin. 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 ''văn'' currency unit. The

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

term ''văn'' (文) would appear on the Thành Thái Thông Bảo (成泰通寶), Duy Tân Thông Bảo (維新通寶), and Bảo Đại Thông Bảo (保大通寶) cash coins produced under French rule, the last of these was officially produced until 1945.保大 Bảo Đại 1926-1945 cash coins
By Sema (Art-Hanoi) Cash coins of Bao Dai were the last cash-style coins produced in the world. Retrieved: 19 March 2019

History

It first used by official decree in January 1868 during the reign of the

Tự Đức Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, 嗣德, lit. "inheritance of virtues", 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm , also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam; he ruled ...

Emperor which decreed that "the value of the large module

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

cash coin passed to 6 (zinc) and the small copper coin to 4 zinc". In 1872 the first brass

Tự Đức Thông Bảo Tự Đức Thông Bảo ( Hán tự: 嗣德通寶) was an inscription used on different coins made from various metals and alloys during the reign of Emperor Tự Đức. The coinage of Tự Đức saw the introduction of the term '' văn'' (文) ...

(嗣德通寶) cash coins with the monetary unit văn were cast in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

, these cash coins has weight of 7 phần and had the reverse inscription "Lục Văn" (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 ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' increased the value of the Vietnamese brass cash currency. In November 1879 the official value of 6 copper phần was equal to 6 sapèques 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.Art-Hano
CURRENCY TYPES AND THEIR FACE VALUES DURING THE TỰ ĐỨC ERA.
This is a translation of the article “Monnaies et circulation monetairé au Vietnam dans l’ère Tự Đức (1848-1883) by Francois Thierry Published in Revue Numismatique 1999 (volume # 154). Pgs 267-313. This translation is from pages 274-297. Translator: Craig Greenbaum. Retrieved: 19 March 2019. In the year 1893, large brass Thành Thái Thông Bảo (成泰通寶) cash coins with a denomination of 10 ''văn'' (十文, ''thập văn''), or 10 zinc cash coins, started being produced by the

Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...

Mint. 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.

References

Sources

* Eduardo Toda y Güell (1882
ANNAM and its minor currency.
Hosted on Art-Hanoi. (

Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...

) * Dr. R. Allan Barker. (2004) ''The historical Cash Coins of Viet Nam''. {{Nguyễn dynasty topics Currencies of Vietnam Modern obsolete currencies Economic history of Vietnam Cash coins

History

See also

References

Sources