Item number: A1787

Year: AD 1533-1789

Material: Brass

Size: 20.8 x 20.9 mm

Weight: 2.7 g

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2014

This is a “Thiệu Phù Nguyên Bảo” coin that circulated in the Vietnamese region. It does not appear to be the “Thiệu Phong Nguyên Bảo”, as claimed by the issuing institution. The origin of the “Thiệu Phù Nguyên Bảo” remains uncertain, and most scholars consider it to be privately minted.

The coin’s surface is extensively covered with white encrustations; however, the obverse inscription, “Thiệu Phù Nguyên Bảo”, can still be discerned in a clockwise reading order. The script exhibits a mixture of calligraphic styles: “Thiệu” (紹), “Phù” (符), and “Nguyên” (元) are written in seal script, while the strokes of “Bảo” (寶) combine elements of regular and clerical scripts. The reverse of the coin is plain and uninscribed. Both sides feature a broad outer rim and an exceptionally thin inner rim, with uniform contours and fine casting craftsmanship.

The reign title “Thiệu Phù” does not appear in Vietnamese historical records. Some scholars posit that it derives from the seal-script versions of “Shaosheng Yuanbao” (紹聖元寶) and “Yuanfu Tongbao” (元符通寶), issued during the Shaosheng (紹聖, AD 1094–1098) and Yuanfu (元符, AD 1098–1100) reigns of Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song dynasty. However, slight variations in script style are evident. The practise of adopting Chinese reign titles for privately minted Vietnamese coins was a common phenomenon, particularly with reign titles from the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties. This practise can be attributed to the long-standing and complex Sino-Vietnamese relations, which encompassed tributary exchanges, commercial interactions, and even military conflicts. Due to Vietnam’s chronic copper shortages, large quantities of Chinese coins entered local circulation and were widely accepted by Vietnamese merchants and the populace. While it was relatively rare to extract characters from different reign titles and combine them into a new coin inscription, such occurrences were not unprecedented. An alternative hypothesis suggests that the inscription may have been inspired by indigenous Vietnamese coinage, such as the “Thiên Phù Thông Bảo” (天符通寶) of Emperor Lý Nhân Tông, which was inscribed in seal script. Nevertheless, in extant historical coinage, the character “Thiệu” (紹) is more commonly rendered in regular script. This hypothesis is therefore proposed as a reference.

Since the initial minting of Vietnam’s first round, square-holed coin, the “Thái Bình Hưng Bảo” (太平興寶) during the Đại Việt Thái Bình period (AD 970), private coinage has remained persistently prohibited yet never entirely eradicated. The circulation of privately minted coins was largely driven by Vietnam’s chronic shortage of copper and the insufficiency of imported Chinese coins to meet local demand. However, many private mints debased the metal content of their coins to generate profit, and when such debased coinage became overly prevalent, it led to inflationary pressures, devaluation of currency, and rising commodity prices, ultimately affecting the livelihoods of the populace. The widespread issuance of privately minted coins typically coincided with periods of central government decline and internal conflicts between regional powers. In Vietnam, this phenomenon was particularly prevalent during the late Trần dynasty (AD 1341–1400) and the late Later Lê dynasty (AD 1533–1789). The broad-rimmed design observed on this coin was notably common in the later years of the Later Lê dynasty, suggesting a tentative attribution to this period. Given its relatively refined craftsmanship but slightly inferior material quality, it is plausible that the coin was minted by a powerful regional magnate.

The revival Lê dynasty period of Đại Việt (AD 1533–1789) was a distinctive era within the Later Lê dynasty. In AD 1527, Mạc Đăng Dung seized the throne and established the Mạc dynasty. Loyalists from the Lê royal family subsequently enthroned Emperor Lê Trang Tông in the south, resulting in a confrontation between northern and southern courts. After AD 1545, political authority fell into the hands of the influential minister Trịnh Kiểm, relegating Lê emperors to figureheads under the dominance of the Trịnh lords. Historically, this period is referred to as the “Revival Lê dynasty, or Later Lê Restoration”. During this time, the Trịnh family governed northern Vietnam, while the Nguyễn family controlled the southern territories, leading to prolonged civil conflict known as the “Trịnh–Nguyễn Civil War” or “Northern and Southern Dynasties” division. Despite political fragmentation, significant advancements occurred in cultural, artistic, and economic domains, with Confucian scholarship and imperial examinations continuing to thrive, marking one of the golden ages in Vietnamese cultural history. In AD 1788, the Tây Sơn rebels overthrew the Lê regime. The following year, Emperor Lê Chiêu Thống fled to the Qing dynasty, signalling the end of the Later Lê Restoration period.

The “Thiệu Phù Nguyên Bảo” was first recorded in numismatic literature in AD 1882, when the renowned archaeologist Eduardo Toda y Güell, then serving as the Spanish Vice-Consul in Macau, included it in his publication Annam and its Minor Currency, which was printed in Shanghai following his travels in East Asia. Since then, this coin has been sporadically documented in numismatic catalogues compiled by French and Japanese scholars. The precise provenance of these records remains subject to further research. In Japanese numismatic literature, such as An Introduction to Holed Coins: A Study of Hand-Classified Coins (穴銭入門 手類銭考), untraceable and unidentified specimens are categorised into various “hand-classes” based on their inscription, material, and physical characteristics. Within this classification system, a “Thiệu Phù-hand” category exists, encompassing coins of similar typology.

物件編號: A1787

年代: 公元 1533-1789 年

材質: 黃銅

尺寸: 20.8 x 20.9 mm

重量: 2.7 g

來源: 大城郵幣社 2014

這是一枚流布越南地區之紹符元寶，似非來源機構所稱之紹豐元寶。紹符元寶出處待考，學者多認為該錢幣為私鑄。

錢幣表面滿布白色粉班，但仍可辨認正面錢文為「紹符元寶」旋讀，雜書。雜書即多字體混雜。具體而言，「紹」、「符」、「元」為篆書，「寶」之筆劃則楷、隸兼具。錢背光素無文，錢幣兩面皆外輪寬而內廓極細，輪廓均勻，鑄工頗佳。

「紹符」年號不見於越南史書，有學者認為是取南宋哲宗「紹聖」、「元符」年間之「紹聖元寶」、「元符通寶」之篆書版，唯字體稍有差別。於越南流布之私鑄錢，取中國年號而自鑄為常有之例，主要為宋、明、清諸帝。概因歷朝歷代，中越的關係自羈縻、朝貢、貿易乃至相互衝突，接觸頻繁，加以越南本地缺銅，是以中國貨幣大量流入，形制得到本地商民的肯認。而拆年號取字自組為錢名，雖較罕見但並非沒有他例。亦有可能取自越南歷史鑄幣，如李仁宗「天符通寶」即為篆書。唯據史可查之年號錢，其中紹字多為楷書，於此且備一說。

自大越太平年初(公元970年)首鑄「太平興寶」方孔圓錢以來，私鑄錢便屢禁不絕。私鑄錢的流布，多因越南銅料缺乏，加以中國流入之錢幣不能滿足需要所致。但私鑄錢多以次充好，以此牟利，倘若浮濫，從而發生錢賤物貴的景況，將影響民生。故私鑄錢的泛濫，多於中央政權衰弱，乃至地方政權彼此攻伐之時期。於越南而言，主要集中在陳朝晚期(公元1341至1400年)與後黎朝晚期(公元1533至1789年)。而該錢幣的寬輪形制，於後黎朝晚期出現頗多，故暫且定於此時期。觀其鑄工較為精美而材質稍差，鑄幣者或為地方豪強。

大越黎中興朝(公元1533－1789年)，是後黎朝的一個特殊時期。公元1527年莫登庸篡位，建立莫朝，黎氏宗室遺臣在南方擁立黎莊宗，形成南北對峙局面。公元1545年以後，權臣鄭檢掌握實權，黎朝皇帝成為鄭主控制下的傀儡，史稱「黎中興朝」。這一時期，鄭氏家族實際統治北越，南方則由阮氏政權控制，形成「鄭阮紛爭」，或稱「南北朝」的局勢，國家處於長期分裂。儘管如此，黎中興朝在文化、藝術、經濟方面仍有一定發展，儒學、科舉制度繼續推行，成為越南文化的黃金時代之一。公元1788年西山起義軍推翻黎朝，次年黎昭統帝出逃清朝，黎中興朝宣告終結。

該「紹符元寶」錢幣初次入譜當為公元1882年，由著名的考古學家，時任西班牙駐澳門副領事的愛德華多·托達·伊·古埃爾(Eduardo Toda y Güell)，於遊歷東亞後，於上海出版之《安南及其小額貨幣》(Annam and its Minor Currency)。此後於法人、日人學者等之圖鑑與錢譜中也時有收錄，具體出處至今仍待考。於日人錢譜，如《穴銭入門 手類銭考》中，將難以溯源的無考品按書寫、材質、形制而歸納為各「手類」，其中便有「紹符手」。