Item number: A3002

Year: ND

Material: Bronze

Size: 21.3 x 21.3 x 0.5 mm

Weight: 1.45 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is a Vietnamese coin of unknown date of issue. Due to the country’s frequent historical periods of political fragmentation, and even during times of dynastic unification, regional warlords and local elites often engaged in the independent minting of currency. Within this socio-political context, numerous coins emerged that cannot be correlated with any officially recognised reign title. Such coins are referred to in numismatic scholarship as “uncatalogued coins” (脫譜錢), denoting currency that falls outside the established historical and administrative records.

The coin follows the traditional Chinese-influenced square-holed cash coin design and is made of bronze. On the obverse, the four Chinese characters “Tường Nguyên Thông Bảo” (祥元通寶) are inscribed in the sequence of top, bottom, right, and left. The character “Nguyên” (元) at the bottom is rendered in seal script, while the other three characters are written in regular script. This blending of different calligraphic styles is a common characteristic of Vietnamese coinage. The reverse is plain, with no inscriptions or decorative motifs.

物件編號: A3002

年代: 不明

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 21.3 x 21.3 x 0.5 mm

重量: 1.45 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是一枚發行年代不明的越南錢幣，由於越南歷史上多次陷入分裂，即便是統一的王朝時期，地方上的豪強也經常有自行鑄幣的現象。在這樣的社會背景下，出現許多沒辦法跟統治者年號對應的錢幣，這些錢幣被稱為「脫譜錢」。

錢幣形制為深受中國影響的方孔錢，材質為青銅。錢幣正面按照上、下、右、左的順序，依序鐫刻漢字「祥元通寶」四字，其中下緣的「元」以篆書表示，其他三個字為楷書字體。這種交雜不同的書法字體為越南錢幣常見的特色。錢幣背面為光背，沒有任何圖案或文字。