Item number: A3027

Year: ND

Material: Bronze

Size: 21.8 x 21.8 x 0.5 mm

Weight: 1.65 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 “Hán Nguyên Thông Bảo” (漢元通寶) are inscribed in regular script, arranged in the sequence of top, bottom, right, and left. The reverse is plain, with no inscriptions or decorative motifs.

The reign title “Han Yuan” was never officially used in Vietnamese history. However, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in China, the Later Han regime—which lasted only four years—minted coins inscribed with “Han Yuan Tongbao” based on the design of the “Kaiyuan Tongbao.” The character “Yuan” (元) on the Chinese version is notably more elongated compared to the Vietnamese variant.

物件編號: A3027

年代: 不明

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 21.8 x 21.8 x 0.5 mm

重量: 1.65 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，依序鐫刻楷書書法漢字「漢元通寶」。錢幣背面為光背，沒有任何圖案或文字。

越南歷史上並未使用過「漢元」作為年號。不過在中國的五代十國時期，立國僅有短短四年的後漢政權曾模仿「開元通寶」形制，以國號鑄造「漢元通寶」，其下緣的「元」字較越南的版本來得修長。