Item number: A3077

Year: AD 1933-1945

Material: Brass

Size: 18.1 x 18.0 x 0.5 mm

Weight: 1.35 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is a brass coin issued by Emperor Bảo Đại between the eighth and twentieth years of his reign (AD 1933–1945), inscribed as “Bảo Đại Thông Bảo” and produced by mechanical minting.

The coin follows the traditional East Asian form of a round shape with a square central hole. The obverse inscription “Bảo Đại Thông Bảo” is rendered in Ming-style script, arranged vertically and read from top to bottom, right to left. In the character “Thông”, the radical “マ” does not connect with the component “Dụng”; the “辶” radical is written with a dot and a vertical stroke on the left, followed by a folded stroke at the bottom. The outer rim is slightly off-centre toward the lower left and is narrower than the inner rim. The coin surface is flat, plain, and unadorned.

In AD 1926, Crown Prince Nguyễn Vĩnh Thụy, who was studying in France, ascended the throne as Emperor Bảo Đại following the death of Emperor Khải Định. Shortly after the enthronement ceremony, he returned to France to continue his studies. During this time, the Ministry of Finance reverted to manually struck coinage, abandoning the machine-minting system implemented during Khải Định’s reign. In AD 1933, upon Bảo Đại’s return to Vietnam to assume full authority, mechanical coin production was reinstated. However, the diameter of these new coins was smaller than that of the “Khải Định Thông Bảo”. At the time, the public exchange rate was three small mechanically minted Bảo Đại coins for one Khải Định machine-minted coin, or six for one “centime” coin issued by the French Indochinese Federation. Given that people commonly strung together six of these small Bảo Đại coins for everyday transactions, it is likely they functioned primarily as subsidiary coinage equivalent to one cent. As the Bảo Đại Thông Bảo succeeded the Khải Định Thông Bảo as the lowest-value currency, the smallest monetary unit used for almsgiving was further diminished. This gave rise to a popular saying: “Bảo Đại làm hại ăn mày”, meaning “Bảo Đại harms beggars”, a proverb intended to satirise the emperor’s detachment from the realities of common life.

Bảo Đại, whose original name was Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy, was the last emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. He ascended the throne in AD 1925 after the death of Emperor Khải Định at the age of twelve, and a formal enthronement ceremony was held the following year. He adopted the reign title Bảo Đại and became the nominal ruler, with real political power held by a regency council led by Minister of Personnel Nguyễn Hữu Bài. Educated in France in a Western style, Bảo Đại returned to Vietnam in AD 1933 and attempted to implement reforms, though these efforts were hampered by both the colonial French administration and entrenched conservative forces. During the Second World War, Vietnam entered a period of upheaval, as Japanese forces supplanted French control. In March AD 1945, Japan launched the coup d’état known as the “March 9 Incident”, dismantling the French Indochinese Federation. Bảo Đại declared Vietnam “independent”, established a nominal government, assumed the title “Emperor of Vietnam”, and aligned with the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. In August of the same year, the revolution led by the Việt Minh succeeded. Bảo Đại abdicated in Huế, handing over the imperial seal and sword to the government led by Hồ Chí Minh, marking the end of the Nguyễn dynasty. After his abdication, Bảo Đại was reinstated by the French in AD 1949 as the head of the State of Vietnam. Following the Geneva Accords in AD 1954, Ngô Đình Diệm assumed leadership of South Vietnam, and Bảo Đại withdrew to France, where he spent the remainder of his life in exile.

物件編號: A3077

年代: 公元 1933-1945 年

材質: 黃銅

尺寸: 18.1 x 18.0 x 0.5 mm

重量: 1.35 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是一枚由保大帝於年號保大八年至保大二十年間(公元1933-1945 )，所發行之「保大通寶」，黃銅質，為機械製造。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統之方孔圓錢。錢面錢文「保大通寶」明體，由上而下、由右至左對讀。「通」字「マ」旁不與「用」旁相接；「通」字「辶」旁左側點並折筆寫為點與一豎，底捺折筆。外輪微向左下偏軸，並窄於內廓。錢幕平整，光素無文。

公元1926年，留學法國的皇太子阮永瑞登基為保大帝後，旋返回法國繼續學業。戶部則將前任啟定帝時已實行的機製幣制改回手打。公元1933年，保大帝歸國親政，後復行機製幣，但錢徑較啟定通寶更小。當時，民間的兌換率為三枚機製小保大錢兌一枚機制啟定通寶，六枚小保大錢兌一枚法屬印度支那聯邦所發行的「百分之一」(一分/一仙)銅幣。從當時民間習慣將六枚小保大錢栓在一起使用來看，小保大錢可能主要是作為「百分之一」銅幣的輔幣。而由於保大通寶繼啟定通寶成為價值最低的貨幣，使施捨時的最小零錢單位更加降低，因此有諺云：「Bảo Đại làm hại ăn mày」，即「保大害乞丐」，意在諷刺宮中皇帝的不知世事。

保大帝原名阮福永瑞(Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy)，是阮朝最後一位皇帝，公元1925年啟定帝去世後繼位，年僅十二歲，次年舉行登基典禮，年號保大，成為名義上的統治者。由於年幼，朝政實由輔政大臣團掌握，其中以吏部尚書阮有排為首。保大自幼在法國受西式教育，公元1933年歸國親政後試圖推動改革，但受限於法國殖民體制及傳統保守勢力牽制，成效不彰。二戰期間，越南局勢動盪，日本勢力取代法國成為實質控制者，公元1945年3月日本發動三九政變，推翻法屬印支聯邦，保大宣佈越南「獨立」，成立名義上的政府，稱自己為「越南皇帝」，並加入大東亞共榮圈。同年八月，越盟領導的革命成功，保大於順化退位，將象徵皇權的璽劍交予代表新政權的胡志明政府，阮朝自此結束。退位後的保大曾於公元1949年被法國扶植為「越南國」首腦，公元1954年日內瓦協定後南越政權改由吳廷琰接掌，保大退居法國，終老異鄉。