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Protectorate of Annam
Bảo Đại
Bảo Đại Thông Bảo
Ten Văn
(Broad Rim, Reverse With elevated Ten)
安南保護國
保大帝
保大通寶
十文
(闊輪背昂十)
Item number: A3075
Year: AD 1926-1933
Material: Copper
Size: 23.7 x 23.7 x 1.0 mm
Weight: 3.45 g
Provenance: Spink 2023
This is a copper coin issued by the Ministry of Revenue of Đại Nam in the name of Emperor Bảo Đại during the first to eighth years of his reign (AD 1926–1933), bearing the inscription “Bảo Đại Thông Bảo”. With a weight of 3.95 grams, it corresponds to approximately one tiền and eight and a half ly under the contemporary Đại Nam system of measurement.
The coin follows the traditional East Asian form of a round coin with a square central hole. The obverse inscription “Bảo Đại Thông Bảo” is rendered in regular script, arranged vertically and read from top to bottom, right to left. In the character “Thông”, the upper-right component is the radical “マ”; the “辶” radical on the left is written as two dots and a vertical stroke, with a flat terminal stroke at the bottom. There is an indentation near the upper-right rim of the inscription, presumed to be the result of hand striking or re-casting. The outer rim is relatively wide. On the reverse, the inscription “Ten văn” is also in regular script and read from right to left. The horizontal stroke of the character “Ten” (十) is placed unusually high, a feature known as “ang thập” (raised-ten).
In AD 1926, Crown Prince Nguyễn Vĩnh Thụy, then studying in France, ascended the throne as Emperor Bảo Đại following the death of Emperor Khải Định, and soon returned to France to continue his education. During this period, the Ministry of Revenue abandoned the machine-minting system introduced under Emperor Khải Định and reinstated the traditional hand-struck method. Under the old system, a small flat coin weighing nine phân could be exchanged for six white-lead coins, while one weighing six phân could be exchanged for four. Later, a new type of small flat coin with a standard weight of approximately one tiền and inscribed with the denomination “Ten văn” was issued. This coin could be exchanged for ten white-lead coins, indicating a further depreciation of the currency.
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.