This is a Cảnh Hưng Thông Bảo coin cast in brass during the reign of Lê Hiển Tông of the Later Lê dynasty, bearing his era name.
The coin adopts the traditional square-holed round form characteristic of the Sinosphere. The obverse inscription, “Cảnh Hưng Thông Bảo,” is rendered in clerical script and is read vertically from top to bottom, right to left. The “Thông” (通) character features an elongated lower stroke in its 辶 radical, and the overall brushstrokes are rounded and flowing. The characters are relatively large in size, with all four connecting to the central square hole. The reverse is plain and uninscribed.
During the reign of Lê Thái Tông, treasury officials often rejected worn coins when collecting taxes, prompting a royal edict mandating the circulation of any coins capable of being strung, regardless of condition. Though initially intended to prevent bureaucratic abuse of commoners, this policy inadvertently contributed to declining coin quality. With enforced acceptance of all coin types, the emphasis shifted from quality to quantity; private mints prioritised producing more coins from the same amount of copper. Some even remelted high-quality official coins to mint privately.
In the Revival Lê dynasty period, the Trịnh and Nguyễn lords vied for dominance, each seeking to survive through territorial expansion and promoting trade, particularly with Japan. These dual pressures—warfare and economic ambition—increased the demand for currency. Trade growth boosted domestic coin use; taxes, corvée, and requisitions were increasingly monetised. Displaced peasants, rendered landless by warfare, converted their assets into coin for portability in flight. Cảnh Hưng Thông Bảo coins were first cast in the capital (Thăng Long), later spreading to regional official mints, despite persistent private coining. In AD 1753 (Cảnh Hưng 14), due to rampant private minting, Trịnh Doanh abolished most regional mints, retaining only the Nhật Chiêu and Cầu Đơ mints in the capital. Nevertheless, unauthorised minting persisted.
By AD 1760 (Cảnh Hưng 21), the capital alone could no longer meet the growing demand for currency. Lê Hiển Tông reluctantly legalised regional minting and began recording mint locations for quality supervision. In AD 1762 (Cảnh Hưng 23), as Trịnh Doanh fell gravely ill, his successor Trịnh Sâm, who was estranged from the royal family, seized control and sidelined Lê Hiển Tông. Central authority rapidly deteriorated, and debased official and private coins flooded the market. Rebellions erupted across the realm, exacerbating military spending. Lê Hiển Tông was compelled to repeatedly alter coin names and styles to replace depreciated currency. Massive coin production, coupled with wartime economic disruption, drove inflation and currency devaluation, which in turn stimulated further minting.
Over his 40-year reign, these economic, political, and military contradictions culminated in what numismatists call the “Cảnh Hưng Coin Phenomenon,” marked by an unprecedented variety and complexity of coin types and styles.
Lê Hiển Tông, born Lê Duy Diêu, reigned from AD 1740 to 1786 and was the longest-serving emperor of the Later Lê dynasty. Early in his reign, he maintained a cooperative relationship with Trịnh Doanh, the ruling lord. However, after Trịnh Doanh’s death, his son Trịnh Sâm, out of jealousy toward Crown Prince Lê Duy Vĩ, alienated the emperor and ultimately forced him to depose the prince, who was later executed. In AD 1786, the Tây Sơn forces under Nguyễn Huệ launched a campaign against the Trịnh lords under the pretext of “Supporting the Lê, Eliminating the Trịnh.” The Trịnh regime collapsed, ending its political dominance. Though Lê Hiển Tông publicly welcomed the Trịnh’s downfall, he privately expressed concern over the Tây Sơn threat and warned his grandson, the heir apparent, to be vigilant.
During this era, the Trịnh lords governed the north, while the Nguyễn lords controlled the south, creating a long-standing civil divide known as the Trịnh–Nguyễn conflict or the “Northern and Southern Courts.” Despite political fragmentation, the Revival Lê period saw considerable cultural, artistic, and economic development. Confucian education and the civil service examination system continued, establishing this era as one of Vietnam’s cultural golden ages. In AD 1788, the Tây Sơn uprising overthrew the Lê dynasty; the following year, Emperor Lê Chiêu Thống fled to Qing China, marking the formal end of the Revival Lê dynasty.
