
These
bronze 1 cash coins were issued during the prosperous, early years of
the Le Dynasty of Annam (now Vietnam.) The kings of Annam would
sometimes change their reign title that appeared on their coins during
their reign, thus one emperor may have more than one name.
The first was issued by King Le Nhan Tong (Nhon Tong, Jen
Tsung). Le Nhan Tong ascended to the throne in 1443 at age of
two. He was killed in 1459 when he was 18, during a
short-lived, unsuccessful coup by supporters of his older brother that
had been passed over for the throne due to the low social status of his
mother. Le Nhan issued coins with the reign title Dien-Ning
from 1453 to 1459. In 1460 the throne went to his younger
brother, Than Tong, (Sheng Tsung) who was 17 at the time. His reign
marked a period of prosperity for the country and he instituted a wide
range of government and legal reforms and reduced corruption.
He used the reign title Hong-Duc from 1470 until his death in
1498. These rarely seen early coins of Annam are well made
and grade Fine or better.
Tonkin was a French protectorate, that later
became part of North Vietnam. Tonkin issued only a single
coin, a zinc 1/600 Piastre, (1/6 cent) dated 1905.
The coin, commonly called a Sapeque, was intended to replace the widely
used Annamese cash coins in circulation. It was struck in the
style of a cash coin: round with a square hole. One side of
the coin had Chinese legends, the other had French legends.
The coin proved to be unpopular with the Vietnamese and most never
entered circulation. The coin is Uncirculated, however it will have
some minor spots as is typical of zinc coins.
OLD
FRENCH INDO-CHINA COIN
SET
We
offer two of the first coins
issued
after the formal establishment of the Republic of Vietnam (South
Vietnam) in 1954. The 1960 copper-nickel 1 Dong and the 1963 aluminum
50
Xu. Both coins pictures Ngo Dinh Diem, the autocratic and
corrupt
ruler of South Vietnam who was assassinated in 1963. The
reverse
of
the coins picture bamboo. The coins were struck at the Paris
mint. Both coins are Uncirculated.

This
rare 1970 dated 1 Riel of the Khmer Republic (now Cambodia) was to be
the
first Cambodian coin issued for circulation since 1959! It
was
struck
by the British Royal Mint and was to be issued as part of the United
Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization's coin program to encourage farmers
to
grow more food. Then disaster struck! The Cambodian
government
was overthrown and the economy collapsed and so the coin was never
issued into circulation..
Pictured on one side is a Temple at Angkor Wat.. The other
side
features
rice plants. Though the coins have never circulated, they
were
stored in a damp, tropical environment, so are heavily spotted and
tarnished or show signs of minor corrosion.
The world did nothing while the
Khmer Rouge government of Cambodia slaughtered over a million of their
citizens in an effort to create a communist paradise in
Cambodia.
Finally in December 1978 the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia and quickly
chased out the Khmer Rouge. In 1979 a new government was created for
Cambodia and the country was renamed to Kampuchea. Only a
single
coin was issued for circulation while the country was called
Kampuchea. It was this aluminum 5 Sen dated 1979.
At one
time the coin sold for $20! 
ATTRACTIVE 7 NOTE SET FROM CAMBODIA<-- PREVIOUS
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