
ONLY
COIN OF TONKIN
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 may have some minor spots as is typical of
zinc coins.
OLD FRENCH INDO-CHINA COIN
SET


FIRST
COIN OF VIETNAM
This set includes the only
three coins struck by North Vietnam after the defeat of the French and
before the unification with the South. It includes the 1, 2
and 5
XU dated 1958. All coins have a center hole and are
struck
in Aluminum. The coins are Unc. 
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!

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