List of coin hoards in Vietnam

The list of coin hoards in Vietnam comprises significant archaeological hoards of coins, other types of coinages (e.g. sycees) or objects related to coins discovered in Vietnam. The history of Vietnamese currency, independent from China, dates back to the Đinh dynasty period with the Thái Bình Hưng Bảo (太平興寶), produced from 970 to 979. The Vietnamese produced cash coins similar to the ones produced in China and circulated alongside Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Ryukyuan cash coins brought into the country through international trade. Cash coins continued to be produced in Vietnam until the 1940s under the Nguyễn dynasty. Through international trade foreign currencies such as Spanish dollars and Mexican reals were brought into the country by merchants and these coins would continue to circulate in Vietnam until the French colonial administration outlawed their usage on 1 January 1906 in favour of their own coinage, while Vietnamese cash coins were permitted to continue circulating. Despite the presence of coinages barter persisted until the 20th century. Following its declaration of independence in 1945 the Democratic Republic of Vietnam started issuing its own currency in 1946, while allowing cash coins to circulate until 1948. In 1952 the piastre was abolished and replaced with the South Vietnamese đồng in the south in 1953. Following Vietnamese reunification in 1976 the North Vietnamese đồng and Liberation đồng would continue to circulate in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam until May 2, 1978, when they were replaced by a new national currency.

A lump of ancient Vietnamese cash coins in the National Museum of Vietnamese History, Hanoi.

The coins uncovered in Vietnam includes both native coinages as well as Chinese cash coins in large numbers as Vietnam was a part of China as well as through historical trade with China.

Vietnamese cash coins are also sometimes found in other countries because of trade, such as a Trần dynasty cash coin being unearthed in Hakodate, Japan.[1]

Overview

In modern Vietnam the supply of undiscovered cash coins is rapidly declining as large amounts of Vietnamese cash coins were excavated during the 1980s and 1990s, in Vietnam the excavation of antiques such as cash coins is an industry in itself and the cash coins are mostly being dug up by farmers. After the Vietnam War ended in 1975 a large number of metal detectors numbering in the many thousands were left behind in the former area of South Vietnam which helped fuel the rise of this industry. The antique bronze industry is mostly concentrated in small rural villages where farmers rent metal detectors to search their own lands for bronze antiques to then either sell as scrap or to dealers, these buyers purchase lumps of cash coins by either kilogramme or ton to then hire skilled people to search through these lumps of cash coins for sellable specimens, these coins are then sold to other dealers in Vietnam, China, and Japan. During the zenith of the coin recovery business in Vietnam the number of bulk coins found on a monthly basis was fifteen tons but only roughly fifteen kilogrammes of those coins were sellable and the rest of the coins would melted down as scrap metal. As better metal detectors that could search deeper more Vietnamese cash coins were discovered but in modern times the supply of previously undiscovered Vietnamese cash coins is quickly diminishing.[2][3]

In modern times many Vietnamese cash coins are found in sunken shipwrecks which are mandated by Vietnamese law to be the property of the Vietnamese government as salvaged ships of which the owner was unknown belong to the state.[4][5][6]

List of coin hoards in Vietnam
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
List of coin hoards in Vietnam
Date of discoveryPlace of discoveryImageContentLong description of the find and notesDate
(if known)		Current location
(if known)
1942Óc Eo, Thoại Sơn District, An Giang Province, French CochinchinaRoman coins from the 2nd century.French archaeologist Louis Malleret is credited with having unearthed Roman imperial coinage at the Óc Eo archaeological in 1942.[7] The attribution of this find is dubious as some sources claim that Malleret had purchased them from the locals of the area rather than excavating the coins by himself.[7]
1994Thái NguyênA jar filled with cash coins.In the year 1994 a jar was discovered in Thái Nguyên which contained cash coins produced during 12th–16th centuries.[8]The State Bank of Vietnam, Hanoi[8]
January 2007Perfume River, Huế, Thừa Thiên-Huế ProvinceVarious types of cash coins.A large number of antique cash coins had been found in the rivers that are located near the former capital city of Huế.[9] The cash coins that have been found at these rivers include Tây Sơn dynasty Quang Trung Thông Bảo (光中通寶) and Cảnh Thịnh Thông Bảo (景盛通寶) cash coins, Nguyễn dynasty Gia Long Thông Bảo (嘉隆通寶) and Minh Mạng Thông Bảo (明命通寶) cash coins made of copper and zinc, as well as presentation coins made from gold or silver.[9] The discovery of many cash coins over the years has been used as evidence that the Thừa Thiên-Huế region was a central hub for trade.[9]
5 July 2007Lệ Thủy District, Quảng Bình Province20 kilograms of Chinese Tang dynasty cash coins.A scrap metal collector named Nguyen Duc Dung found a hoard of Tang dynasty cash coins, while digging in a rice field on July 5, 2007.[10] Tran Anh Tuan, an artefact expert and the director of the Quảng Bình Provincial Museum, noted that Kaiyuan Tongbao (開元通寶) cash coins circulated in Vietnam during this period as Vietnam was a part of China at the time.[10] Nguyen Duc Dung was able to sell the cash coins for ₫ 200,000 (US$ 12.50) per kilogram, which had a total value ₫ 4,000,00 (US$250).[10]
11 July 2007Hàm Ninh commune, Quảng Ninh District, Quảng Bình ProvinceChinese Tang dynasty cash coins.On July 11, 2007 three refuse collectors had unearthed five jars, which contained 30 kilograms of Tang dynasty period Kaiyuan Tongbao (開元通寶) cash coins in the Hàm Ninh commune, Quảng Ninh District, Quảng Bình Province.[11]
September 2007Hải Quy commune, Hải Lăng District, Quảng Trị province100 kilogrammes of Chinese cash coins.According to Le Duc Tho, the deputy director of the Quảng Trị Museum noted that a jar containing cash coins weighing approximately 100 kilograms was unearthed by local farmers while they were working in Hải Quy commune, Hải Lăng District, Quảng Trị province.[12][13] All the artifacts from the hoard are intact except for the upper part of the jar, which was broken upon discovery.[12][13] The Chinese cash coins found inside of the jar dated from the 16th century to the 18th century.[12][13] Le Duc Tho noted that in the past few years a lot of Chinese and Vietnamese cash coins had been unearthed in the Quảng Trị province, particularly in the Gio Ling and Triệu Phong Districts, but this hoard was the first time this type of jar had been found (nearly) intact.[12][13]The Quảng Trị Museum[12]
November 2007Hà Tây village, Quảng Trị province35 kilogrammes of Vietnamese cash coins.It was reported by the local newspaper Saigon Liberation that 35 kilogrammes of Vietnamese cash coins were unearthed in the province of Quảng Trị in the year 2007.[14][15] The discovered cash coins dated from the 9th century until the 15th century.[14] The cash coins were unearthed by a local villager, who was scavenging for rubble iron and steel left from the Vietnam war, in Hà Tây village.[14] Later a man named Nguyen Du Dac purchased the coins and donated them to the Quảng Trị museum.[14] The cash coins unearthed were contained inside of a glazed terracotta jar and most of them tend to come from several of Chinese dynasties.[14] Furthermore, the terracotta jar also contained a number of rare Vietnamese cash coins that were cast between the years 960 and 1454.[14]15th centuryThe Quảng Trị Museum[14]
2008Kiến Thụy District, Haiphong52.9 kilogrammes of Chinese and Vietnamese cash coins.52.9 kilogrammes of Chinese and Vietnamese cash coins being unearthed in a cemetery in Haiphong in 2008.[16] The cash coins were discovered by workers and located inside of two glazed terra-cotta jars at the archeological site of Go Gao, an area which housed a food warehouse during the feudal period.[16] The discovered cash coins circulated from the 14th century to the 15th century.[16] Most of the cash coins were issued by the Chinese Hongwu Emperor and the Vietnamese monarch Lê Nhân Tông, according to an appraisal from the Hải Phòng Museum.[16] 15th centuryThe Hải Phòng Museum[16]
September 2010The tomb of Thoại Ngọc Hầu, Châu ĐốcA Thái Đức Thông Bảo (泰德通寶) cash coin.A Tây Sơn dynasty cash coin issued under Nguyễn Nhạc was found inside of the tomb of Thoại Ngọc Hầu and his two wives.[17][18] This discovery is considered significant because Thoại Ngọc Hầu was a high-ranking Nguyễn dynasty official and as Tây Sơn dynasty coinage was banned from circulating by the Nguyễn government.[17]1829
Saturday 4 September 2010Quốc Tuấn commune, An Lão District, Haiphong24 kilograms of cash coins including Cảnh Hưng coinage (景興錢), Gia Long Thông Bảo (嘉隆通寶) cash coins, Khang Hi Thông Bảo (康熙通寶) and Càn Long Thông Bảo (乾隆通寶) cash coins.On Saturday 4 September 2010 while working on his pond Nguyen Van Bay found a terracotta jar with sophisticated patterns in Haiphong.[19] The jar contained 24 kilograms of Chinese and Vietnamese cash coins issued by various dynasties.[19] As the cash coins were buried in mud for a long time many of them were corroded together.[19] Trung, the vice-director of the Haiphong City Museum stated that Bay's family was rewarded by the museum for handing over their to the museum.[20] Trung further noted that while the Haiphong City Museum owns a vast collection of ancient coins, it has no archaeologists in its staff and that the fate of the coins was likely that they would collect dust like all the others in their collection.[20]19th centuryThe Hải Phòng Museum[20]
2012Quảng Thuận commune, Quảng Trạch District, Quảng Bình Province[lower-alpha 1]10.5 kilogrammes of the antique bronze cash coins.A jar filled with bronze cash coins was uncovered by a local resident when he was digging a well for his house in Quảng Trạch District, Quảng Bình Province.[21] The cash coins were produced by the Chinese Northern Song dynasty and date back to the 10th to 13th centuries.[21] The coins generally are 23 centimetres in diameter.[21]The Quảng Bình Museum[21]
July or August 2013A shipwreck in the coastal waters of Quảng Nam Province10 copper cash coinsA small number of copper coins were discovered inside of a shipwreck by a 39 year old diver named Dinh Tan Tau alongside a large number of ceramic boxes used to contain cosmetic powders.[20]
29 December 2013Vinh, Nghệ An Province10 kilograms of cash coins.According to a report by the Tuổi Trẻ newspaper, a 36-year-old man named Nguyen Quang Tung had discovered a clay jar located 1.2 meters under the ground while he was gardening.[22][23] The clay jar contained 10 kilograms of cash coins, the coins tend to be 2.4 centimeters in diameter.[22] According to Dao Tam Tinh, director of the Nghệ An Library and an antique researcher, noted that most of the cash coins were produced by the Chinese Song dynasty between the years 960 and 1279.[22] According to Nguyen Quang Tung the area where he lived belonged to rich landlords in feudal Vietnam and might have been buried there to hide them.[22] Nguyen Quang Tung further noted that his discovery had attracted a lot of curiosity and that a number of antique collectors had offered ₫10,000,000 (US$476).[22]
4 October 2014Hà Tĩnh Province22 kg of Vietnamese and Chinese ancient metal cash coins and a revival Lê dynasty period pottery bowl wearing Chinese characters.On October 4, 2014 a man named Dang Van Sinh noticed a number of strangers digging in his garden at night, suspecting them of being thieves he alerted them to his presence which caused the thieves to run the scene leaving behind the cash coins.[24][25] The coins were originally located inside of five different terra-cotta jars which had been buried underground, and of which a single one was broken.[24][25] The next Thursday, Dang Van Sinh had called the Hà Tĩnh Museum, who reportedly sent a number of experts to the site to collect the cash coins.[24][25] Le Ba Hanh, the vice director of the Hà Tĩnh Museum, noted that the recovered cash coins mostly dated to the Revival Lê dynasty period and were mostly produced between the years 1740 and 1786, while the numismatic hoard also included a number Chinese Song dynasty period cash coins that dated to 1085.[24][25] The Vietnamese cash coins from the hoard are bigger and heavier than the Chinese specimens.[24][25]The Hà Tĩnh Museum[24][25]
22 May 2015Tri Lanh village, Hà Nam Province50 kilograms of cash coins.While digging the foundation for a water tank a 39 year old villager, named Luong Manh Hai, found 50 kilograms of cash coins in the province of Hà Nam inside of a terracotta jar on 22 May 2015.[26] Most of the cash coins are 2.4 centimeters in diameter and 0.1 centimeter thick.[26]
8 November 2015Cam Thủy, Lệ Thủy District, Quảng Bình ProvinceTwo Nguyễn dynasty period presentation coins.The presentation coins were discovered by a man named Ngo Thanh Anh while he was gardening on his own premises in the Cam Thủy commune, Lệ Thủy District, Quảng Bình Province.[27] Presentation coins were gifted to people by the Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty to those who had made great contributions to the imperial court, and unlike actual cash coins could not be used to purchase goods and services.[27] Both presentation coins are 12 centimetres in diameter, have a thickness of 0.5 centimetres, and all have a square centre hole.[27] One of the presentation coins was issued under Gia Long and the other under Minh Mạng.[27] One of the presentation coins depicts a dragon chasing the sun, while the other featured an image of the Meridian Gate in the Imperial City of Huế and the inscription "Đại Nam's precious national object" written in Chinese characters.[27]Nguyễn dynasty periodThe Provincial Museum of Quảng Bình[27]
2018Cẩm Xuyên and Kỳ Anh Districts, Hà Tĩnh ProvinceA small number of Nagasaki trade coins.A number of Nagasaki trade coins in the province of Hà Tĩnh in 2018.[28][29] The cash coins have a diameter of about 24 millimeters and each coin had a 7 millimeter square centre hole.[29] This find is notably this is the first time that ancient Japanese cash coins have been found in Hà Tĩnh Province.[29]The Hà Tĩnh Museum[29]
July 2019Yên Bái Province100 kg of cash coins.It was reported by the Vietnam News Agency on July 28, 2019 local police had arrested a motorcyclist during a traffic stop who had 100 kilograms (200 pounds).[30] The cash coins were recently unearthed in the Yên Bái Province and were purchased by the motor cyclist.[30] The numismatic hoard included cash coins issued under Emperor Wu of Han in 118 B.C., as well as cash coins produced from the 7th century until the 13th century A.D.[30]

See also

Notes
  1. Present-day Quảng Thuận commune, Ba Đồn, Quảng Bình Province.

References
  1. Joseph Ryan (25 May 2011). "Hakodate – 14th century Trần Dynasty Vietnamese coin uncovered". Japanese Archaeology. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  2. Sudokuone (Vietnam's Imperial History as Seen Through its Currency) The Supply of Vietnamese Coins by Dr. R. Allan Barker. Retrieved: 03 April 2018.
  3. Barker 2004, p. 10.
  4. "Vietnam salvager says ancient coins looted from shipwreck". Thanh Niên News. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  5. "Shipwreck off Vietnam yields 700-year-old coins and ceramics". United Press International, Inc. (UPI). 2 July 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  6. Quynh Tran (9 April 2020). "Relics within a relic in Vung Tau". VnExpress (FPT Group). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  7. Bennett Murray (4 July 2015). "Romans vs Khmers: They came, they saw, they traded... or did they?". The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  8. Vietnam Net Bridge (17 January 2007). "Antique coins found in Hue rivers". Southeast Asian Archaeology (SEAArch). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  9. Nhân Dân (Communist Party of Vietnam) (7 July 2007). "Cache of Tang Dynasty coins unearthed in Vietnam". Southeast Asian Archaeology (SEAArch). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  10. Thanh Niên News (14 July 2007). "More Vietnamese coins in the news". Southeast Asian Archaeology (SEAArch). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  11. "100kg of ancient Chinese coins unearthed in Vietnam". Noel Tan for the Southeast Asian Archeology Newsblog (through Thanh Niên News). 7 September 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  12. Credited as "Xinhua News NetWriter". (14 November 2007). "Ancient Chinese coins unearthed in C Vietnam". Kaogu (考古) - Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (中国社会科学院考古研究所). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  13. "34kg of ancient coins unearthed in Vietnam". Noel Tan for the Southeast Asian Archeology Newsblog (through Vietnam Net Bridge). 9 November 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  14. Credited as "www.chinaview.cn NetWriter". (8 September 2007). "Chinese ancient coins found in central Vietnam". Kaogu (考古) - Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (中国社会科学院考古研究所). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  15. "Vietnam Unearths Ancient Vietnamese, Chinese Coins". U.S. Rare Coin Investments. 13 August 2008. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  16. "Archaeologists digs in Vietnam unearth 'surprising' artifacts: conference". Thanh Niên News. 30 September 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  17. VNS (1 October 2011). "Tay Son dynasty coin unearthed". Việt Nam News. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  18. "Farmer unearths jar of ancient coins". Thanh Niên News. 9 December 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  19. "18th century coins found in northern Vietnam". Thanh Niên News. 10 December 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  20. VNA (20 August 2012). "Ancient coins unearthed in Quang Binh province". Nhân Dân (Communist Party of Vietnam). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  21. "Vietnamese man finds 1,000-year-old coins buried in garden". Thanh Niên News. 1 January 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  22. Unlisted (6 January 2014). "Antique stone table set, coins unearthed in central province". Tuổi Trẻ News. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  23. Thanh Niên News (11 October 2014). "Treasure trove of coins found in Ha Tinh province". Southeast Asian Archaeology (SEAArch). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  24. Nguyen Dung (11 October 2014). "Vietnamese, Chinese ancient coins dug up in Ha Tinh". Thanh Niên News. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  25. "50kg of old coins unearthed in Ha Nam - VietNamNet Bridge – Luong Manh Hai, 39, of Tri Lanh village in Ha Nam province discovered 50 kg while digging a foundation for a water tank". Thu Ly for VietnamNet. 29 May 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  26. VNS (1 December 2015). "Two Nguyen dynasty coins discovered in Quang Binh". Vietnam News (The National English Language Daily). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  27. "Ancient Japanese coins found in central province". VietnamPlus (Sports – Society section). 14 March 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  28. "Ancient Japanese coins found in Hà Tĩnh". Viet Nam News (Life & Style section). 14 March 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  29. World Archaeology Team (28 July 2019). "Over 100kg of ancient coins discovered in Yen Bai". Archaeology-World. Retrieved 16 April 2020.

Sources
  • Barker, Allan (2004). The Historical Cash Coins of Viet Nam. ISBN 981-05-2300-9.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.