PHAN: COIN OF VIETNAM
Phan (also: cash), 1740-1786: Vietnam (Đại Việt)
Đại Việt (literally: Great Việt) — monarchy in Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day Hanoi (North of nowadays Vietnam and its capital). Đại Việt lasted until the reign of Gia Long (1802-1820), the first emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, when the state’s name was changed to Việt Nam.
ND (no date).
A coin with a square hole in the middle.
Ruler: Lê Hiển Tông — penultimate emperor of Vietnamese Lê dynasty. He reigned from 1740 to 1786.
景 興 通 寶 (hieroglyphs are read from top to bottom and from right to left): Cảnh Hưng Thông Bảo (indicating the reign era of the Emperor and the currency).
The hieroglyph on the reverse of the coin is erased.
Coin is made by casting.
- Copper: 25 mm - 3.52 g
- Reference price: 7.7$
COIN PHAN — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- VIETNAM (17th-19th centuries): phan
PHAN as coin name.
Phan — the smallest historical Vietnamese coin made of copper and copper alloys or zinc, which was produced by casting during the 17th-19th centuries.
It is worth noting that at that time a single independent state of Vietnam did not exist. The phan coin was issued in various lands that later became modern Vietnam. These are Dai Viet, Dai Nam, and the French protectorate of Annam.
A characteristic feature of the coin is a square hole in the center, the absence of a date (always) and hieroglyphs or other graphic elements on the reverse (as a rule). There are three denominations: 3 phan (weighing up to 1.2 g), 6 phan (up to 2.3 g; some sources refer to this particular coin as Vietnamese cash), and 9 phan (over 3.5 g).
Regarding the name of the phan coin, no data on the history of its origin could be found. However, it is known that: firstly, in translation from Vietnamese "phần" means "a part"; secondly, in the Vietnamese system of measures, it was a unit of measurement of weight (0.38 g), length (4 mm), area, volume...
