Vietnamese coin – HCR58861

Obverse

Inscription:

太平聖寶

Design:

Regular script, but with 'long-arm' Li script 寶

Reverse

Inscription:

None

Design:

Plain, with inner and outer rims, excess metal above and to right of hole

Information

Period

Vietnamese

Denomination

1 Đồng (tiền gián)

Material

bronze

Technique

cast

Dating

c. 1540 - c. 1590

Measurements
Acquisition
Additional information
Ticket
References
Credit

Weight (g)

1.57

Diameter (mm)

Acquisition method

gift

Acquisition collection reference

Kutsuki Masatsuna

Acquisition date

10/5/1922

Source

Indian Institute, Oxford

Acquisition credit

Transferred from the Indian Institute, Oxford, 1922; to them, gifted/bequeathed by Howell Wills.

Transliteration (obverse)

Thái Binh Thánh Bảo

Reference

Barker : Page 151, cf #54.

Note:

All the examples illustrated by Barker have the regular script Bảo, not the 'long-arm' variety as in this example

Reference

Thierry CMVS : Page 65, cf Figure 334.

Note:

Thierry (CMVS) illustrates only the regular script short-arm bao form of this small coin type which he describes as a hybrid of a Shao Sheng yuan bao (read clockwise) and a Yuan Fu tong bao (read crosswise TBRL).

Reference

Thierry CMV : page 52, cf Figure 583

Note:

Thierry (CMV) illustrates indistinctly a somewhat similar coin (Figure 583) to HCR 58861, with what may or may not be a ‘long-arm’ Li script bảo, described as of copper, and another of brass (Figure 596) with a bảo which is definitely of the short-arm type. However the top left part of the 聖 character in Thierry’s Fig. 583 is different from HCR 58861. While attributing both coins to the period of the Mạc at Cao Bằng (莫氏(莫家) during the 17th century, he points out that it is not possible to distinguish private issues of this time from those of later periods up to the time of the Nguyen Lords.

Reference

Hartill GCC : Page 144, Figure 2.810

Note:

Hartill included both a ‘long-arm’ seal script bảo variety of Thái Binh Thánh Bảo and a ‘short-arm’ type among his category: ‘Small Copper – Distinct Calligraphy, Group 1. (“An Phap” type)’. Hartill has reviewed the various hypotheses for the chronology of An Phap-type coins advanced by Thierry and others. He proposes (GCC, p. 143) that they were manufactured in North Vietnam under the Mac between 1540 and 1590, somewhat earlier than proposed by Thierry (CMV). This provisional dating has been followed here.

Contributors to this coin record

jmairat, mritchie, cgallacher