Vietnamese coin – HCR58885

Obverse

Inscription:

祥元通寶

Design:

Seal script 元 and long-arm Li script 寶, small size, wide outer rim. Excess metal as dots in field above and below 寶.

Reverse

Inscription:

None

Design:

Plain, with shallowly raised inner and outer rims, off-centre

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)

1.69

Diameter (mm)

21.9

Acquisition method

unknown provenance

Acquisition note

No provenance recorded.

Transliteration (obverse)

Tường Nguyên Thông Bảo

Reference

Hartill GCC : Page 145, Figure 2.845

Note:

Hartill (GCC, pp. 144) illustrates a Tường Nguyên Thông Bảo coin with a long-armed Li script 寶Bảo and distinctive hair-clip-shaped head on the 通. HCR 58885 is a poorly moulded example of the same type, with the 祥 character deformed. Hartill includes an illustration from the Chinka Kohokan of 1729 showing this inscription. Hartill included this 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 Mạc between 1540 and 1590. This provisional dating has been followed here.

Reference

Thierry CMVS : Page 48, Figure 125

Note:

Thierry (CMV, p. 41), quoting Weng Shupei (1800), indicates that this inscription is a hybrid of a Xiang Fu yuan bao coin (read clockwise) with a tong bao coin (read crosswise).

Contributors to this coin record

jmairat, mritchie, cgallacher