The Vietnamese cash (chữ Hán: 文錢 văn tiền; chữ Nôm: 銅錢 đồng tiền; French: sapèque), also called the sapek or sapèque, is a cast round coin with a square hole that was an official currency of Vietnam from the Đinh dynasty in 970 until the Nguyễn dynasty in 1945, and remained in circulation in North Vietnam until 1948. The same type of currency circulated in China, Japan, Korea, and Ryūkyū for centuries. Though the majority of Vietnamese cash coins throughout history were copper coins, lead, iron (from 1528) and zinc (from 1740) coins also circulated alongside them often at fluctuating rates (with 1 copper cash being worth 10 zinc cash in 1882). Coins made from metals of lower intrinsic value were introduced because of various superstitions involving Vietnamese people burying cash coins, as the problem of people burying cash coins became too much for the government. Almost all coins issued by government mints tended to be buried mere months after they had entered circulation. The Vietnamese government began issuing coins made from an alloy of zinc, lead, and tin. As these cash coins tended to be very fragile, they would decompose faster if buried, which caused the Vietnamese people to stop burying their coins.
The inscriptions of Vietnamese cash coins can be written in either the Viết chéo (曰湥 / 曰袑, top-bottom-right-left) style or the Viết thuận (曰順, clockwise, top-right-bottom-left) style.
Etymology
Sapèque
The French term for cash coins, sapèque, comes from the Malay terms sa pek or sa pe meaning 'one pe(k)' (pek, or pie, being a kind of currency), which in turn come from the Chinese word peku/pak (百, Vietnamese reading: bách) meaning 'one-hundred'. The origin of the term might have come from the fact that cash coins were typically strung together in strings of around a hundred pieces.
The French adopted the term sapèque in Macau and initially used it to refer to Chinese cash coins but later also applied the term for Vietnamese cash coins.
Slang names
In the late 19th century Điêm slang spoken by the lower-class people of Saigon the term tể was used to refer to cash coins; this term was an abbreviation of Tiền (錢).
Currency units
Traditionally, the basic units of Vietnamese currency were quan (貫, quán), tiền, and đồng. One quan was 10 tiền, and one tiền was between 50 and 100 đồng, depending on the time period. From the reign of Emperor Trần Thái Tông onward, 1 tiền was 69 đồng in ordinary commercial transactions but 1 tiền was 70 đồng for official transactions. From the reign of Emperor Lê Lợi, 1 tiền was decreed to be 50 đồng. During the Northern and Southern dynasties of Vietnam period, beginning in 1528, coins were reduced from 24 millimetres (0.94 in) to 23 millimetres (0.91 in) in diameter and diluted with zinc and iron. The smaller coinage was called tiền gián or sử tiền, in contrast to the larger tiền quý (literally, 'valuable cash') or cổ tiền. One quan tiền quý was equivalent to 600 đồng, while 1 quan tiền gián was only 360 đồng. During the Later Lê dynasty, 1 tiền was 60 đồng; therefore, 600 đồng was 1 quan. During the Yuan dynasty, Vietnamese traders at the border with China used the rate 1 tiền to 67 đồng. Zinc coins began to appear in Dai Viet during the 18th century. One copper (đồng) coin was worth 3 zinc (kẽm) coins. Beginning with the reign of Emperor Gia Long, both copper and zinc coins were in use. Originally the two coins had equal value, but eventually a copper coin rose to double the worth of a zinc coin, then triple, then sixfold, until the reign of Emperor Thành Thái, it was worth ten times a zinc coin.
History
Đinh and Early Lê dynasties
During the Bắc thuộc a number of Chinese currencies circulated in Vietnam, during this period precious metals like gold and silver were also used in commercial transactions but it wasn't until Vietnamese independence that the first natively produced cash coins would appear. The cash coins produced in Vietnam typically carried the era name of the period it was produced in.
The first Vietnamese coins were cast under the rule of the Đinh dynasty (968–981) with the introduction of the Thái Bình Hưng Bảo (太平興寶) under Đinh Bộ Lĩnh. Likewise the only inscription cast during the Early Lê dynasty period bore the inscription Thiên Phúc Trấn Bảo (天福鎮寶). However, for the next two centuries coins would remain a rarity in the daily lives of the common people, as bartering would remain the dominant means of exchange under both the Đinh and Early Lê dynasties.
Lý dynasty
The first cash coins of the Lý dynasty produced during the reign of Emperor Lý Thái Tổ were the Thuận Thiên Đại Bảo (順天大寶), these were among the largest early Vietnamese cash coins with a diameter of 25.5 millimeters. All known variants of this cash coin feature the Chinese character Nguyệt (月) on the top of their reverse sides.
Generally cast coins produced by the Vietnamese from the reign of Lý Thái Tông and onwards were of diminutive quality compared to the Chinese variants. They were often produced with inferior metallic compositions and made to be thinner and lighter than the Chinese wén due to a severe lack of copper that existed during the Lý dynasty. This inspired Chinese traders to recast Chinese coins for export to Vietnam, which caused an abundance of coinage to circulate in the country, prompting the Lý government to suspend the mintage of coins for five decades.
Trần dynasty
The production of inferior coinage continued under the Trần dynasty. The production of both government and private cash coins happened at a large scale during the Trần period.
It was under the reign of emperor Trần Dụ Tông that the most cash coins were cast of this period; this was because of several calamities such as failed crops that plagued the country during his reign, which caused the Trần government to issue more coins to the populace as compensation. The internal political struggles of the Trần dynasty ensured the cessation of the production of coinage, and as such, no coins were produced during the entire reigns of the last seven monarchs of the Trần dynasty.
After the reign of emperor Trần Nghệ Tông the government of Đại Việt buried large reserves of cash coins in a mountain, the place of storage in this mountain later collapsed which became a contributing factor to cash coins remaining scarce after the Trần dynasty period.
Hồ dynasty
During the Hồ dynasty the usage of coins was banned by Hồ Quý Ly in 1396 in favour of the Thông Bảo Hội Sao (通寶會鈔) banknote series and ordered people to exchange their coinage for these banknotes (with an exchange rate of one Quân of copper coins for two Thông Bảo Hội Sao banknotes). Those who refused to exchange or continued to pay with coins would be executed and have their possessions taken by the government. Despite these harsh laws, very few people actually preferred paper money and coins remained widespread in circulation, forcing the Hồ dynasty to retract their policies. The Thông Bảo Hội Sao banknotes of the Hồ dynasty featured designs with auspicious clouds (one tiền), turtles (two tiền), Kỳ lân (three tiền), Phượng hoàng (five tiền), and dragons (one quán).
Under the Hồ dynasty cash coins with the inscriptions Thánh Nguyên Thông Bảo (聖元通寶) and Thiệu Nguyên Thông Bảo (紹元通寶) were introduced, but they would only be manufactured in small numbers, though the Later Lê dynasty would produce coins with the same inscriptions less than half a century later in larger quantities.
Later Lê, Mạc, and Revival Lê dynasties
After Lê Thái Tổ came to power in 1428 by ousting out the Ming dynasty ending the Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam, the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư reports that in 1429 it was proposed to reintroduce paper money, but this idea was rejected. Lê Thái Tổ enacted new policies to improve the quality of the manufacturing of coinage leading to the production of coins with both excellent craftsmanship and metal compositions that rivaled that of the best contemporary Chinese coinage. After ascending the throne, Lê Thái Tổ immediately summoned the great officials in the court to discuss the production of money and issued a Chiếu which stated that: "Money is an extremely necessary thing, like the lifeblood of the people, indispensable. Our country minted a few coins, but the copper coins were destroyed a lot by the Ming people, only about one percent remained. Now the domestic consumption is in short supply, in order for the currency to circulate in abundance, to please the people, it is necessary to have a reasonable monetary regulation. So it is impossible not to discuss soon, I will consider implementing." After that, the Thuận Thiên Nguyên Bảo (順天元寶) was minted, according to the regulations, 50 đồng is 1 tiền.
The Mạc dynasty, which usurped power between the years 1528 to 1592, also minted its own coinage but they began to use zinc and iron, which were cheaper metals, and they further allowed private coinage to develop which decreased the quality of the coinage. After the Lê dynasty returned to power they tried to combat these monetary practices, but the shortage of copper (as the mines where the copper came from were mostly in areas controlled by China) and the division of the country between the two rival lordships (or principalities) of the Trịnh and Nguyễn lords made these measures ineffective.
Between 1633 and 1637 the Dutch East India Company sold 105,835 strings of 960 cash coins (or 101,600,640 văn) to the Nguyễn lords in Vĩnh Lạc Thông Bảo (永樂通寶), and Khoan Vĩnh Thông Bảo (寬永通寶) coins. This was because the Japanese had restricted trade, forcing the Southern Vietnamese traders to purchase their copper coins from the Dutch Republic rather than from Japanese merchants as before. This trade lead to a surplus of copper in the territory of the Nguyễn lords, allowing them to use the metal (which at the time was scarce in the north) for more practical applications such as nails and door hinges. After this, Nagasaki trade coins, which were specifically minted for the Vietnamese market, also started being traded and circulating in the northern parts of Vietnam where the smaller coins would often be melted down for utensils and only circulated in Hanoi, while larger Nagasaki trade coins circulated all over Vietnam.
From the Dương Hòa era (1635–1643) under Lê Thần Tông until 1675 no coins were cast due to the political turmoil. At the turn of the 18th century Lê Dụ Tông opened a number of copper mines and renewed the production of high quality coinage. During the Vĩnh Thịnh (永盛, 1706–1719) period of Lê Dụ Tông the first large-format cash coins were issued; they had a diameter of 50.5 mm and a weight of 33.13 grams.
According to the Đại Nam thực lục tiền biên from the reign of Túc Tông (lord Nguyễn Phúc Chú) the Nguyễn lords started producing copper cash coins. And later during the reign of the Thế tông Hiếu vũ Hoàng đế (lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát) the Nguyễn lords started minting white zinc coins, they opened a mint at Lương Quán, where they minted cash coins in the form of the Tường Phù cash coins of the Song dynasty. According to their regulations it was strictly forbidden to mint privately. After minting more money, they produced the Thiên Minh Thông Bảo cash coins.
From 1719 the production of cast copper coins ceased for two decades and taxes were more heavily lifted on the Chinese population as Mandarins could receive a promotion in rank for every 600 strings of cash (or 600,000 coins).
Under Lê Hiển Tông a large variety of Cảnh Hưng (景興) coins were cast with varying descriptions on the obverse. In fact it is thought that more variations of the Cảnh Hưng coin exist than of any other Oriental cash coin in history. There were also new large Cảnh Hưng coins introduced with denominations of 50 and 100 văn and from 1740, various provincial mint marks were added on the reverses of coins. Currently there are around 80 known different kinds of Cảnh Hưng coins. This diversity exists because the Lê government was in dire need of coins to pay for its expenditures, while it needed to collect more taxes in coins, so it began to mint a lot of coins. Later to fulfill this need, the Lê legalised the previously detrimental workshops that were minting inferior coins in 1760 in order to meet the market's high demand for coinage; this backfired as the people found the huge variety in quality and quantity confusing.
In 1775, after capturing Thuận Hóa from the Nguyễn lords, Trịnh Sâm stipulated that 3 zinc cash coins from Nam Hà would be accepted for 1 zinc cash coin from Bắc Hà.
Tây Sơn dynasty
Under Nguyễn Nhạc the description of Thất Phân (七分) was first added to the reverses of some coins indicating their weight; this continued under the Nguyễn dynasty. Under the reign of Nguyễn Huệ, Quang Trung Thông Bảo (光中通寶) cash coins were produced made in two different types of metal, one series of copper and one series of tin, as well as alloys between the two or copper coins of red copper.
According to the Đại Nam thực lục tiền biên while fighting the Tây Sơn dynasty, the Thế tổ Cao Hoàng đế issued cash coins with the inscription Gia Hưng Thông Bảo (嘉興通寶) in 1796.
Nguyễn dynasty
During the Nguyễn dynasty period in addition to their circulating zinc, lead, and copper-alloy cash coins the government also produced silver and gold cash coins.