When I started writing about the Vietnam Khải Định Thông Bảo, I wanted to share with you an interesting milled cash coin. But, it got me thinking about the transition from cast cash coins like the Qian Long Tong Bao to milled coins like the previously mentioned Vietnamese piece and the China Guang Xu Tong Bao, through to modern milled coins. I do like “edge” cases – the smallest or biggest, first or last. So, I wondered, “What was the last circulating round-with-a-square-hole, cash coin, anywhere?”. The answer, is the Bảo Đại Thông Bảo:

A search of Numista for circulating coins of shape “round with a square hole”, from 1945 – now, finds these final three Vietnamese Cash coins. The Bảo Đại Thông Bảo, in cast or milled form, and a larger 10 cash version. All three have the same obverse symbols. The milled brass version is small, similar to the Khải Định Thông Bảo linked above. Interestingly, while it is listed as 18mm compared to the cast version’s 24mm, Numista give its weight as 2.3 grams, only .1 gram lighter than the 2.4 grams of the cast coin. I shall have to get one to find out just how thick it is.

The reverse of the coin is blank, although the 10 cash variant has symbols 十文, Thập văn, meaning 10 cash.

Vietnamese cash coins were in use in the Nguyen Dynasty (Southern Vietnam) until 1945. In North Vietnam they were used until 1948.

Both North and South Vietnam moved to modern style milled coins, such as this 10 Su – Bảo Đại from South Vietnam: