Item number: M358

Year: AD 1916-1925

Material: Sliver

Size: 30 x 30 mm

Weight: 34.75 g (with box)

Manufactured by: Hué and Haiphong

Provenance: Stack Bowers 2024

This is a ” Khai Dinh Bao Kien ” medal from the Khai Dinh era of Vietnam’s Nguyen Dynasty. At the centre of the obverse side, there is a pearl that appears to radiate flames outward. The four characters “啟定寶鑑” are engraved sequentially in the order of “top, bottom, left, and right.” There are two holes, one at the top and one at the bottom, with no decorative border around the coin. 

On the reverse side, the centre features a Taiji (Yin-Yang) symbol, flanked on both sides by flame-shaped pearls. Clouds are depicted in all four cardinal directions, while the top of the medal is adorned with an image of a constellation.

The ” Khai Dinh Bao Kien ” was a medal minted during the reign of Emperor Khai Dinh (Khai Dinh Bao Kien) of the Nguyen Dynasty. By this time, the dynasty was in its final stages, with French colonial rulers exerting full control over its political and economic affairs. The Banque de l’Indochine, a branch of the National Bank of France, had established operations in Vietnam and issued currency, gradually replacing the Nguyen Dynasty’s increasingly devalued coinage due to the weakening state of the empire. 

During Khai Dinh’s reign, the emperor functioned largely as a puppet under French influence. The coins minted and issued by the Nguyen Dynasty had lost their practical value in the market, becoming almost obsolete as currency. They retained significance only as symbolic artefacts of a declining dynasty.

Before the Nguyen Dynasty ruled Vietnam, there may have been a similar system of awards and medals, but there is a lack of precise records about it. It wasn’t until the arrival of the French in Vietnam in AD 1840 that Europeans first documented a medal reward system resembling Western practises in the imperial court of Hue during the Nguyen Dynasty.

Based on the metal material, one can roughly determine the rank of the “Tien.” The highest rank, known as “Kim Tien” (Gold Tien), has four levels. In the early period of the Nguyen Dynasty, they were made of real gold, but later they gradually shifted to gold plating or basic metals. The next level, “Ngan Tien” (Silver Tien), sometimes follows European practises by indicating rank differences, but many “Silver Tiens” mainly display the regnal year of the emperor without specific rank distinctions.

物件編號: M358

年代: 公元 1916-1925 年

材質: 銀

尺寸: 30 x 30 mm

重量: 34.75 g (with box)

製造地: 順化和海防

來源: SBP錢幣拍賣 2024

這是一枚出自越南阮朝啟定年間的「啟定寶鑑」，其正面中心是一顆彷彿向周遭散發著火焰一般的珍珠，並按照「上下左右」的順序依序刻有「啟定寶鑑」四個字，並且在獎牌上下各有一個孔洞，周圍則無裝飾邊框。其背面中央為太極符號，左右有兩側也各有一顆火焰狀的珍珠，四個方向有著雲朵，頂部則有著星座圖像。

「啟定寶鑑」是啟定帝阮福晙在位期間所鑄造的獎牌，此時已是阮朝末期，法國殖民者已經在政治及經濟上已完全控制了這個王朝，巴黎國家銀行在越南開設分行並發行貨幣，使得信譽良好的法國貨幣日漸取代了因為國力衰退而不斷貶值的阮朝錢幣，徹底掌控了越南的金融業。啟定帝在位期間皇帝宛如法國的傀儡。而由阮朝所鑄造、發行的貨幣早已失去了市場，難以流通，幾乎喪失了作為貨幣的價值，僅僅具有象徵意義而已。

儘管在阮朝統治越南以前，當地可能就有類似歐洲的獎章制度卻苦於缺乏確切紀錄。直到公元1840年，法國人抵達越南後，歐洲人才首次記載阮朝在順化的宮廷中，有一套類似西方的獎章獎勵機制。從金屬材質就能大致判斷「錢」的等級，最高等的「金錢(Kim Tien)」有四級，在阮朝早期以真金製成，到後期逐漸改為鍍金或基本金屬。次一等的「銀錢(Ngan Tien)」，有些效法歐洲標明等級差異外，更多的「銀錢」僅有標示皇帝年號。