Vietnamese văn (currency unit)


The Vietnamese văn as a denomination for Vietnamese cash coins was used from 1868 until 1885 during the reign of the Nguyễn dynasty. The inspiration to introduce the văn may have been to emulate the Chinese wén used on contemporary Qing dynasty cash coins which had just become a fiat currency, however unlike the Chinese system where all Chinese cash coins were cast from the same metals the and the wén was the primary unit of account, the Vietnamese system used the văn as a basic number currency symbol indicating how much zinc cash coins a brass cash coin was worth, while it used the mạch and quán as units of account. It was abolished as a measurement for zinc cash coins when the French Indochinese piastre was introduced, after which the term still appeared on Vietnamese cash coins but represented a subdivision of the piastre known in French as sapèque as the production of zinc coinage was ceased by the Imperial government of the Nguyễn dynasty around the year 1871.
The French sapèque was worth of a piastre and represented Vietnamese cash coins in general. The Vietnamese term văn would appear on the Thành Thái Thông Bảo, Duy Tân Thông Bảo, and Bảo Đại Thông Bảo cash coins produced under French rule, the last of these was officially produced until 1945.

History

It first used by official decree in January 1868 during the reign of the Tự Đức Emperor which decreed that "the value of the large module copper cash coin passed to 6 and the small copper coin to 4 zinc". In 1872 the first brass Tự Đức Thông Bảo cash coins with the monetary unit văn were cast in Hanoi, these cash coins has weight of 7 phần and had the reverse inscription "Lục Văn" on them indicating that these coins were worth 6 zinc cash coins. The introduction of this new currency symbol marked the change in the relationship between Vietnamese cash coins made from copper and cash coins of zinc and it de facto increased the value of the Vietnamese brass cash currency. In November 1879 the official value of 6 copper phần was equal to 6 sapèques of zinc. However the foreign cash coinages as well as imitation Vietnamese cash coins made of inferior alloys that circulated in Vietnam at the time were exchanged for only 3 cash coins of zinc.
In the year 1893, large brass Thành Thái Thông Bảo cash coins with a denomination of 10 văn, or 10 zinc cash coins, started being produced by the Huế Mint.