107) French Indo-China issues: A silver one
Paistre coin issued in 1895:
The
paistre coins come from what was called French Indo-China (later comprising the
modern countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).
The
name “piastre” derives from the Spanish “pieces of eight” (pesos) which date
back to the early sixteenth century (Spanish coins included “the Reale”, “Escudo”,
“Doubloon”, and “Pieces of Eight” which was the most common coin in the New
World and European colonies across the Globe, and these were worth about 8 “Reales”, hence they were called “Pieces of Eight”).
The “piastre” is the Vietnamese word for the Indo-Chinese “dollar”. This silver coin introduced in 1885, was positioned to compete with silver dollar sized coins produced by other nations doing commerce in Asia. It was widely known as the “French Silver Piastre”.
The “piastre” is the Vietnamese word for the Indo-Chinese “dollar”. This silver coin introduced in 1885, was positioned to compete with silver dollar sized coins produced by other nations doing commerce in Asia. It was widely known as the “French Silver Piastre”.
Historical development leading to
introduction and circulation of the piastre:
The
“piastre” was the currency of French Indochina from 1885 to 1952. It was
sub-divided into 100 cents, each consisting of 5 “sapeque”. The Piastre coins
and banknotes were issued by the Central Bank “Banque de l’Indochine” in the
denominations of: (coins) – ¼, ½, 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 cents and 1 piastre and
(Banknotes) – 10, 20, 50 cents and 100, 200 and 500 piastres.
From
the mid-nineteenth century onwards, apart from coins similar to those being
used in mainland Chinese provinces, there was a silver milled coin called the “dragon
coin” which was similar to the Spanish and Mexican silver dollars, introduced
in China, given the wide acceptance/popularity of Spanish and Mexican silver
coins all over China.
In
1862, the French began establishing their Indo-China empire with a foothold in
Cochin – China near the Mekong Delta and Saigon and expanded their territories
into the Region which is now known as Cambodia.
In
1875, the French circulated a Cambodian franc in Cambodia. These francs were
minted in Belgium from 1875 to 1885, bearing the date 1860.
Around
this time, the French introduced a second coinage denominated in cents in
Cochin – China which represented units of the Mexican dollar.
In
1884, expansion of French colonies into Annam and Tonkin – China took place.
In
1885, with a view to having a uniform coinage throughout its Indo-China
territories, France introduced a silver “Piastre de Commerce” and associated
subsidiary coinage. The piastre was initially issued as being equivalent to the
Mexican Peso, with one piastre being equal to 24.4935 gms pure silver. Bronze 1
cent and silver 10, 20 and 50 cent and 1 piastre coins were issued in this
year.
In
1887, bronze 1 sapaque coins were issued.
In
1895, the silver content of the piastre was reduced to 24.300 gms.
Till
1920, the piastre remained on the silver standard and due to the rise in prices
of silver during World War II was for a brief period pegged to the gold
standard.
In
1921, the piastre was reverted to the silver standard which continued till
1930.
In
1930, the piastre was pegged at 1 piastre being equivalent to 10 francs.
In
1939, zinc ½, cent and nickel and cupro-nickel 10 and 20 cent coins were
introduced.
Between
1942 and 1944, coins in the denominations of ¼ (zinc), 1 and 5 cents
(Aluminium) were issued in the name of “Etat Francais”.
During
the Japanese occupation in World War II, the piastre continued to circulate at
the exchange rate of 0.976 piastre to a Japanese yen.
In
1945, shortly after World War II ended, the Franc peg was restored but later
devalued to 1 piastre being equivalent to 17 francs in December 1945. Also, in
1945, the last piastre coins were issued bearing the name “Indochinese
Federation”.
In
1946, the “North Vietnamese Dong” replaced the piastre followed by the “Lao
Kip” (1952/1953), the “Cambodian Riel” (1953) and “South Vietnamese Dong”
(1953), all issued at par with the piastre.
The one piastre coin:
The
obverse of the coin has a depiction of Marianne, the French Lady Liberty seated
on a throne, facing front and holding a bundle of sticks (or “fasces”) in her
right hand. The “fasces” in this depiction is shown as a bundle of rods secured
around a spear and symbolising her badge of Authority and that she is prepared
to defend her territories and possessions. The fasces is thus emblematic of civil governance.
Above her feet are bundles of rice,
indicating fertility and the bounty of the land. Rice is depicted in this
representation as it is the staple crop of Indo-China.
There are seven points on Marianne’s crown (which have
also been the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty’s crown in New York
harbour, as the American Revolution in the 18th century, drew
heavily in terms of principles/ideals and men and material resources from
France). Even though Lady Liberty is at rest, the flowing lines on her robes
indicate her Regal bearing.
There is an inscription “REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE” on
the top periphery and the date of minting “1895” in exergue (meaning – a small
space on the coin or medal, below the principal device, for date, engraver’s
initials etc.), on the bottom periphery.
The
reverse of the coin shows a wreath, the two laurels comprising the wreath on
the left and right peripheries tied with a “lemniscate” (or “ribbon”) at the
bottom, representing the symbol of infinity.
In the centre of the coin is
mentioned “PIASTRE DE COMMERCE”, on the upper periphery is mentioned
“INDO-CHINE FRANCAISE”. On the lower periphery is mentioned “TITRE 0.900 POIDS
27 GR” (which is French for “27 grams of .900 fine silver” or 0.7812 troy
ounces).
The diameter of this coin is 39 mm. The shape of this coin is round.
This
coin also exhibits the “A” mint mark above the lemniscate.
The
1895 coins mintage was 37,98,000 coins issued for general circulation. These
coins were issued from 1895 to 1928, this coin being among the first issues.
The
engraver of this coin was Jean-Auguste Barre. His name “BARRE” appears to the
left of the year of issue inscribed diagonally.
Counterfeit or real?
The
Piastre is a popular coin which has been counterfeited on a very wide scale
because of the “arbitrage” opportunity between the cost of making a fake coin
and the cost of a genuine silver issue. The fake coins are a dead giveaway, if
the person buying the coin checks for two flaws:
one,
the counterfeit coin may show tell-tale signs of grinding of the rounded edge
which is done by counterfeiters to make the edge look as close to a genuine
coin as possible, by concealing the evidence of the use of a ring die on cast
copies to make the fake coins and,
two,
on the edge of the coin the counterfeits may still show split ends on the
serrations because of the “crude” ring dies used in the counterfeiting process,
which may not go away even after grinding by the counterfeiters.
As
such, a thorough examination of the entire edge needs to be carried out to
ensure that there is no overlapping in the reeding pattern.
Nevertheless,
these are just general indicators as the counterfeiters have been able to make
a few coins where there are no overlaps at all and the coin exhibits almost 98%
genuine features, even on careful examination.
The
last test for the genuineness of the coin is checking out its weight, as most
of the forgeries are grossly underweight.
The
genuine coins can fetch a price of $40 to about $200 depending on the condition
of the coin ranging from “worn out” to uncirculated or “mint condition”
respectively provided one finds collectors who are willing to pay this price.
Banknotes of the piastre:
In
1892, the “Banque de l’Indochine” issued the first 1 piastre notes.
In
1893, 5, 20 and 100 piastre notes were issued.
Between
1920 and 1922, 10, 20 and 50 cent notes were put into circulation.
In
1939, 500 piastre notes were issued for the first time.
In the same year, the “Government General de L’Indochine” introduced 10, 20 and 50 cent
notes.
In
1942, 5 cent notes were issued.
In
1945, the “Banque l’Indochine” circulated 50 piastre notes, with 10 piastre
notes being issued in 1947.
In
1953, the “Institut d’Emission des Etats du Cambodge”, du Laos et du Vietnam”
took over the issuance of banknotes and initially circulated 1 piastre notes
for all three countries denominated in piastre and the individual currencies of
the three countries.
Later
a few other denominations were issued for all 3 countries between 1952 and
1954. This was done to enable a smooth transition to their respective new
currencies.
(This coin has been contributed for my collection by Ajit George who brought it for me during his recent visit to Laos. Article researched and coin scanned by Rajeev Prasad).
Links:
Banknotes of the Vietnamese Dong
Some other interesting Links:
1) Honouring Louis Braille on the Bicentenary of his birth in 2009
2) Honouring Charles Eduord Jeanneret popularly known as Le Corbusieur, the French architect who built the modern city of Chandigarh & several other projects: A 10 Franc Banknote issued by the Swiss National Bank
3) Fort St. George Museum, Chennai (Part iii): i) Indo-Danish coins ii) Indo-Dutch coins iii) Indo-French coins iv) Indo-Portuguese coins
4) a) Central Bank of West African States issues: the "Franc African Financial Community" (FCFA) b) Bank of Central African States issues : the "Franc Financial Cooperation in Central Africa (FFCCA)
5) French Indo-China issues: A silver one Paistre coin issued in 1895
6) Financial Institution for issuing uniform currency/coinage for French Overseas Territories in the Pacific & French Southern Territories of Antarctica: The Institut d'emission d'outre-Mer (IEOM) for French Polynesia (Tahiti), New caledonia, Wallis-et-Futuna and the erstwhile New Hebrides (present day Vanuatu)
7) Coinage of the French Polynesian Island of New Caledonia (or Nouvelle-Caledonie in French) - the CFP Franc
8) Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon's exile to St. Helena (Part I): A one Crown Commemorative Coin issued by the Ascension Island
9) Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon's exile to St. Helena (Part II) : coins commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo: 1) A 5 GBP coin issued by the Royal Mint UK: 2) A "Drie Landen Zilverset" issued by the Royal Dutch Mint - which includes coins of Netherlands, Belgium and UK
10) Jeanne d'Arc or Joan of Arc or "The Maid of Orleans" or "La Pucelle": 200 & 50 Euro gold coins and 10 Euro Silver coins issued by Monnaie de Paris in July 2016
11) i)"Europa Coin Programme" or the Eurostar Programme ii) Monnaie de Paris has issued a series of six coins with the theme "The Age of Iron & Glass" in January 2017
12) 100th Anniversary of Auguste Rodin's passing away commemorated with gold and silver Euro coins issued by the Monnaie de Paris under its on-going "The 7 Arts" Coin Series
13) Statue of Liberty, Paris, France: "Treasures of Paris": Coin series issued by Monnaie de Paris on 20.01.2017
14) Marianne (or Liberty): "The Trilogy": A set of Euro denominated coins in Gold and silver brought out by Monnaie de Paris in January 2017
We have this coin dated 1888 and would like to know its value. The engraving TTTRE 0.900 POIDS 27 gr is shown with BARRE as the maker
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my blog, Beth. The values of old coins vary greatly & can be best assessed by the current asking prices by sellers and a Collectors requirement to have it his/her collection. The quotes for this coin can range from $12 to about #250. I am appending a link to ebay where Paistres are being quoted & you can arrive at an average valuation for your coin:
Deletehttp://www.ebay.com/p/French-Indo-china-Piastre-1895/102121945.
As a matter of interest, my Pharmacist just bought one of these coins for Indian Rupees 20.00 or just about 30 US cents.
I picked up a bunch of these coins in Laos just last week- I was up in a remote hilltribe area and the locals were keen to sell me soem of the coins they had in theior homes. I paid abotu $3 per coin. Some look liek real silver and ring like real silver. If they are fakes, they sure are fantastic quality. Some are dated 1823 but I don't think they were minted that early.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting observation. One never knows, when one may acquire a valuable silver coin for very low prices. Here in Pune, India where I live, my pharmacist's assistant who had earlier been working at a goldsmith's store and is familiar with precious metals, picked up 3 old coins from a street-side vendor, which had turned black over the years. I explained to him that these coins are one Paistre coins like the one in my possession. He checked them out in the evening through precious metal - silver - evaluation methods . They all turned out to be silver coins. He had paid only Indian Rupees 60/- for all three of them (the equivalent of of say USD 1.00). This was quite a lucky break for him.
DeleteI have a indo chine francaise titre 0.900 poids 27 gr. Which says piastre de commerce in the back andrepublique francaise 1908 , barre in the front with lady liberty. In very good condition how much would it worth.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my blog, Lalramliana. The values of old coins vary greatly & can be best assessed by the current asking prices by sellers and a Collectors requirement to have it his/her collection. The quotes for this coin can range from $1.0 to about #250. I am appending a link to ebay where Paistres are being quoted & you can arrive at an average valuation for your coin:
Deletehttp://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=a+indo+chine+francaise+titre+0.900+poids+27+gr.&_sacat=11116