107) French Indo-China issues: A silver one Paistre coin issued in 1895:

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”.

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 18^th 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 


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5) French Indo-China issues: A silver one Paistre coin issued in 1895 

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