A Vietnamese Silver Bar Circulating in Ancient China

Stephen Tai
Feb.01, 1998

The shown silver bar (Length: 116mm, Width: 30mm, height: 17mm, Weight: 374g. i.e. 10 taels), with 2 identical stamps on top, read as Tien Yuen Shen Ji, Huei Hao Wen Yin, which means 'Tien Yeun Shen Bank, Remittance Bank’s Fine Silver'.

Peculiarities:

Silver ingot in such a shape, was not a typical Chinese sycee, yet, it come from Vietnam. During 18-19 century, especially in Ming-Min period (1820-1834, Vietnamese Minh Mang), Vietnamese were used to circulate silver bars like this.
Vietnamese silver bars usually carry 3 stamps with Chinese scripts lining vertically on top, which severally stands for The reign period, Tien Gan Di Zhi (the 10 heavenly stems and the 12 earthly branches, which are combined to indicate years in the cycle), and The name of silversmith or bank, and other stamps such as Zhong Ping, Gong Sheng (their meaning unknown), and Kang ('looked, Checked') are also on their surrounding sides, and almost without any exception, a monogram Si or Ji by carving, will appear at their bottoms.
The above original Vietnamese stamps of this silver bar had been wiped out from the top of this silver bar, however, the other stamps still can be found and readable. The stamp of Tien Yuen Shen Ji, Huei Hao Wen Yin, was a newly add-on, such stamp had been using mostly on Pai-Fang-Dings (Please refer to the Example of Pai-Fang-Dings) in Yunnan since the 10th year of Kuang-Hsu Period (1884). Therefore, it is convincible that this silver bar was originated from Vietnam, and maybe on the account of the trades with China, it had been brought to Yunnan after 1884. The Yunnan local bank Tien Yuen Shen who possessed such silver bar, instead of melting it and making another Chinese sycee, decided to make changes on the stamps, then put it into market.

A Legendary Currency in Late Ching Dynasty - A Study on Yunnan Pai-Fang-Ding