Jian-wen Tong-bao from Hatien, Vietnam c.1730, 20mm

[bgriff99]

At the end of the San Fan Rebellion, a band of Ming loyalist refugees fled southern China by sea, heading south to escape the Manchus.  They sought a place to settle, ending up near a Cham fishing village at the far southern tip of what is now Vietnam.  They became a protectorate of the Nguyen kingdom in South Vietnam, thereby extending its reach well beyond where it had been.  Under command of the son of the group's original leader, they were given the right to produce coinage for their own use, in 1730.

These were small pitis, the same size as regional private cash at that time.  They used Ming reign titles, including some which had never cast any coins, as this.  Plus Song reign titles.  By 1750 they were casting more nearly regular sized zinc cash, and some of tin.  The first ones are usually high-tin bronze, but sometimes brass.  They had good access to cheap zinc and tin, but all the metals had to be imported.

There is a convoluted story by which this and a few others are mistaken for a reported but non-existent Chinese issue of 1527, but this group is unmistakably part of the Hatien coinage.


   
   

[Figleaf]

A very interesting coin, Bruce. You paint a picture of a community living abroad, separately, using coins (and probably other stuff) of rulers no longer in power as a silent complaint against being persecuted at home. Reminds me of the Pennsylvania "Dutch". It's almost pitiful how they cling to what they lost. Were the coins playthings of the tribe? Souvenirs? Good luck charms? Would they have been accepted outside the community?

We have a great hobby, preserving the memory of people such as these fugitives.

Peter

[JMP]

Indeed, very interesting Bruce (if I may?).
I found an article about the legend on the coin: JIAN WEN TONG BAO.
From that article, I post this picture underneath, which gives the hanzi "JIAN" in clear:

[bgriff99]

Peter,

This is one of their first issues.  It was used as money.  A bit later they began using a moon and star reverse mintmark, to represent the character 明 .  In the 1750's-60's they produced an enormous amount of cash from zinc, obtained from Guangzhou. 

Meanwhile, the Nguyen kings, were begging the Chinese government to be recognized as a full tributary kingdom with permission to use their own reign titles on their royal coinage.  That was never granted, because China had a policy of recognizing only one ruler of Vietnam, and maintained their right to decide who it was.  By the time of this coinage, north and south Vietnam had made peace with each other, but the references to Ming on these coins would not have been smiled upon, if noticed in China.  Ergo the code moon and star.  They did actually use the character briefly, and perhaps were told directly to stop.

All of the Nguyen coinage taken together, royal-cast and other, is a huge amount of variety, all traditionally considered "terui-sen".  That is, recognizable by calligraphy but of unknown origin.  Now the origins have been figured out.

Hatien is a city today, although not large.  Their Chinese founding is known and celebrated.  The family name of its founder, in Vietnamese, is Mac. The character is written differently from the Vietnamese Mac Dynasty, but that causes confusion, as the Macs of the north also made small non-dynastic inscription coins, which the south Macs copied as part of this series.       

[bgriff99]

Indeed, very interesting Bruce (if I may?).
I found an article about the legend on the coin: JIAN WEN TONG BAO.
From that article, I post this picture underneath, which gives the hanzi "JIAN" in clear:

That looks like a drawing. There are fantasies made for collectors, although older, because no modern reference or authority recognizes any official Chinese issue. I don't have one.  From later usage, even later Ming practice, at least a small proclamation issue would be expected.   

[Figleaf]

Those interested in such coins can now download (free)
A propos des monnaies des Mac de Hà Tiên (1736-1781) (About the coins of the Macs of Ha tien) by Francois Thierry from this address.

Peter