World Coins - Asia, Middle-East & North Africa VIETNAM: NGUYEN DYNASTY: AR 10 lang (380.37g), ca. late 19th century, 116mm long curved rectangular silver bar, stamped with minh mang, quy ty, noi thang on the front (all likely 20th century fantasy stamps), and a few additional stamps on the sides, VF, ex Dr. Dirk Löer Collection. Resembling a hang, or small trough for feeding animals, these long, bowed, rectangular bars called nén bac are a distinctly Vietnamese type of semi-official sycee, which was later produced outside Vietnam as well for use in the opium trade. Today most specimens come to the West via Thailand where they are called Ngern Rong. These bullion bars were made from the early 1800s reportedly through World War II. Cast mainly from Spanish American 8 Reales, Indian Rupees, and French Indochina Piastres, they assay consistently .991 fine. Weights generally range from 370-385 grams with a likely standard of 380. They were made by bankers (silver merchants); when presented to government officials for testing, a fee was paid plus three other "verification stamps" were added.
*拍品信息由各家拍卖公司提供，首席数据中心刊载出于传递更多信息之目的，并不意味着赞同其观点或证实其描述。
