World Coins - Asia, Middle-East & North Africa VIETNAM: NGUYEN DYNASTY: AR 10 lang (384.11g), ca. late 19th century, 115mm long curved rectangular silver bar, stamped with trung binh and truong on the left edge, cong giap on the right edge, quy and quan on the bottom edge, additionally with value marked on the reverse, and a few characters scratched on the obverse, ex Dr. Robert A. Rosenfeld Collection, ex Daniel K. E. Ching Collection (Scott Semans June 2, 1991, Lot 1358, with original tag). 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.
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