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By François Joyaux
201 6 x 8.25" color pages
in French
From the Preface by Joe Cribb, retired Keeper of Coins and Medals, The British Museum
François Joyaux has once again in this volume created new understandings of the monetary history of South East Asia. He presents a history of the context and processes of the modernisation of the coinage in Vietnam, as the ancient kingdom of this nation was integrated into French Indochina.
The first section of the book focuses on the progressive adaptation of the traditional moneys of the kingdom of Annam in central Vietnam into a modern system, as the local rulers tried to maintain their monetary independence from their French overlords through the issue of traditional coinage. In the second section of the book Joyaux catalogues the coins issued by the Annamese emperors under French rule and the French attempts to mechanise their production.
The presentation here gives a detailed and broad account of the political, economic and intellectual engagement of French officials with the monetary systems of Vietnam during a period of transformation for the country from traditional kingdom under Chinese influence into the modern state which emerged when the region returned to local rule at the end of the Second World War.
This book provides an excellent overview of a complex and until now obscure period of monetary transition. I congratulate François Joyaux on this outstanding study, which incorporates a detailed understanding of the coins and their historical and political context, together with an account based on a close reading of documentary sources and scholarly research.
All coins are illustrated, with technical specifications, bibliographical notes, and a rarity rating on a scale of 1 to 10.
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