PCGS Europe - This silver 5 Tien was issued by Annam, modern-day central Vietnam. While it has no date, PCGS experts believe this piece was minted between 1841 and 1847. Bats are an important part of Vietnam's culture, as seen in the coin's obverse.
Quote: ...Bats are an important part of Vietnam's culture, as seen in the coin's obverse....
Bats are significant in every East Asian culture where the language is written in Chinese characters (which at the time of the mid-1800s included Vietnamese). That's because the character for "bat" is always pronounced exactly the same as the character for "luck" or "good fortune" (they are, to use the technical word, homophones). Thus, bats themselves became symbols for good luck and depictions of them are commonly seen on Chinese and Vietnamese good luck charms, as well as on these coins.
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