type

World Coin

name

Piastre De Commerce

date

1900

mint

Annam

denomination

One Piastre

grading_service

NGC

grade

VG Details

composition

.900 Silver

country

French Indo-China

weight

27 Grams

notes

In 1884, the French Indo-Chinese empire further expanded to incorporate Annam and Tonkin-China. The following year, in 1885, the French introduced a new silver piastre de commerce and associated subsidiary coinage throughout the entire Indo-Chinese colonies in order to increase monetary stability. The piastre was initially equivalent to the Mexican peso. The piastre was therefore a direct lineal descendent of the Spanish pieces of eight that had been brought to the Orient from Mexico on the Manila Galleons. It was initially on a silver standard of 1 piastre = 24.4935 grams pure silver. This was reduced to 24.3 grams in 1895.