Canh Hung coins were minted in Vietnam 1740-1776 and have more basic variants than any other Annam royal issue, or indeed any official coin of one reign in East Asian history. This was during the reign of King Hien Tong of the Le dynasty and according to Toda, (http://art-hanoi.com/toda/16_.html#92) the king personally had a hand in choosing the characters for the coins. It was a time of countless rebellions and perhaps the disorder of the times is reflected in the coins. Many of the variants substitute other words for "circulating cash" "thongbao." These include words which mean "important cash," "large cash," "giant cash," "eternal cash," "true cash," "central cash," "inner cash," "spring of cash," "fat cash," and "the ultimate in cash." What a coin! Some examples follow. Some of my sub-type descriptions like "happy Canh" are my own invention so don't take them too seriously. Canh Hung Thong Bao, Formal script, "ma" top Thong This is the basic version of the Canh Hung Thong Bao in formal script. 24 mm x 0.8 mm