Vietnam's
Collectors gather on Sunday
By Howard A. Daniel III
World Coin News July 2007
Sunday
mornings in Ho Chi Minh City are usually quiet and a taxi
from my town-house is not involved in any traffic jams on
its way to 27 Nguyen Thi Dieu, where Quoc has his air-conditioned
coin, stamp and paper money shop. I have known him for years
and he has supplied me with many pieces for my collections.
His shop is open from 8 a.m. to noon, so
I try to be mere at opening time and leave at 10 a.m. My Vietnamese
is terrible, but most taxi drivers understand my "Ben
Thanh Market." It is a major local landmark and located
at the very large traffic circle where Tran Hung Dao and Le
Loi streets meet. Directly across the circle is the city's
central bus station, and behind it Pho Due Chinh street. Within
a few meters on this street are Le Cong Kieu street on the
left and Le Thi Hong Gam on the right.
Also on the right and across the street is
a large French-built art museum. Some tourist maps show a
symbol for this muse¬um. Walk right to 38 on Le Thi Hong
Gam. Across the street is the gate to the back of the museum.
The museum's entrance is on the left and some small private
art galleries are on the right. On the left under a metal
canopy is a snack bar with many plastic tables and chairs.
A family operates the snack bar and it is
where collectors of stamps, postal cov¬ers, coins, paper
money, tokens, postcards, telephone cards, etc., meet on Sunday
start¬ing at around 9:30 a.m. to around noon. A few years
ago, I would expect to see a maximum of 12 people at the meeting
but now it is often double that number.
You are obliged to buy something from the
snack bar and I buy a bottle of water for 5,000 dong (about
16,000 dong to a US. $1), and they have soft drinks too. The
cold bottled water tastes and feels really good as the morning
heats up. As this is written at the start of the rainy season
in April, the humidity is very high by 10 a.m., but you will
see me Vietnamese drinking hot tea or coffee, too.
I usually arrive around 10:15 a.m. and start
at one end of the snack bar and work my way to the other end
to ensure I see and greet everyone with a "hello"
and a hand¬shake. On my first Sunday back, I pass out
copies of my want list so everyone knows what I am looking
for, but they also know I like odd and curious pieces and
many tilings I never thought to collect end up in my possession.
Besides carrying copies of my want list and
those of friends, inventory lists of my Vietnamese collections,
blank paper, pen, ruler in millimeters, pencil and small portable
ultra-violet and black lights in my portfolio or small attache
case, I also carry my passport. I was asked only once for
it since I started coming back to Vietnam in 1989, but you
do not want to be without it, if ever asked.
For this trip, 1 also had a roll of the
new Washington dollar coins and I gave one to everyone who
sold something to me. It was a hit and everyone became eager
to sell something to me. A few years ago, I had Sac dollars.
Last year, I gave out Bausch & Lomb magnifiers (they are
cheaper in quantities) in their own plastic case. Giving small
gifts in Asia is a tradition among friends and business people.
I also bring paper towels with me to wipe
my forehead and hands to keep them dry. Many of the holders
and multi-pocket pages here are also heavy with PVC and have
a greasy feel to them, so you will need to wipe your hands
after handling them. And most U.S. military tokens are heavy
with the red dirt found up near the former U.S. Army Long
Binh Post where many were buried at the end of the war.
Most major dealers with a shop do not set
up at the meeting, so there are mostly vest-pocket dealers
and collectors here. But there will also be some eBay dealers
like Phi Long there, and other eBay dealers who operate under
cover names. I have known Phi Long for many years and sometimes
we follow up the meeting by having lunch together. Tran Van
Bui and Le Hoan Hung are also often here.
The people who know me well will offer me
pieces at reasonable prices, but those who do not, will make
them very high because I am a foreigner and they expect me
to have the money to pay for them. I do have the money, but
1 refuse all pieces at prices that I consider unreasonable.
Many of them will approach me later with a reasonable counter
offer. If not, I can live without it.
For the sellers, many different currencies
are good. I use Vietnamese dong for most purchases, but I
also use US. dollars for very high-priced purchases. Many
Europeans show up with euros for their high-priced purchases
and they are accepted. Tlere are many other acceptable currencies,
so try to spend whatever is in your wallet. Remember, all
notes are checked for counterfeits, because they exist.
Some of the items I bought during this April-May
2007 trip were coins, paper money, polymer notes, business
scrip and tokens, stamps used to pay plantation workers during
the French colonial time, a UNESCO coupon for a friend, some
counterfeit notes for another friend, a 1957-dated Shanghai-made
specimen book without the notes, and various other pieces.
It was not my best time but not my worst.
After the meeting, I often walk to the nearby
Quoc Tuan Shop at 26 Le Cong Kieu. You will pass many other
shops with numismatic pieces, but beware of fakes. The owner
is Le Tien Kirn. There are many pieces in Kirn's shop but
you really want to acquire an invitation to visit her husband,
Tran Quoc Tuan, in their house.
The house is full of all types and varieties
of collectibles (to include militaria), and there is a large
stock of numismatic pieces. There is no rhyme or reason to
Tuan's storage system, so it may take a while to find what
you want. If you do not speak some Vietnamese, Kirn or their
son will need to be there to translate for Tuan. Their shop
telephone number is 821-3340 and their home is 894-0852
You might not be able to get an invitation
during your first shop visit, but once Kim knows you, it is
very possible. Kim does speak excellent English, so if you
do not speak Vietnamese to Tuan, I would advise you to call
after dinner or speak to Kim at the shop. It is a long ride
from downtown to their home in Go Vap district, but it is
worth it, if they invite you.
Then I walk to Le Loi Street and stop at
number 80 to see Mrs. Phuong. Her place is less than a meter
wide but she usually has some good pieces in it. This trip,
I bought a silver Cambodian medal with a young Prince Sihanouk
on it, several Vietnamese market weights, a couple of Thai
bullet coins dug up by a farmer near the Cambodian border,
and several other pieces. Then I continue down Le Loi to the
Fahasa bookstore at 50 Le Loi and see if they have anything
of interest to me.
One numismatic book back in stock is Tien
Kirn Loai Viet Nam. It was produced by the National History
Museum in Hanoi and a south China museum. It is a coffee table-sized
book with not much new in it, but every collector of Vietnam
should probably own it. Scott Semans stocks it.
Allan Barker's book, The Historical Cash
Coins of Viet Nam is also sold there, and at many other Fahasa
bookstores. It is the best book ever done on the cash coins
of Vietnam and if you collect them and do not own it, you
are missing a very valuable reference. Both books sell for
about 500,000 dong each, which is about 30-something dollars,
depending on the exchange rate. Scott has this one too.
Then I stop at the Rex Hotel Paradise Cafe
at the corner of Le Loi and Nguyen Hue. I survey the room
and try to find a table away from any smokers and close to
the TV showing a football (soccer) game. My usual order is
a BLT sandwich with a salad, and lime juice without sugar.
When anyone hears me order the lime juice with¬out sugar,
they usually cringe, but that is the way 1 like it.
After a comfortable lunch in an air-conditioned
cafe, I often walk down to the Nguyen Hue Fahasa bookstore,
then to the Dong Khoi street Fahasa bookstore, to look for
numismatic books. But I also look for books and magazines
on economics, banking and currencies. Many of these references
fill in much of the background information 1 want to know
about each coin, note, token, bullion, etc.
It is about 10 meters from the Dong Khoi
bookstore to number 201, where there is the Lan Ann bookstall.
The "old" man who owns it is often not there because
of his age and health, so it might take a couple of visits
after lunch for you to find him there. He has sold many, many
old maps, books, pamphlets in French, English and Vietnamese
to me. Is well worth the time to look through his stock.
Then I walk back the 10 meters to the Dong
Khoi Fahasa bookstore where taxis are waiting for fares. Most
of them know me so I usually just open the door, sit down
in the seat, say "hello" and they start driving
me to my townhouse in the Phu Nhuan district of the city.
After 1 arrive at home, the first thing I do is drink some
ice water, then take a shower and change into shorts and a
t-shirt.
After looking over my purchases in my home
office, I put most in my drawer for taking to the USA, and
the rest in an appropriate place in the office. Then I power
up my laptop, update my inventories and check the e-mails
and answer all or a few before I head for my bedroom and take
my regular afternoon nap. Another hard day in Ho Chi Minh
City, but someone has to do it.
By the way, if you have extra junk box coins
and/or paper money and/or numis¬matic references, please
contact me to arrange a transfer so I can give them to young
and new collectors at American Numismatic Association conventions.
You will receive a thank-you letter from one or more groups
to back up your tax deduction. If possible, please give them
to me at a show to save you the shipping, so please contact
me before sending them.