₫500 — Five Hundred Dong
The artwork
Front: Ho Chi Minh in three-quarter profile at the right, the familiar high-browed head and wispy beard, worked in fine red-brown line engraving. At the left, the national arms — star over a rice-ear wreath with VIỆT NAM on the scroll — set in a pale grey field of scrolling ornament. Lotus blossoms run along the foot, the value written out as NĂM TRĂM ĐỒNG in tall block capitals, with 500 at each corner and 1988 below. Serial DH 5423500 in red.
Back: A working harbour: dockside gantry cranes leaning over the bows of moored freighters, one flying a flag at the masthead, a tug and further vessels ranged along the quay, lorries on the wharf and hills behind. The issuer's name, NGÂN HÀNG NHÀ NƯỚC VIỆT NAM, arches across the top in red; NĂM TRĂM ĐỒNG sits bottom right, with 500 in the upper right and lower left panels.
In circulation
Dated 1988 and issued as part of the State Bank's late-1980s family of notes, it circulated through the years of runaway inflation that quickly stripped it of buying power. Larger denominations soon carried everyday trade, and a 500 dong coin followed in 2003; the note survives as legal tender in name only.
Details
- IssuerNgân Hàng Nhà Nước Việt Nam (State Bank of Vietnam)
- CurrencyDong (₫)
- DenominationFive Hundred Dong
- Collectedon the Vietnam journey, 2009
- SeriesDated 1988; serial prefix of two letters and seven digits (DH 5423500)