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MORE ON THE REALISTIC VIETNAMESE PLAY MONEYRegarding last week's item on the realistic-looking play money being sold in Viet Nam, Joe Boling writes: Looking at the sheet of Vietnamese play money, I'd say it's about quarter scale. I hardly call that realistic. Another article this week also notes the size difference. -Editor  Tiny, high quality imitation bank notes intended for play, with ‘face values’ of between VND 10,000 and VND 500,000 are still displayed openly for sale though the State Bank of Vietnam has declared that the sale of the play money is illegal.Since local newspapers quoted officials as saying that the sale of play money copying real Vietnamese notes is illegal, big toy shops on Kim Ma and Luong Van Can streets in Hanoi no longer display the imitation bank notes. However, it’s still possible to purchase the play money in the ‘underground way’. When reporters said they wanted to buy some play money, the owner of a shop on Kim Ma street said that she could give the ‘money’ straight away if only a small volume was needed. However, to obtain a lot of ‘money,’ the reporters would have to return the next day, she said. “As the sale of play money is prohibited, we dare not keep it in big quantity,” she said. Meanwhile, on small alleys near elementary schools like Quan Tho, Nguyen Khang and Nui Truc, the imitation bank notes are on open sale. Most of the imitation bank notes are only one-quarter of the size of a real bank note. However, the imitation bank notes have the colour and print quality of real bank notes. A toy shop owner on Nui Truc street said the imitation money has been imported from China. The ‘banknotes’ made of different materials. Some, made of cotton paper, are the size of matchboxes, and have face values of 5,000, 10,000, 100,000 and 200,000 dong. Children like the money because the bank notes are colourful and look like real money. The sale prices of toy bank notes do not depend on the ‘face value’ of the money, but on the material of the ‘bank notes’. The cotton ‘bank notes’ are selling at 200 dong per sheet of A4 paper, while plasticized ‘bank notes’ are more expensive, 1,000 dong per sheet. In fact, not only children, are buying the play money, but adults as well, who purchase the money for souvenirs or collections. According to an expert, the play money has been printed with offset technology that allows to very accurate reproduction. To read the complete article, see: Real-looking play money still on sale in Hanoi (http://english.vietnamnet.vn/biz/2009/05/846008/) Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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