1916 Coins of the USA and World
Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam

Owner Comments:

French Indochina was the giant French Colonial counterpart to Britain's India colony which encompassed modern Pakistan India Bagladesh and Burma (Myanmar). French Indochina included today's Laos Cambodia and Vietnam. Together with Britain's Straits Settlements to the south (Malaysia) the lone independent state of Siam (Thailand) was totally surrounded by colonial powers.

This coin is about 4/5 the silver content of a US quarter, which makes a lot of sense considering 20 cents is 4/5 of 25 cents. Despite the lower silver purity, the French Indochina piastre de commerce was easily equivalent to a US Dollar, significantly easing trade between the two.

Mintage 1,000,000. This was the last year of this type.

Composition: Silver
Fineness: 0.8350
Weight: 5.4000g
ASW: 0.145oz
Melt Value: $4.01 (2/15/2021)