Vietnam's participation in the 2004 Athens Games was modest — the delegation fielded fewer than twenty athletes — but the State Bank issued this coin well ahead of the Games as part of a broader push to develop a collectibles market that had been essentially nonexistent under the centrally planned economy of earlier decades. The 100 Đồng face value was purely nominal; by 2004, a single US dollar was worth roughly 15,600 Đồng.
Vietnam's participation in the 2004 Athens Games was modest — the delegation fielded fewer than twenty athletes — but the State Bank issued this coin well ahead of the Games as part of a broader push to develop a collectibles market that had been essentially nonexistent under the centrally planned economy of earlier decades. The 100 Đồng face value was purely nominal; by 2004, a single US dollar was worth roughly 15,600 Đồng.