100 Ðồng

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam's early note issues were produced under conditions of active guerrilla war — the French were still fighting for control of the north, and the Việt Minh government operated largely from jungle redoubts in the Việt Bắc. Notes from this period were printed under severe logistical constraints, sometimes on locally sourced paper of inconsistent quality, which is why surviving examples show wide variation in ink density and paper stock even within the same series.

Pick 55 is among the higher denominations of the DRV's second emission. At this point the government was running a war economy with no functioning banking infrastructure in the Western sense, and inflation was already eroding purchasing power rapidly enough that large-denomination notes entered circulation almost immediately upon issue.