20 Ðồng

P#24 belongs to the earliest emission of the National Bank of Vietnam, established in 1951 — but this 1948-dated note predates that institution, placing it instead under the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's first financial apparatus, operating under extraordinarily primitive wartime conditions. Printing was done domestically while the Việt Minh government was fighting French forces, which meant facilities moved constantly to avoid aerial targeting. Production quality varies dramatically within the series as a direct result.

Notes from this period are frequently found with uneven ink strike and rough guillotine cuts — not damage, but the original output of presses that were never meant to be permanent.