200 Đồng

The National Bank of Vietnam was established only in 1951, making this 200 Đồng one of the earliest notes issued by an institution that had existed for months rather than years. The State of Vietnam under Bảo Đại had only gained nominal independence from France in 1949, and the new central bank was as much a political statement as a financial one — replacing the Banque de l'Indochine's monopoly on currency issuance was a deliberate assertion of sovereignty that France had resisted bitterly through the late 1940s.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement was typical for newly independent states lacking domestic printing infrastructure. The 1951 series was short-lived in practice; the deteriorating security situation and eventual partition in 1954 disrupted normal distribution channels considerably.