An overview of printing techniques for Vietnamese banknotes

Part 2: 1951-1991

Nguyễn Đức Việt, Vietnam Numismatics #4 (07-2018), p.27-32

In Part 1 of this article, the author described in detail the history of the printing industry, printing techniques, and the most basic knowledge of printing, such as color mixing, halftones, and pixels. The author also analyzed the printing techniques used to print early Vietnamese currency. In Part 2, the author will continue to analyze the printing techniques used for the banknote issues from 1951 to 1991. The author would greatly appreciate comments and feedback from collectors, researchers, printing experts, and readers.

1. 1951 banknote series

The printing method was offset printing, with only one color on each side^[1]. The security features were incorporated into the printing plates. I will analyze this aspect in detail in a dedicated article on banknote security features.

2. 1958 banknote series

The printing method was still offset, but two colors were printed on each side. The 10 đồng note was an exception, with three colors printed on the front side. Similar to the 1951 banknote series, the security features were incorporated into the printing plates. I will analyze this series in detail in a future article.

[1] art-hanoi.com: Apparently, here and in the next section author is talking about the underprint, which, indeed, uses one color on the 1951 series and two/three colors on the 1958 series. The color of the main design is not counted.