King Minh Mang's golden seal auctioned in France

The artifact is the "Kim bao ti" seal of King Minh Mang (1791-1841), part of lot 101 out of a total of 329 lots in the sale of Vietnamese art at Millon in Paris.

According to the auction house website, the seal is 10.4 cm high, weighs 10.78 kg, has a square face measuring 13.8 cm x 13.7 cm. The seal handle is shaped like a five-clawed dragon in a coiled position, head raised high, forehead engraved with the character 王 (king), tail curling backwards in a spiral, fins along the dragon's body, four sturdy legs.

Seal of King Minh Mang. (Photo: MILLON)

The top of the seal is engraved with two lines: "Minh Mang tu nien nhi nguyet so tu nhat cat thoi chu tao" (made on February 4, the 4th year of King Minh Mang's reign; February 4, 1823) and "Thap thanh hoang kim trong nhi bach thap lang cuu tien nhi phan" (made of gold, weighs 280 taels, 9 chi, 2 phan; equivalent to 10.7 kg). The base of the seal is printed with the words "Hoang de chi bao" (Emperor's treasure).

The auction house also provided the milestones of the seal transfer, which was on the afternoon of August 30, 1945, after announcing his abdication, King Bao Dai handed over the "Hoang De Chi Bao" seal - selected from 200 seals of various types kept at Can Chanh Palace and the Royal Office, along with the sword of King Khai Dinh to the revolutionary government at Ngo Mon Gate.

A representative of the Department of Cultural Heritage said that the authorities are working with the Millon auction house to verify the authenticity of the original artifact and related information about the auction. After the verification results are available, the Vietnamese representative will propose the most suitable solution to bring this artifact back to the country.

According to Nguoi Lao Dong