The golden seal "Emperor's treasure" is about to return home

On the morning of October 10, Ms. Le Thi Thu Hien - Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage - said that by the end of October, the French side is expected to collect all legal documents related to the seal to send to the Vietnamese representative. After that, the domestic authorities will carry out the procedures to decide on the recognition of the antique, tax and customs procedures and then send the documents back to France.

The journey to repatriate the golden seal has received great public attention. In November 2022, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced successful negotiations with the Millon auction house to transfer the seal to Vietnam, "in the spirit of consensus and understanding between the two sides and the friendly cooperative relationship between Vietnam and the French Republic". The Ministry's representative said that repatriating the golden seal is not only to supplement and complete the collections of antiques, treasures, and cultural heritages that have been lost or "bleeding" abroad, but also to affirm the position and influence of the nation.

Mr. Nguyen The Hong - a private collector in Bac Ninh - spent 6.1 million euros (more than 153 billion VND) to buy a gold seal from a French auction house, under the sponsorship of the Vietnamese Government and ministries, branches and agencies.

The artifact is named the rare golden seal Kim bao ty of Emperor Minh Mang (1791-1841), 10.4 cm high, weighs 10.78 kg, square face, size 13.8x13.7 cm.

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 bat thap lang cuu tien nhi phan" (Made of gold, weighs 280 taels, 9 chi, 2 phan, about 10.7 kg). The base of the seal is printed with the words "Hoang de chi bao" (Emperor's treasure).

According to the bookThe Great Nam Code of ConductThe seal was used for public and political activities of the Nguyen Dynasty such as festivals, granting of grace, pardon, inspection of localities, and royal decrees to foreign countries. The representative of the Department affirmed that the Imperial Seal is the largest, most beautiful, precious and important golden seal of the Nguyen Dynasty.