A Tael To Tell, originally uploaded by Meremail.

I believe this is called a Vietnamese Tael but am happy to be advised otherwise. It has been a whiles since Mrs Mail got it when we lived in Guam in 1981ish.

The story goes ( as I recall it) that during the war/s the Vietnamese would convert their assets to gold or silver and have them made into jewelry so that they could hide it and they were always able to get their hands on cash if needed. The tael came in sizes like quarter or half or full, and this gold one is either a quarter or half, can’t remember which.
Not sure about the silver one.