Watch List notes:

NGUYEN DYNASTY (ANNAM): Bao Dai, 1926-1945, nickel silver tiên medal (14.09g), Barac-64, Joyaux-743, 34mm, Bao Dai Merit Medal 3rd Class, dai nam hoang de bao giam around flaming sphere // tam hang within circle, surrounded by dragon with head facing atop circle, mount removed, EF, R, ex John Sylvester Jr. Collection. The Bao Dai Merit Medal was instituted in 1938 and comprised three classes. As the imperial government merely issued a brevet for the award, the recipient had to purchase the actual medal from a private source. The French manufacturer M. Delande, for instance, priced in his 1938 catalog gilt silver medals at 75, 65 & 60 francs, and gilt bronze medals at 45, 40, and 35 francs, for the three respective classes. The medals were at first accompanied by a green-yellow-red ribbon, and later a yellow ribbon with three thin red or green stripes. Cruder and lighter examples were made after Indochina was cut off from the Metropole during World War II.

Estimate: 250-300 USD