also officially banned from circulation, while the native Vietnamese cash coins were still considered legal tender. French Indo-China was one of the last places to abandon the silver standard. The piastre remained on the silver standard until 1920, when due to the rise in the price of silver after the First World War, it was pegged to the French franc at a varying rate hence putting it unto a gold exchange standard. After World War I broke out, many local and French people in French Indochina became worried that the central powers would attack the colony and mass converted their Bank of Indochina banknotes into silver coins. Following this, silver disappeared from circulation from a time. The silver standard was restored in 1921 and maintained until 1930, when the piastre was pegged to the franc at a rate of 1 piastre = 10 francs. During the World War II Japanese occupation, an exchange rate of 0.976 piastre = 1 Japanese yen operated, with the pre-war peg to the franc restored after the war. However, in December 1945, to avoid the French franc's devaluation, the peg was changed to 1 piastre = 17 francs. This increased rate created huge financial opportunity by exchanging piastres into francs since the real value of piastres remained around 10 francs in Indochina, attracting organized crime and resulting in the Piastres Affair in 1950. In 1946, the North Vietnamese đồng was introduced, which replaced the piastre at par. In 1952/1953, the Lao kip (1952), Cambodian riel (1953), and South Vietnamese đồng (1953) were introduced at par with the piastre. Initially, the paper money bore denominations both in the local currency and the piastre, but coins were denominated in the national units since the beginning. These initially circulated alongside the old piastre currency. The peg of 1 piastre = 10 francs was restored in 1953. The dual denominated notes circulated until 1955 in South Vietnam and Cambodia, and 1957 in Laos. Coins Coins issued before World War II The coin was first introduced in 1880 then 1883 then in 1885 as so on. In 1885, bronze 1 cent and silver 10, 20 and 50 cents and 1 piastre coins were introduced. These were followed in 1887 by holed, bronze 2 sapèque. In 1895, the weights of the silver coins were reduced, due to the reduction in the silver peg of the currency. From 1896, the 1 cent