[15] On the left side of the seal was the legend Kê bát thập kim, lục hốt tứ lạng tứ tiền tâm phân (80% pure gold, weighing 6 lingots, 4 and 4/10 and 3/100 tael (= 64,43 taels = 2364 g) ), while on the right side of the seal is the inscription Vĩnh Thịnh ngũ niên thập nhị nguyệt sơ lực nhật tạo (Created on the 6th day of the 12th month of the 5th year of the Vĩnh Thịnh era (or the year 1709 in the Gregorian calendar)).

[16] The Đại Việt quốc Nguyễn Chúa vĩnh trấn chi bảo seal was used by Gia Long on a funeral prayer document for Pigneau de Béhaine now preserved in Paris.

[15][17][7] It was carefully kept in a box out of sight and, unlike the other imperial seals, kept in the Trung Hoà Palace, the sovereign's personal residence located in the Purple Forbidden City.

[15] According to the historian Lê Văn Lan the Emperors of the Nguyễn Dynasty, like the earlier monarchs of Vietnam, all took their seals as the symbol of the supreme governmental power of both themselves and the monarchy as a whole.

[8] Modern scholarship based on the books "Khâm định Đại Nam hội điển sự lệ" and "Minh Mệnh chính yếu" concluded that the first stamps of a document were reserved for the Thủ tín thiên hạ văn vũ quyền hành, Quốc gia tín bảo, Văn lý mật sát, Ngự tiền chi bảo.

[15][1] The modern Vietnamese reading of the inscription is Ngọc Tỷ truyền quốc của nước Đại Nam, nhận mệnh lâu dài từ trời.

[22] Upon receiving the heirloom seal Thiệu Trị immediately held a large Đại tự ceremony to confer that he had the Mandate of Heaven and prayed to have a long and prosperous reign.

[24][1] The Đại Nam thụ thiên vĩnh mệnh truyền quốc tỷ was used for diplomatic decrees and it was protected by the dynasty as an extremely valuable treasure.

[13] Under the Tự Đức Emperor a round ivory seal with the 12 character inscription Hoan phụng ngũ đại đồng đường nhất thống Thiệu Trị chi bảo (歡奉五大同堂一統紹治之寶) written in 4 lines was created.

[29] During the reign of the Duy Tân Emperor a secret wooden seal with the inscription Tải Toả Võ Công (載纘武功, "Continue military works") was created for documents related to the Vietnamese independence movement against French occupation.

[31] Every year, just before Tết Nguyên Đán, the Emperor would order the mandarins to perform the Phất thức ceremony and open all the caskets and then inventorise the treasures inside of the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

[13] It was stipulated in the year Minh Mạng 13 (1832) that Quan phòng-style bronze seals would be created for the government offices of Imperial Arsenal (Nhà kho Vũ khố), Imperial Household Department (phủ Nội Vụ), Merchant ship management department (quản lý tàu buôn), tào chính, đê chính, Capital City Department (đề đốc kinh thành), Provincial military leaders (lãnh binh các tỉnh), kinh tượng, Palace Guards (xứ thị vệ), the Imperial Academy (Quốc tử giám), học chính, the Principality of Muang Phuan (Bang biện phủ Trấn Ninh), Thái y viện, the Cabinet of the Nguyễn dynasty (sung biện nội các sự vụ), Water Affairs Office Management (thủy sư thống chế), phòng văn thư, tả hữu tham tri, the 6 Ministries, phó thần sách, 5 Armies, quản lý thương quyền, the main representative offices of the Six Ministries in Saigon and Hanoi (tào chính các tào của 6 bộ ở Gia Định và Bắc thành), học chính các dinh trấn, chánh quản cơ tứ dực thủy quân, Thuận Thành District Management (quản lý Thuận Thành), hùng cự ngũ kích, thị tượng các vệ, dũng thịnh hùng tượng, tri tâm tượng cơ, Regular Army Guards (an định kiện binh trung tượng), the Provincial Military Commander of Huế (đề đốc kinh thành), các nơi quan tân (bến sông, bến đò được đánh thuế hàng hóa), tỉnh hạt, the imperial warehouse (nhà kho), Provincial Military Lead (phó lãnh binh), an phủ sứ, the Provincial Military Commander (đề đốc), the Imperial Guard (thị vệ xứ), Etc.

[13] The Kiềm ký (鈐記) seal type was used by low-level mandarins and military commanders in charge of estuaries, border gates, small boat fleets, passes, Etc.

[8] By the end of the Nguyễn dynasty period Trưởng ký were typically rectangular with Traditional Chinese characters in the middle and Latin script (romanisations) on the outer area.

[8] According to the Khâm định Đại Nam hội điển sự lệ a mandarin was allowed to make a custom square seal made of ivory or wood.

(Theo ý kiến của nhiều người, cần nấu chảy toàn bộ số vàng bạc tiếp quản từ triều Nguyễn để tăng ngân lượng phục vụ kháng chiến).

[39] In response Hồ Chí Minh asked: "If one day we unify the entire country, what evidence will exist to confirm that we have a tradition of several thousand years of civilisation?"

Nguyen Thi Binh, the chief delegate of the Provisional Revolutionary Government, is the granddaughter of a famous Vietnamese poet and scholar who led demonstrations against the French shortly after World War I."

On November 15, the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism of Vietnam announced that the Vietnamese government successfully negotiated the return of Hoàng Đế chi bảo from Millon.

[45] Following the end of the Nguyễn dynasty in 1945, regional director of Huế, Phạm Khắc Hòe, decided to move it among other treasures from city to Hanoi to present it to Ministry of Labour on 27 and 28 August 1945.

[46][1] In response to the outbreak of the First Indochina War in December 1946 the Ministry of Labour decided to transfer its Nguyễn dynasty collections to be stored at the 5th Interzone (Liên khu 5) for safekeeping.

[25] In recent years, Nguyễn dynasty treasures have been publicly traded at antique auctions in places like London, Paris, New York, Etc., or sold on commercial websites such as eBay or Spin.

[7][35] In the year 2010 to celebrate 1000 years of Thăng Long - Hanoi the National Museum of Vietnamese History published a book with 85 imperial seals made of gold, silver, and jade entitled Kim ngọc bảo tỷ của Hoàng đế và vương hậu triều Nguyễn Việt Nam, "Seals of the emperors and empresses of the Nguyễn dynasty") and were then put on display at the museum for public viewing.

[1] In 2015, a ministry-level scientific research project started entitled Giải mã minh văn trên các bảo vật triều Nguyễn lưu trữ tại Bảo tàng Lịch sử Quốc gia (Decoding the characters on the Nguyễn dynasty treasures stored at the National Museum of Vietnamese History) which also investigated and researched all the seals stored at the National Museum of Vietnamese History.

[24] During the year Mậu Tý of the reign of Minh Mạng, the man Nguyễn Đăng Khoa from the Quảng Trị Province presented the Emperor with a gift in the form of a jade seal with the inscription "Vạn thọ vô cương" (萬壽無疆).

[49] According to Dr. Phan Thanh Hải, Director of the Huế Monuments Conservation Centre, the Hoàng Đế chi bảo contains a seal knob in the form of a five-clawed dragon with an erect tail standing in a steady posture.

(English: Gold eight and a half years old with a weight of 111 taels, 5 mace, and 4 candareens; Modern Vietnamese: Vàng 8 tuổi rưỡi, nặng 111 lạng 5 tiền 4 phân).

[22][49] The seal itself is made of pure gold and is engraved with words "Le gouvernement de la République Française à S. M. Dong-Khanh, roi d'Annam" (English: The government of the French Republic, his royal highness Đồng Khánh, King of Annam; Vietnamese: Chính phủ cộng hoà Pháp tặng vua Đồng Khánh, quốc vương xứ An Nam) in French.

[22] Upon receiving the seal Đồng Khánh thanked the French government and issued a statement to the people that read:[22] "Quan Khâm sứ đại thần Hách Tô (赫托) hiện đóng ở kinh đô vâng mệnh mang tới tặng cho một chiếc ấn ngọc do các công khanh trong triều đình quý quốc chế tạo ra, trên có khắc bốn chữ Triều đình lập tín (Triều đình đặt ra để làm tín), lại bảo rằng của đại Hoàng Đế nước Đại Pháp gửi tặng, vốn là ngọc ở trong tảng đá do trời ứng điềm lành giáng xuống, nước Đại Pháp tìm thấy đem bổ ra lấy nguyên khối chế tác thành ấn.

Which translated into English means "Resident-superior Séraphin Hector, now stationed in the imperial capital city, presented a gift in the form of a jade seal made by the noble servants of the court.