Depicts a National Emblem surrounded by the state name (Socialist Republic of Vietnam).

The emblem of Vietnam is circular, has red background and a yellow star in the middle which represent the five main classes in Vietnamese society—intellectuals, farmers, workers, business people and military personnel; the revolutionary history and bright future of Vietnam. The cog and crops represent the cooperation of agriculture and industrial labor.

The coat of arms was designed by artist Bùi Trang Chước and was edited by artist Trần Văn Cẩn. The design closely resembles the emblem of the People's Republic of China and the entire emblem is based on the coat of arms of the Soviet Union.

Depicts the One Pillar Pagoda above value, inscription "State Bank of Vietnam" around.

The One Pillar Pagoda is a historic Buddhist temple in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. The temple was built by Emperor Lý Thái Tông, who ruled from 1028 to 1054. According to the court records, Lý Thái Tông was childless and dreamt that he met the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, who handed him a baby son while seated on a lotus flower. Lý Thái Tông then married a peasant girl that he had met and she bore him a son. The emperor constructed the temple in gratitude for this in 1049, having been told by a monk named Thiền Tuệ to build the temple, by erecting a pillar in the middle of a lotus pond, similar to the one he saw in the dream.

The temple is built of wood on a single stone pillar 1.25 m in diameter, and it is designed to resemble a lotus blossom, which is a Buddhist symbol of purity, since a lotus blossoms in a muddy pond. In 1954, the French Union forces destroyed the pagoda before withdrawing from Vietnam after the First Indochina War. It was rebuilt afterwards.