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1/2 Fuang - Rama IV Thick copper
| Issuer | Royal Siamese Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Central design featuring the Phra Thinang Chakri royal palace rendered in low relief, depicted with characteristic tiered roofline and flanking architectural elements. The palace is surrounded by an ornate floral and foliate border pattern composed of stylized petals and leaves. Radiating lines or rays emanate from above the palace structure, evoking a crown or celestial motif. The overall composition is dense and decorative, consistent with Thai artistic convention of the mid-nineteenth century reign of King Rama IV. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central field bears the royal Chakri dynastic emblem, featuring the trident (trishula) and discus (chakra) device, surrounded by an intricate wreath of floral and foliate ornament. Thai script legend encircles the central device within a beaded or rope-pattern border. The design is executed in low, somewhat crude relief typical of early Siamese mechanical coinage produced during the reign of Rama IV (King Mongkut). The overall aesthetic reflects a blending of traditional Siamese royal iconography with emerging Western minting techniques of the period. |
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| Additional information |
Rama IV — Mongkut — established the Royal Siamese Mint in the early 1860s partly to satisfy treaty obligations with Britain following the Bowring Treaty of 1855, which had forced Siam to open its economy to foreign trade. Western merchants demanded predictable, machine-struck coinage rather than the bullet-money pods that had circulated for centuries. This thick copper issue was among the earliest products of that modernization effort, struck on imported presses before Siam's minting infrastructure had fully stabilized — accounting for the considerable variation in planchet thickness collectors encounter across surviving examples.