1/2 Lat 1/2 Tamlung

Lan Xang — "Land of a Million Elephants" — was founded by Fa Ngum in 1353 and at its height controlled much of the middle Mekong basin. These bullet-shaped silver pieces, sometimes called "rod money" in older Western literature, circulated across a trade network stretching into Yunnan, the Shan states, and Ayutthaya. The weight standard traces to Indian ratti-based systems transmitted through the Mon and Khmer, not to Chinese weight conventions as was once assumed.

The two-century dating window reflects genuine uncertainty — no mint records survive, and attribution rests almost entirely on find provenance and weight correspondence to documented Lao standards.