10 000 Riels Khmer Republic

The Khmer Republic, proclaimed in 1970 after Lon Nol's US-backed coup ousted Norodom Sihanouk, issued this coin just one year before the entire republic collapsed under Khmer Rouge military pressure. By April 1975, Phnom Penh had fallen and the new regime abolished currency entirely — declaring money itself counterrevolutionary and emptying the national bank into the streets.

KM#62 was almost certainly never intended for circulation. Struck for the international collector market during a period when the government desperately needed foreign exchange, most examples show no wear whatsoever.