Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
10 Centimes - Norodom I Essai
| Issuer | Kingdom of Cambodia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1860-1953) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Bare-headed left-facing portrait bust of King Norodom I occupying the central field, rendered in high relief with finely detailed wavy hair. The engraver's signature C. WURDEN appears incuse beneath the truncation, with the initial E. to the left. The circular legend NORODOM I ROI DU CAMBODGE runs along the upper periphery, bordered on both sides by a beaded inner rim. The date 1860 is prominently displayed at the bottom of the field below the bust. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | NORODOM I ROI DU CAMBODGE E. C.WURDEN 1860 |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Cambodia's 1860 coinage was produced under French pressure as the protectorate relationship was being formalized — the treaty wouldn't be signed until 1863, but Paris was already maneuvering to standardize the kingdom's monetary affairs. Essai pieces from this period were struck in Paris as pattern submissions, and Norodom I had only recently consolidated his claim to the throne after a succession dispute that had dragged on for years.
Surviving essais of this type are genuinely scarce — trial pieces rarely left official hands, and Cambodia's turbulent 20th century reduced what documentary and numismatic records existed.