10 Riels Democratic Kampuchea

Democratic Kampuchea abolished money immediately after the Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh in April 1975 — one of the most radical acts of the regime. The National Bank was emptied and later dynamited. These notes were printed but never issued to the public; they went directly from production into storage, then into destruction or looting when the Vietnamese drove the Khmer Rouge from power in January 1979.

Surviving examples entered the collector market largely through Vietnamese military personnel and later through Cambodian border trading. The watermark — unusual for a note that never circulated — suggests the printing contract was completed to full specification before the decision to abolish currency was implemented.