10 Tamlueng 'Royal Rewards' - Rama IV

Issued under Rama IV (Mongkut) in the years before Siam's first Western-style banknotes, this is among the earliest paper money issued under royal authority in Thai history. The "Royal Rewards" series was not a commercial banking instrument — these notes functioned as a form of royal scrip, redeemable at the palace treasury, and were tied closely to the king's personal financial prerogatives rather than to any central monetary system.

The embossed seal was the sole security device, which made counterfeiting a genuine concern given the informal distribution channels. Very few examples have survived in any condition, and the series as a whole remains one of the most underrepresented in Southeast Asian paper money scholarship.