100 Riels

The Banque Khmer was the central bank of the Khmer Republic, the short-lived pro-American government that replaced Sihanouk's neutralist regime after the 1970 coup. This note belongs to that brief, violent window — the Republic collapsed in April 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh, and the entire monetary system was immediately abolished. Pol Pot's government famously destroyed the national bank building and eliminated currency entirely, one of the few instances in modern history of a state deliberately abolishing money as an institution.

Thomas De La Rue printed the series in London while the country was actively at war. Notes from the final years of issue saw genuinely chaotic distribution as the front lines contracted around the capital.