2 Pe / 1/2 Fuang - Hamsa

Cambodia's indigenous coinage tradition by the mid-nineteenth century was already being squeezed between Siamese political dominance and French colonial ambitions that would culminate in the 1863 protectorate. These small silver pieces circulated in a kingdom that had been a Siamese vassal state since 1846, the year before this type's issue began — a diplomatic settlement that left Cambodia nominally sovereign but practically dependent on Bangkok for its throne.

The hamsa, a sacred goose of Hindu-Buddhist cosmology, carried deep Khmer royal legitimacy reaching back to Angkorian precedent.