2 Pe / 1/2 Fuang Hamsa Seed

The Hamsa seed coins of mid-nineteenth century Cambodia occupy an unusual position in Southeast Asian numismatics — they were produced by a kingdom that had been effectively partitioned between Siamese and Vietnamese suzerainty since the 1840s, with King Ang Duong issuing coinage as much as an assertion of sovereign administration as for practical exchange. The Hamsa series was struck in multiple denominations using traditional punch-marked techniques that deliberately echoed older Khmer monetary forms.

French protectorate status arrived in 1863, shortly after this type's production window closed, making the entire Ang Duong coinage a narrow episode between foreign domination and colonial absorption.