4 Riels Angkor Wath

Cambodia's 1989 coinage was issued under the People's Republic of Kampuchea, the Vietnamese-backed government installed after the 1979 overthrow of the Khmer Rouge. The country remained under a UN-recognized government-in-exile at the time, meaning these coins were produced by a state most of the world officially refused to acknowledge. Struck in copper at a weight suggesting ambitions beyond pocket change, the series was partly aimed at asserting governmental normalcy during a period of acute civil conflict and near-total economic collapse.