Bradbury Wilkinson produced this note for the Banque Nationale du Cambodge during a period when Cambodia was still navigating the tight diplomatic balancing act of Sihanouk's neutralism — accepting aid from both American and Communist-bloc sources while keeping the riel nominally stable. The 5-riel denomination sat at the low end of everyday transactions, which means surviving examples in clean condition are genuinely uncommon; heavy use and Cambodia's tropical climate combined to destroy most of the print run before the political collapse of the early 1970s.
Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility handled a significant portion of Southeast Asian currency work in this period, making the Cambodian series one of several concurrent commissions rather than a prestige contract.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced this note for the Banque Nationale du Cambodge during a period when Cambodia was still navigating the tight diplomatic balancing act of Sihanouk's neutralism — accepting aid from both American and Communist-bloc sources while keeping the riel nominally stable. The 5-riel denomination sat at the low end of everyday transactions, which means surviving examples in clean condition are genuinely uncommon; heavy use and Cambodia's tropical climate combined to destroy most of the print run before the political collapse of the early 1970s.
Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility handled a significant portion of Southeast Asian currency work in this period, making the Cambodian series one of several concurrent commissions rather than a prestige contract.