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50 Att / 5 Hào / 5 Chiao
| Issuer | Pathet Lao (Free Lao Movement) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945-1946 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Free Lao Kip (1945-1946) |
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| Obverse description | A wartime provisional issue printed entirely in letterpress, the obverse is dominated by multiple horizontal lines of Lao script text spanning the full field, with the denomination numeral '50' positioned in the upper-left and lower-right corners. A manuscript-style signature appears at the lower center, lending the note the character of an emergency authorization document rather than a formally engraved currency piece. No vignette or ornamental underprint is present, consistent with the rudimentary production standards of the Free Lao emergency series. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 5 hào 毛五 |
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| Comments |
The Pathet Lao movement issued this note during one of the most chaotic transitional moments in mainland Southeast Asia — the months immediately following Japan's surrender, before French authority was meaningfully reasserted. These were not notes backed by a functioning central bank; they were political instruments, printed to assert administrative existence in territories the movement claimed to govern ahead of any negotiated settlement.
The trilingual denomination — Lao, Vietnamese, and Chinese — reflects the ethnic patchwork of the regions along the Mekong where these circulated, and the practical reality that Viet Minh networks were deeply entwined with early Lao resistance logistics.
Surviving examples are genuinely rare. The movement had no secure printing infrastructure, and most notes from this period were lost to warfare, flooding, or deliberate destruction when French forces reclaimed territory in 1946.