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500 Riels
| Issuer | National Bank of Cambodia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1996-1998 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Second riel (1979-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Vignette of Angkor Wat temple complex at right, rendered in intaglio in dark blue-violet, reflected across a foreground waterway with palm trees flanking the structure. At left, a multicolour guilloche underprint in orange and green anchors the note's decorative field, alongside the Royal Arms of Cambodia in dark blue. Two manuscript signatures appear in the centre, accompanied by their respective titles in Khmer script, with the date 1996 at lower right. Denomination numerals in red appear at upper left and upper right, with the bank name in Khmer characters across the top. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central vignette of rice paddy fields with workers harvesting in the foreground and tractors ploughing flooded paddies in the middle ground, palm trees and a temple silhouette visible along the horizon, all rendered in intaglio. To the left, a large sculptural vignette of two oxen beneath a banana tree provides a bold decorative panel. The denomination value in Khmer numerals appears at upper left and in Arabic numerals at lower left, with the bank name in Khmer script at top centre and the English inscription NATIONAL BANK OF CAMBODIA in letterpress along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The P#43 500 Riels bridges an awkward period in Cambodian monetary history — the country had only recently reconstituted a functioning central bank after the Khmer Rouge abolished money entirely in 1975 and the subsequent Vietnamese-backed government rebuilt the riel from nothing in 1980. By the mid-1990s, dollarization was already eating into the riel's practical role, particularly in Phnom Penh, which meant notes in this denomination circulated more heavily in rural provinces than in the capital.
The series was printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company. Heavily circulated examples frequently show horizontal fold stress along the lower third — a known characteristic of this issue due to the way smaller-denomination riels were bundled in rural markets.