Thailand Asia, Middle East Coins: World Coins & Paper Money

From the first to the seventh centuries, metallic coins of the Funan Kingdom in Indochina appeared in Thailand, followed by Dvaravati coins in the seventh to the eleventh centuries. Money of various shapes and sizes from various places was used for many centuries in Thailand. There were no standards. The most enduring coins in the history of Thai currency were the Pot Duang, or bullet money. Pot Duang first appeared during the Sukhothai period, of the thirteenth through fourteenth centuries. Pot Duang were hand-made coins. These coins were made by bending and folding metal strips into cylinders very much like a bullet, thus the name.. Bullet money was in circulation for six hundred years, starting with the Sukhothai era until it was withdrawn from circulation in 1904 during the reign of King Rama V.

 

The greatest change in the history of the money of Thailand occurred during Thailand’s Rattankosin era, during the reigns of King Rama IV and King Rama V. The government issued standardized factory minted coins and bank notes. During the reign of King Rama IV, paper money, in the form of royal promissory notes, was issued in 1853, as foreign trade blossomed in Thailand.