SCOTT SEMANS WORLD COINS

CAMBODIA: Early

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   Offered below is the collection of the late Anton Fox, plus some additions from my own stock. The Fox collection is possibly the best collection of Cambodia ever formed. Anton began collecting the Indochina series generally when he served there during the Vietnam War, but by the 1980s had confined his interests largely to the coinage of Cambodia and the medals of French Indochina. He was a serious researcher and buyer in both series, and dealt with auction houses in Asia, Europe, and the US.
   For convenience, the descriptions below are referenced to KM (Krause & Mishler, SCWC, 19th C., 3rd ed.) although most of this coinage is in fact pre-19th century. I have appropriated unassigned KM #'s for unlisted types. The most recent account of this coinage comes from "A Hoard of Cambodian Coins" by Joe Cribb in Coin Hoards VI, 1981, p.129-135 and "The Coins of North Cambodia" by Charles Panish in A. N. S. Museum Notes 20, 1975, p. 161-174. Robert Wicks' A Survey of Native Southeast Asian Coinage Ca. 450-1850: Document and Typology (Ph.D. Thesis, unavailable) provides more exact weights and number of specimens, presumably also in the ANS collection.
    A few of the Phase I types have come on the market from small hoards, though most rarely appear and some are known from single specimens. Most Phase II and III coinage is extremely common. The prices in KM are meaningless.
   For a view at 3x actual size, sometimes showing multiple specimens or varieties, click on the small type-image at the left of each entry. If TYPE is noted in the larger image, the piece shown is not necessarily the one for sale. Coins are all uniface.

ALL ILLOS ARE THUMBNAILS. CLICK TO ENLARGE.




Phase I Coinage: c. 1500 - 1650      Native Rule


   Cribb quotes S. Sarai (JNSI 1971 p.90-104) in attributing the first Cambodian coinage to the usurper Kan (1499-1505, or 1512-26), and the traveler Gabriel Quiroga de San Antonio in 1595 as finding coinage in three denominations of ratio 1:1/2:1/4 with designs of Cock (K9 & Panish 1a,,9d), Snake (K3), and heart with Flower (K4). The silver-washed billon types are probably later, and descended from the full unit. Cribb also asserts that there are two parallel series of coinage, those with and without borders (beaded or solid circle), each ranging from silver to billon to copper. As the denomination breakdown and ordering of types in KM is clearly useless, I have followed Cribb's rearrangement of Panish's types, though combining the border / no border types. According to Panish all coins were minted at Battambang except K4 and K25/28 at Siem Reap. Both the rarity and high grade (or holed state for wearing) suggest that this coinage, possibly excepting the three types seen by Quiroga which are commoner, was issued for religious rather than commercial purposes. For convenience I have called the Unit "Fuang," though even at the lower 1.8-1.9g Ayuthian standard, the likely earliest Hamsa pieces (P1) are light.


K19   Crab Double Fuang   Silver, 15m, 2.79g. Apparently unpublished, and only the second know type of Double Fuang. The weight of this Fox specimen squares with P11b, Dragon or Hypogriff, which Wicks notes at 2.7-2.8g for 2 specimens, and Cribb calls a double Fuang. Compared to K19 (P8a), the Crab Fuang, seems slightly cruder stylistically, with a large body in proportion to the appendages, and large design in relation to the flan.    Vg-F SOLD

KA1   Crab 1/8 Fuang   Silver, 6-7m, avg. .152g for 15 pieces, flat flan. Cribb calls it a 1/4 Fuang following Panish's weights, but Wicks' figures are more exact and closer to my own finding. Fine style, though simplified in detail due to the tiny flans.   Dark toned: Vg-F 45.00; F-VF (two specimens shown) SOLD

          KA1a   - - - -   6m, .158g, thicker flan, cruder, bolder design. A single specimen from the group, almost certainly a later issue.   EF 100.00

K3.1, 3.2    Lotus Sprout 1/4 Fuang   Silver, 8-9m, avg. .31g for 27 pieces, flat flan. This is what Quiroga called a snake, but it is a lotus seed with a curling root sprout, forked at the end, and (on some specimens) two bumps indicating lower forkings of the root. The spiral may be c/w or cc/w. Some specimens, possibly later, are cruder in style. Weights noted by Wicks seem to run .3-.6g suggesting a 1/2 Fuang, but without a clear denominational break. K3.1 = cc/w; K3.2 = cw; K3.1c and K3.2c = crude style examples. (look F-VF)   Each: VF-EF 30.00

K4    Crown? 1/2 Fuang   Silver, 10-11m, avg. .67g for 8 pieces, flat flan. Fine style design, but what is represented is still debatable: heart, heart with flower, coconut, crown, and cocoa bean have all been suggested. Panish assigns this to Siem Reap.   Vg (lacking detail) 45.00; VF SOLD

K7    Hamsa Fuang   Silver, 12x15m, 1.33g (with 3 specimens ranging 1.25-1.37g in ANS Museum), dished flan. Simple design of Cock (or Hamsa?) left. This is the best candidate for the coin Quiroga noted as one of three types in circulation in 1595, though it is much rarer today than the other two. It is almost certainly the prototype for the common Hamsa "Fuang" of Phase II. Panish-1b, KM-unlisted   dark-toned superb EF SOLD

K28a    Garuda Fuang   Silver, 15m, 1.85g, dished flan. Unpublished? Finely styled Garuda standing right, holding vine? in right hand, solid and beaded borders around. Panish notes only pieces with "snakes" in both hands or neither, and his illustrated specimen shows a fluid, snake-like object, while the Fox specimen looks more like a branch. The Fox specimen is also significantly heavier. Panish states the type was minted at Siem Reap.   AU SOLD

K14A    Lotus Fuang   Billon? 15m, 1.41g (holed), dished flan. Unpublished? Finely styled Lotus with leaves at side, floating on water, beaded border around. A different style than Panish's specimen. Perhaps lower fineness than preceding types; the flan is smooth like the billon issues.   AF, two holes 12:00 SOLD


Later Billon Types


K17    Horse Fuang   Silver or Billon, 15m, 1.14, 1.41g (holed), dished flan. Horse standing right.   F, hole SOLD; EF, large hole SOLD

K15    Goat? Fuang   AR-washed Billon, 13-24m, 1.21, 1.25g, concave flan. Variously identified as a bull, mule, tapir, or goat, standing left.   EF SOLD

K21    Hypogriff Fuang   AR-washed Billon, 13m, 1.65g, dished flan. Standing right with head reared back and mouth open, it has also been called a Dragon, and strongly resembles the Lion depicted on Tibetan coinage only after 1909. Panish also notes a double weight piece of this type, the only double piece for the billon series. The silver wash from the Fox specimen has worn away, revealing billon.   EF SOLD

K22    Hypogriff Fuang   AR-washed Billon, 13m, 1.45g, dished flan. Standing left. This type is not listed in Panish.   EF-AU, weak at top $225.00

K10    Peacock Fuang   AR-washed Billon, 14-12m, 1.37g, concave flan. Beautifully detailed, fine-style bird with slanted back to right, closed beak, perfunctory dashes in front representing vines? Panish 9a   AU, two small, conjoined test drillings in field SOLD

K10A    Peacock Fuang   AR-washed Billon, 14m, 1.51g, flat flan. Fine-style bird with slanted back to left, open beak, holding realistic vine?, below, solid border around but mostly off flan. Panish 9d. Superficially similar to the preceding piece, but the character of the flan and presence of a border device may signal different mints, workshops, or periods of production.   AU SOLD

K6    Hamsa Fuang   Billon?, 13m, 1.70g, round, dished flan. Fine-style Hamsa left with horizontal & vertical crest elements, single beak, vine with bud & branch before, upper tail feathers: curved & branched fore feather, back feather curved with five horizontal elements behind. Recessed eye & detail in body. This is the finest, most detailed example of the Hamsa, and while it appears to be base metal or low-grade billon, it could be the prototype for the common Hamsa Fuang (K32).   VF SOLD

K24    Garuda Fuang   AR-washed Billon, 14m, 1.24, 1.40g, dished flan. Garuda standing left, upraised arms holding snakes?; fine style    AU SOLD

K25    Garuda Fuang   AR-washed Billon, 13.5-15m, avg. 1.32g for 8 specimens, slightly dished flan. Garuda standing left, empty arms upraised, solid and beaded borders around, uniface; fairly crude style. Relatively common, thus likely one of the latest issues of Phase I and probably even later than 1600. SOLD


Phase II Coinage: c. 1600 - 1870      Thai Domination


   Cribb assigns to this period just one basic type, the Hamsa bird (K27,K32), likely derived from an earlier type that may have represented a Cock. He also notes a progressive debasement of both metal and style. However, I believe that lack of sufficient specimens has led Cribb to wrongly order the varieties within a single progression. Since the 1980s this series has been available in large quantity from Bangkok, and both Fox and I have examined hundreds of pieces, mainly of silver, as the incentive to export copper is small. The stock offered below is about 200 pieces, selected for variety from several much larger groups. A drawing in Tavernier's Les Six Voyages shows a Hamsa type in use 1643-49, but not at true size nor in enough detail to discern the variety. I believe there were two distinct series, one in silver and one, called takung takom, in base billon or silver-washed copper. The silver series drops in fineness within the first variety, and then appears to level off as the style deteriorates, though a constant weight is maintained throughout. There are four distinct varieties of the billon, none clearly derived from another. Although there are stylistic similarities between the later silver varieties and one of the billon varieties, the dished flans appear to link them with the Phase I coinage instead. The billon ranges widely in weight with no clear denominational breaks, indicating a token coinage. I am uncertain whether the billon precede, antedate, or are contemporary with the silver. I have invented K31 for the billon series and called it a "Pe", and used K32 for the silver "Fuang". None of the billon types are actually represented in KM.

K31a    Hamsa Pe   Circle & Cross Variety   Hamsa standing left, body squared in front and upper tail feathers fused into a forward-pointing bun with five horizontal dashes. It is merely speculation, but the cross (not a + or x) could represent Christian influence. This is the rarest of the four types (1 in ANS collection) and a premium is asked for it from Bangkok. For 12 specimens flans range 11-14m, .89-1.46g. They appear to range from base billon to pure copper, though silver wash makes it difficult to tell. Panish-1h, Wicks-iii.   Billon or AR-wash examples:   EF round flan. An exceptional and atypical example (in scan) SOLD .; Fine, scratch $20.00; Fine, partly dark $30.00; G-Vg $10.00; Poor $5.00
      - - - - K31a.2   Copper or very low-grade billon   EF-AU, lustre, centered SOLD; VF-EF $25.00; crude Vg-F $10.00

      K31b   No Circle & Cross Variety. Hamsa same basic style, but cruder, lacking in detail. Probably a later issue, but commoner in billon than copper. Panish (1d) illustrates a broad, heavy double unit of this variety. Panish-1c, Cribb-iv   Billon, crude VF-EF $17.50; crude F-VF $11.00
      - - - - K31b.2   Copper   porous crude VF-EF $7.50
      - - - - K31b.3E   crude style or thin flan   ; crude F $5.00

      K31c.1   Fancy Tail Variety. Fine style variety with a bud at top of branch, and second vertical tail feather is forked. Unpublished variety.   Billon or silver-wash, crude EF $25.00; slightly off center EF $20.00
      - - - - K31c.2   Copper, cruder strikes   crude VF $6.00
      - - - - K31c.3   Thin flans with bulbous heads detached from body & cruder style. Possibly the final phase of this coinage.    crude VF $5.00

      K31d   Branch Behind Neck Variety with budded branch behind neck and variant upper tail feathers. These tail feathers resemble those on the silver Fuang. Unpublished variety.   Silver-wash, crude VF-EF $35.00D; blackened, but not bad-looking $20.00; VF, holed $10.00

KA31c    Hamsa Double Pe   Vine Behind Neck Variety   As K31c variety above, but flan 14x15.5m, 2.70g, clearly intended as a double unit. Appears copper rather than billon, and style is crude, so probably a late issue for the series. Unpublished type.   VF SOLD


Click to Enlarge:           K31 Pe Varieties           K32 Fuang Varieties


K32a    Hamsa Fuang   Circle & Three Upper Fethers   Hamsa standing left. Body solid at center but feathered by three lines fore and aft. Three vertical (upper) tail feathers; backmost much longer and often curved back, with five horizontal dashes. Right leg joins left leg at body; both with spurs. Single-stroke beak and raised dot for eye (not visible when worn). Circle and five curved lines, detached from body, running approximately 8:00-1:00 on flan: Counterclockwise, first two elements representing the crest, third C-like element the top of a vine held in beak, and bottom two elements likely vine bottom and branch, or the bird's wattles. I do not know what the circle represents; a berry on the vine? The birds vary in size, most noticeably in the heads, but this variation does not appear to correspond to fineness nor flan characteristics. The flans vary from irregular 16-17m slightly dished, down to rounder thicker, flat 13-14m,corresponding roughly to a drop in fineness. From appearance I am guessing fineness to range .900+ to under .800. The difference is more readily heard than seen. Dropping the coins on stone or linoleum produces a ring in the finer pieces and a thud in the baser, and with brief practice gradations can be determined among those that ring. The weight averages 1.53g independent of fineness, flan size, and size of bird.   Large-flan, high-fineness example, VF-EF $14.50

      - - - - K32b   Small-flan, low-fineness example, P-1g, Cribb-ii, KM-32.1   VF-EF $7.50

      - - - - - - K32S1   Three examples of K32a, including large, medium, and low fineness (flan size) and different bird sizes, VF-EF $22.50

      - - - - - - K32bX   Cast copper counterfeit, silver-washed and corroded. Test scratches rev. Probably contemporary.   $5.00

      - - - - K32c   Two upper tail feathers with 5 vertical dashes now detached. Body is now three separate lines (simpler for die-cutter), No raised eye, 12 of 13 specimens with small-headed bird. Fineness visibly lower. Thick, round 13-14m flans, avg. 1.58g    VF $6.00

      - - - - K32d   No circle before bird. Second element of crest has become upper portion of beak with vine between. Fineness visibly lower, perhaps .500-.600, flans 12-13.5m, avg. 1.77g, significantly heavier perhaps to compensate for the fineness. Variations of style include upper tail feathers three, two or partly blurred together; dashes four or five (rarely 3 or 6); and right leg entering body center, body at left leg, or left leg at center. There are no weight differences associated with these variations.   Panish 1e, Cribb-i & iii, KM-31.2   EF $6.00

      - - - - - - K32S2   Four examples of K32d, all with different details.   VF-EF $20.00

      - - - - - - K32d.1   Specimens in the no-circle group which appear to be better fineness (.700-.800?) and intermediate style between b and d.   VF-EF $7.50

      - - - - K32e   Crude style, Billon, perhaps .400-.500, 13m, 1.76g for 6 specimens. The bird's body is now solid and squared in front, with head thrust forward. Panish-1e, Cribb-ii A piece of this style weighing 5.63gm was found in 2006, probably intended as a 4 fuang.   F-VF $8.50
      - - - - - - K32e.1   Two small, low-weight examples suggest that this variety may indeed be the last issues of this Fuang type. 12m, avg. 1.22g   Fine $8.50

      - - - - K32L1   Group of five odd varieties of the Fuang which do not fit exactly into the categories outlined; engraver varieties, or?? Plus one double-struck mint error.   VF-EF $40.00
      - - - - - - K32L2   Contemporary counterfeits of Pe and Fuang types, including one very interesting piece that could be genuine?? Plus a clipped Fuang. Five pieces   $25.00


Phase III Coinage: c. 1870 - 1900      French Protectorate


K11   Hamsa Pe or Praq Pey   Crude Hamsa left with crest, vine, and tail feathers as detached elements around. Chinese Ji (luck) in box above. From style and silvering, varieties with one or two dots above upper tail feathers and five horizontal dashes behind appear to be earlier than the variety with no dots above, and four dots behind. Local name "Praq Pey." Issued 1850-80 (Panish) or 1870+ (Cribb). K11a = one dot above, 5 dashes behind; K11b = 2 dots above, 5 dashes behind; K11c = No dot above, 5 dots behind; K11 = my choice Each crude VF-EF, maybe traces of silvering $4.00

      - - - - K11s   With 50% or more silvering intact: K11.2a = one dot above, 5 dashes behind; K11.2b = 2 dots above, 5 dashes behind; K11 = my choice Each crude EF $7.50

      - - - - K11S1   Set of 3 varieties, K11a with silvering, others with traces or no silvering. Crude VF-EF $13.50

      - - - - K11W   From wholesale stock, bulk lots for finding smaller varieties. Many are crudely struck and do not show enough of tail feathers to determine variety.   CRUDE F-VF/better 10 Pieces $20.00; 50 pieces $75.00

K26   Garuda Pe   Machine-struck, beaded edge both sides. Garuda standing left, R: Preah / Dambaan (Batambaang) in old Khmer script. Issued c.1880-1902 from mint machinery installed there by European engineers in 1880. There are die varieties, but too many and too slight to encourage me to try and break them down. SOLD

K30   Garuda 4 Pe   Similar in design to the Pe, but tail is upraised and different style; cartouches to either side, R: different 3-line legend in wreath. 22m, 3.89, 4.54g, compared to average 1.2g for the Pe. The two Fox specimens are different dies.   VF SOLD; EF-AU SOLD

K1   Hamsa 2 Pe?   Redesigned Hamsa left with inscription above, which Panish calls a "partial date." 14m, 2.58g, hand-struck. F-VF SOLD

LISTINGS FOR SILVER SERIES OF 1847 TO FOLLOW



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