World Coin "Whatizit" -- 1952 Laos

[JohnPGalt]

OK. I found a box of "world coins" (and some tokens mixed in) here. Just looking at them, I doubt there are any treasures. But maybe I can stimulate a bit of discussion with a "Whatizit" post a couple times a week. I doubt the whole box would buy me a beer, but before I give up, I figure let some folks who know see some pictures.

Let's start with a lot of 6 from 1952. These look like they are from the Kingdom of Laos. They are marked in French "Royaume du Laos." There's also some symbols I don't recognize, but they could be writing in some other language.


Click the thumbnail pics for high resolution photos and scans.


Looking at completed listings on that other auction site, it looks like I might have two lots of 3 which could sell for as much as $1 each.

So, can anyone tell me any stories about coins like this? What do the symbols and pictures represent? How is the condition on my examples?

And what's up with the holes in the center? It looks like they were made that way, and all the examples I see on the Internet have the holes. But it also looks like the artwork really wasn't made with the hole as part of the plan. I mean, the head on the 10 cent piece has a major lower lateral lobotomy through the ear. And the center elephant on the 20 cent piece has been shot between the tusks with a large diameter artillery shell.

[poppa501]

I am tres ignorante when it comes to foreign coins. However, looking at yours, the holes seem to have sharp rough edges which would indicate to me that they were drilled and not a part of the minting process. I could be very wrong about this. Just MHO. Thanks for the post. Will be interested to see if anyone has any answers.

[JohnPGalt]

I did get some answers on some other discussion forums where I posted these pictures and questions. Here's what I got from someone over at CoinCommunity.com forums:

The head on the 10 cent is a generic "Laotian maiden".

The triple-headed elephant on the 20 cent is the Hindu divinity Erawan, and was the national emblem of the Kingdom (see the flag and coat of arms on the Wikipedia page I linked to above). Although Laos is Buddhist rather than Hindu, the elephant is native to the region and was long a symbol of royalty. A very similar elephant symbol is still used in neighbouring Thailand.

The book on the 50 cent symbolizes the tripitaka, the recorded teachings of Buddha - the Buddhist sacred writings.

The leaf-like patteron on the reverses is intended to be a lotus flower.

Western colonial powers often struck colonial coins for their native subjects, especially low-denomination ones, with holes in them. The theory was that most versions of non-western clothing don't have pockets, so holed coins allow the coins to be strung on strings and carried around the neck. Perhaps not surprisingly, this somewhat patronising attitude was rarely followed through once the various countries attained independence. These are the only holed coins issued for Laos.

I do not know if the holes on these particular coins were a last-minute addition or were always intended as part of the design, but the entire mintage (2, 3 and 1.4 million respectively) was holed.

So these coins are not too common. The mintage figures are low. But market demand is also low, so the price for a lot like this is very low. Plus mine are lightly circulated and there are a lot of uncirc examples available.

As for metal value, it's not very high either. There's enough aluminum in these six coins to make one, possibly 2 beer cans. Yes, I said aluminum. They are very light, and they are apparently made from aluminum.