Due to the shortage of pod duang, or bullet money as it was known to foreigners, in circulation brought about by new demands
from foreign traders in conjunction with problems with counterfeit pod duang, King Rama IV sought to mint flat coinage by
the ancient hammering method.
(Treasury Department, 2005)
These first coins were struck by hand by cutting circular planchets
from a thin sheet of metal, then placing these planchets
between an anvil reverse die and using a hammer on the
obversedie
to imprint the deisgn onto the planchet.The first hammered coins featured the mark of the Mongkut-Phratao on the reverse
with a blank obverse and due to the slow method of manufacture, very
few of each denomination were produced.
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