Journal of the Siam Society; 29

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THE COINS OF NORTH SIAM

by W.

HARDING KNEEDLER.

The ancient coins and tokens which one sees in the northern part of Siam are of such a large number of varieties that the study of them is an interesting one. On the other hand, it is very difficult to get reliable information concerning them. Mr. le May, in his book on the coinage of Siam,(l) shows pictures of some of the northern coins, and refers to them briefly. I hope that this article may set·vc to supplement the careful and elaborate information on Siamese coinage contained in his book. 'l'he plates which illustrate this article show the coins at rodghly 5 /u of their actual size. 'l'he text describes the different types of coins as nearly as possible in the order in which they occur in· the plates, the text therefore serving as key to the plates. FwwER MoNEY.

Plate I illustrates different types of what is commonly known as flower money on account of the fancied resemblance of the_surface to flowers. As will be seen later much of the old coinage. has undoubtedly been made to resemble forms of sea shells. As Mr. le 1\Jay points out, cowrie shells were accepted as currency until comparatively r·ecent times. In plat.e I, Nos. 1 to 4 and 'l to 10 have some concavity on their under surface, suggesting a resemblance to shells. No. 3 illustrates the reverse side of a coin such as No. 1, 2, or 4. The quality of silver in all coins of this type is very good, and all are made of silver.· 'l'he weight varies much. No. 10 weighs about six ounces, whereas No. 11 is exceedingly thin and light. No. 12 {l) Regfnald le May, 1'he Coinage of Siam, Bangkok, 1932.

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HARDING KNEEDLER

(VOL. XX:Ii

resembles Siamese uiello work. It is diflioNJt to 8ay anything rega.::uding the origin or age of these coins, but it is safe to say that liQJilile (i)f them origina.t ed north @£ the present Siamese 1).order. .

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This type (i)i m(i)ney is illm.stra.ted in iPlate IL is ' known as .H leaf illObey ~' ll aCf'lO'HUt Of i!lhe £act that the CQDVeX. SUrface has ·!l,aised :\li!tles which"f.requently esemible the -verinimg of lE;iMes 1 ; 01: as "'line money" bocal\lse a hue a1~ srosses i1Ge c~nter of the convex l'l'l!lr~ace;. It is always perf@ra:ted. No. 4 reP,vesents t1be concave sqr- • .. fB~ce. (i)K thes~ c~1llli, whi~h i~ al~s s~l',l'lilar. ~ The coin~ ;t~e never of ·..siil:'Vet, 'but B~r of f1i Ught c(i)l~r~ al10y 0£ sornewMii~li" vB!~y1ng composition, o£tern. rot SJil¥ei'J~cl surface. ' They ar,e ' dug Uf> rrom •time to 'thne aU throl!lgh Md;h lSiWin, a~d probably represe~t -baser coinage _of the ~ooiimt _kjngd(i).~ (i)l Da;ilPI}t'a', of ~vhi~Jil, ·m· ill be s~il;i [ater. 4 tlle . r~seTJiJ\b[arn.ce- of th~~r coins to shells .. . readily be ·noticed. 1'b~y are (i)~ fairly upj£orm size a}'ld ·ireight. ·_ I h~ve ~ run · across one or two bronze piec,es , which se~m be ~ ~'elated \o' this type of m.ii>ney. - · --. · ~ ',.

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TQKMONEY.

This is money which ia it; f~im beat , mor ~ ~r less resemblance t~ - · shells, &nd which includes sev~ra.l type~ • of coinage. . It is never of very fine silver, though its yalue is determined by its silver content. As Luang Boribal pointed out in his newspaper artic,le in the -T'ai Mai, there· waS" a law of the time of King Meng;ai, first )dng ·of ~annat'ai, 1\. D. 1296, w~1ich r~erred ~o tok money. It is..C(;niceiv:able that this may have been the leaf money to which I referreD. ahmte· 'l'~k money was officially u~ed in C'ieng Mai u~til the time of Pr~ce Jnt'arawlc'lyanon: A. D. J871, according to Lvang Boribal. ~. · . . •.

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ToK _M'oNEY oF NAN . ..

The type of coinage shown in Plate III is generally ·_referr~d to the principality .Nan. These coins are thick, heav.y .discs, the backs. of which (not illustrated) are smoot:hJy conve~. -~ The neve'rse side of that pictured, like the other forms of tok ~oney to 'be described, shows so~e yellow ~nd brown, or red; the sii-v~~-r @I' ali(i)yhaving been poured onto egg yolk or chicken blood in the: process of manufacture. The coins illustrated, .~Jipw varying conti~~~ of sihv

[VOL. :XXIX

Th e d evelopm ent of Colbert's policy made it desirabl e for France t o enter into trad e r elat ions with S iam. P' rah Narai on his side was eag er t o welco lll e a lly Emopeans who wer e opposed to the predominant Dutch. ·w h en th e Franco-Dutch wa r was over 11nd th e :;eas \\'ere open t o French shi ps, A. Boureau-D eslancles opened th e first French Factory in Sia nt in 1680, a nd 11 Siawese etubassy sa iled for France. It is obvious fr om th e da-tes given above that PlJa.ulkon can have had no possibl e share in these events. P. 279: "By th e end of 1687 Plu~ulkou was a millionaire." P. 284: " After the S iamese had found his valuables." When Pb aulkon di ed, his fortune appears to h:.w e consi:;tecl of llttl e more t ha n hi:; s h a r e~:; in t he French Company a,nwunting to fr. 150,000. The S ia mese r efu sed to a llow his widow to r etire t o Frauce, both b ecau::;e t hey fe11recl she would clai 111 t h e:;e shares which the S iamese h eld :;hould be used by tll e Frencl1 to li L1uicl ate their cla.im s on Siam, a lso t hey f eared sh e might smugg le away with he r t1·ea.sure which th ey ha,d fail ed to discover after Phaulkon's anest. In 1692, Kaetnpfer found the widow p enniless in Ayut'ia. Phaulkon li ved Yery lav ishly w hil e he was in pow er, a ud it is improbable tha t h e left much we11lth ot her than hi ~:; sumptuous househ old good:; and hi s for eign i nvestlll ents. P. 282: "Lady Phaulkon, daug hter of a Christian Samurai." Th e French MS. says that sh e was of lllixed J ies. (A).

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JoultXAL OJ.loesan;

l\lr. K. V. Laer.

[Publish ed for the Siam Society by J. Burnay, Editor, and printed by W. H . Mundie, at t h e Bangkok Tim es printing office, 593 Hongkong Bank Lane, Bangkok, in Auguflt, 19::16.]

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ADDR£SS OF THE SOCIETY.

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APPLICA 'rtONS FOR COPIES ·

Applica-tions for COJli~s of the Journal · shouid be ~ ·. ' · made to the lion. Secretary;. Trices of hack nunibe:rs from I, 1 -to XVIII, 3 will he fotlnd in vol. XV•lii, pt. 3. ·Price& o" aU hack ntnnhers, from I,, 1 to XXVII, 1, may be obtaiued on application to the Ilou. Secretary. 4;.

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UBRARY

The SO:.Ciety cn:€d into its home. near the \Vattana \'Tittaya .!..cademy·in 'l[ehruary; 19:33. 1'lte Rooms a'fld Lihr•ary -wil1 be opet; e'\ ery afteruoon .from ;).30 p.m. to 7.SO p.tt1.1 and also· ~t .tny otl~e·r titn'e ' by nrh~.ngemerit with tile-.Socie.ty's servant livin.Q: f,)ll the premises. ·~ .

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· Bo()ks m~J Be coi1Sulted. ~t any time hut may be .borrowe(l expept en ~{onday~ and Fridays, when Libt·arian or h),s A~sistn.nt is present. Books borJ.·ow:ed should _be refur-oed wlthin one month. .

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77

LES NOMS

AELEfYIENTS NUMERAUX DES PRINCIPAUTES TA"i(l) par JEAN RISPAUD,

Cl ase reconnaitre ·a,ms ces invention::; cresO:~onnees. I:nd1spensable, l'analogie phonetique, dont gn ~~ taut use et parfois- m~s1:fSe, ne constitue qu'un premier in dice.··' E~s reperes mem.es '.qui ,;~d'nt fournis par les dialectes tai risquentd' etre fausse$•Jfl1r!'e's differences toniques existant entre les reietons de l11 litn'!f· As,, Soc.,'"LXIV, 1; 933t,P· 148). La principttut0 de O'ieng K'eng, cap~tale Mu ang Smg, ne frnt pas partie des Sip S6ng P'an-lll1, ~1u moins depms le xvme siecle. C'ieng Tung est un Etat shun tlu sud ei; non du nord. (l) Of. R. S. LE Mu, An Asian Arcady . . , p. 8.

_(2) _A nnc~les du Siam, (tracl. N OTTON), II I, ::;ens restl'eint, equivalent du c~m01s we~ ~f, s.a. 127 4, p. 79 ; sens etendu s.a. 1328, p. 79, s.a. 1545, P· ln3 et_pass~m. Oes faits ne signifient pas que p'an-nc6 1wait uniquement au xme Siecle le sens restreint, mais qu'll, cette epoque il etait encore employe dans cette acception qui s'est perdue ,!i~uis,

(~) v. H. MASPERO, Contribution a l'etir,d~du systeme phonetique des langues tha;

384 ,· I , p.65 . Le cycle des do~tze cmi1naux .. , J.A., 1920, p. 61-3.

z~oolf

1''ie1·e" de

xne siecle.

Il est tres difiicile cle dire si ces nombros out en, a, leur apparitiou, llllO bttHO de realit6. Pour 57, eo caractere e;ot probable, car ee nombre n'est pa;,; t>ymbolique en pays tal. Pour ;)2 et 8-1, nons n,vons vn ee qu'il fn11ttit en penser. Avec le groupe des nombres superieurs a h ccntaine, nouH (jttittons le domaine de l'histoire et de h1 symbolivith embroidered cloth, gowns ornamented by em broidery aud pink conical hats decorated with divers designs, in accordance with the rank that they held. 0£ the other men-at-arms, the leitders wore ~· hat and armour and the men a red hat and coat. And all those of the va.n-guard, the rear-guard, the reserves, the left wing, the right wing, the scouts and others, each and all carried a sword. Numerous vvere the barges and inspiring was the sight thereof as they came before the royal landing, each moored in its due and proper place. And when all were ready tbe principal and senior couucillor went forth to inform the King thereof. 'Ellen did King Niimi,ya~w, take a ceremonial bath and clothed himself with the roy1d warrior's robes, breeches that had two pointed curves at the knee v tribes found at the upper Wttter;, ()f the Irrawaddy. 'l'here is a close relationship l1etween til\) Changs nml the Bm·meBe. 'l'he Burmese language cannut express th1.' word "Ulmug" exc:ept in writing, but pronounce the word "Chin.'' Tlw pltlim; of Burrna were occupied by the Shtm (Tlwi), the Pyn aml tlw }[(m As the 'l'ibeto-Burmese tribesmen pnshecl :-;,mth thc-y ! lispus:-;es8etl these lJeoples and established themHillveB iu tlH: rieh plttiuc;. The (l!'igiwd dlmie forimttiou of the m1cient Burme~e was com]!used ul' TilH:tan tribesJtlUll