I would like to propose and edit or addition to the catalog listing. For Lao banknotes there is no Pathet Lao Kip, only the Royal kip and DPR Lao kip. This omits that the Pathet Lao Kip was a different transitional currency from 1975-1979, and the exchange rates from royal Kip were 10 kip to the new Pathet Lao Kip, and 100 pathet Lao kip to the new DPR Kip when it was introduced.
The same for the Khmer Rouge. In 1975 the Riel ended. But there were Khmer Rouge banknotes which were experimented with in 1975 up to September 1975 before the experiment was disbanded. There was no exchange difference with the old Riel. I proposed we add Pathet Lao kip 1975-1979, and DK Riel 1975 as categories to make up for this difference. Also a request to make ruling authority within these pages to reflect the same. I will make a separate request momentarily.
For Laos, you're absolutely right that there should be several separate Kips, not the single one currently present. The first should cover the issues of the "Free Lao Government" between 1945 and 1946. The notes are already present but with no currency. Then comes the Royal Kip between 1954 and 1976, the Pathet Lao Kip between 1968 and 1976 and the PDR Kip since 1979. We currently don't have exchange rates for currency reforms given, but it would be a very useful addition.
For Vietnam, since there was no exchange difference with the older riel, do we need a separate currency?
Former Numista referee for banknotes from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Saint Helena.
For the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, when they took control in April 15th, 1975 the Riel was declared worthless. There was a committee called the National Bank Preparatory Committee, set up by Pol Pot and headed by Khieu Samphan in Phnom Penh in May, 1975. The decision was a new Riel will be introduced and was decided to experiment in the Northern Zone Region 41, but these efforts were eventually curtailed by Ta Mok, who favored a barter system. So the currency was abandoned by October of 1975. As no exchange rate was established because the old regime was already declared valueless I proposed that these notes should have a listing as DK riel, 1975. Banknotes were again introduced in 1993, and in use in Khmer Rouge territory up to 1997. I have not studied this second Khmer Rouge riel, but it was supposedly backed by the US dollar (we were funding them to stick it to the vietnamese at that point.).
That's a lot more information than I'd heard before about these notes. Do you have a reference for this? On the basis of what you've given us, a separate currency would be reasonable. Is there any indication what value the Khmer Rouge notes had?
Former Numista referee for banknotes from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Saint Helena.
Philip Short in his book Pol Pot, Anatomy of a Nightmare has several pages dedicated to the Khmer Bank and several other books that I have read have references. Same author on the book Mao: A life. Sources he used are in the references I can pull it from the shelf. I used some paraphrasing of a few pages in my answer above.
That's fantastic. Hopefully a referee will take note of this request. Once that's done, can I suggest that you edit the Khmer Rouge notes to assign them to the new currency and to put some of this discussion in the comments sections?
Former Numista referee for banknotes from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Saint Helena.
I did already put some reference to these notes issued in 1975 in the comments on the news listed in the catalog. Someone moved them to the First Riel sometime later (but naturally this is in disagreement with my studies). I am currently searching for more material on this myself. Through David Short, the image used on the 5 kak note is a verified photo found of the Women cadre on the march. I will dig up my source material later.
I did notice that Democratic Kampuchea 1975-1979 is now listed as an issuing authority, but as a Riel it is still categorized in the first Riel. I would still like to see it under its own section, especiallyas it was not a continuationof the old reil.
Laos still only has one Kip, really should be divided into the three, Royal Lao Kip 1953-1975/6, Pathet Lao Kip 1968-1978 and Kip 1979-present.
Hello, I took note. For an absolute outsider, this is sonehow hard to understand. Could you please make a simple list (name of the currency and issue dates), so I could add it?
For the Lao Kip, there is the Free Lao Kip, 1945-1946, then the Royal Lao kip 1953 (wikipedia has 1955) to 1976. Then the Pathet Lao, introduced in the areas they controlled in 1968 and was the replacement currency until reforms lead to the modern Lao kip in 1979 to present.
For Cambodia, the first riel 1955-1975, the Democratic Kampuchea riel 1975 (a second DK riel in 1993 was introduced backed by the US dollar), and the second riel 1979-present.
South East Asia is a challenging region to classify.
