The realm of the coin
- By: WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI
- Published: 12/01/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Business
Designing and producing the country's coinage requires fine attention to detail, and can produce valuable rewards
For most accountants and retail shop managers, the thought of an extra satang means extra work scrutinising the balance sheets and cash register to see where the missing coin might have gone.
Top draw: The most popular issue to date has been the series produced in 2006 to mark the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King’s accession to the throne.
But officials at the Treasury Department say the value of each coin can't be measured simply by its denomination. Instead, each coin represents a work of art, a point of pride seen and touched by people every day across the country.
For Charuvan Chantimapong, designing and producing each new coin represents a balance between artistic design and practical mechanics and engineering.
Ms Charuvan, a former head of the Royal Thai Mint and now a deputy director-general of the Treasury Department, said each coin starts off as a design imprinted on a piece of Italian clay.
"The initial design is critical to the final look and beauty of each coin," she said.
"If the details are too high or too low, it will affect the final look of the coin. Each detail is measured to the millimetre, and throughout the process, the printing mechanics and the art designers have to work hand in hand."
Thailand's first coin was produced in 1857 during the reign of King Rama IV, who received information about producing coins using a screw press from Britain's Queen Victoria.
The crown later imported the country's first coin press, a machine with the capacity of producing 75 coins per minute, or one-tenth the speed of the presses used by the Royal Thai Mint today.
The country's coins took another advance two decades ago, after Thailand became a participant at the annual World Mint conferences and began to adopt more modern production techniques allowing greater variety in coin shapes, weight, materials and designs.
Ms Charuvan said designers pay particular attention to the relief images of His Majesty the King on each coin. Each image must be reproduced as accurately as possible, right down to the fine details of His Majesty's dress and insignia.
The most popular coin series ever produced by the department to date was the commemorative series issued to mark the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's accession to the throne.
The department minted four types of coins, comprised of gold, silver, copper and nickel and ranging in price from 12,000 baht to 10 baht each.
Charuvan: Care in design critical
Only 2,600 gold coins were to be produced initially, but the department decided to increase the issue to 9,000 to meet demand.
This year will mark the issue of the first standard coin series by the Treasury Department in more than 20 years, comprising a full series ranging from the 25-satang coin to the 10-baht coin.
Designs will mostly follow the current coin designs, albeit with certain enhancements to help bring out the details of each coin face.
"If you don't look closely, you might not be able to see the difference between the old and new coins," Ms Charuvan said.
"In any case, the concept for each coin stays unchanged, highlighting the images of country, Buddhism and the monarchy."
The word "Thailand" stamped on each coin symbolises the country, while a temple image stands for the Buddhist religion and the profile of His Majesty the King represents the monarchy.
For coin collectors, each new commemorative series represents an opportunity to capture part of the country's history.
Kriengkrai Hirunpunthip, vice-president of the Numismatic Association of Thailand, said coin collectors look at the size of each issue, the materials used in each coin and the intricacy of the design in assigning value.
The coin series issued to mark the 50th anniversary of His Majesty the King's ascension to the throne, for instance, featured a one baht-weight gold coin with a face denomination of 600 baht. Only 99 coins were issued, and today each coin has a market value of more than 200,000 baht each.
Among historic coins, a one-baht coin featuring the profile of King Chulalongkorn with a moustache ranks among the most valued of Thai coins.
The series was actually produced in France for circulation in Thailand, but only a few coins actually entered the market as His Majesty passed away shortly after production was complete.
What few coins that did enter the market represented those given away during the funeral ceremony.
Mr Kriengkrai said prices for the "moustache coin" can go over 200,000 baht each for mint condition pieces, or less than half that for worn examples.
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