A History of Thai Banknotes: 4th Series Part 2

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 13:11:00 +0000

A 100 baht note from Series 4, printed by the R.T.S.D, only 700,000 notes were printed.

Welcome to our 5th installment of A History of Thai Banknotes, we will be exploring the variety of the Series 4 Banknotes that were printed by the Thai Royal Survey Department.

World War II broke out in Europe in 1941. Thailand was not affected by the war's early effects until December 7, 1941, when Japan invaded the United States at the Pearl Harbour naval station in the Pacific. Thailand was forced to permit Japan to utilise Thailand as a transit country to invade neighbouring countries that were colonies of the warring parties when the Japanese army seized the country's eastern coast the following day. Thailand was forced to declare war on the Allies after the Allied nations launched planes to drop bombs on the country the next year.

To maintain the nation's financial stability, the Japanese proposed the quick establishment of the Bank of Thailand. One yen to one hundred baht was the new exchange rate. Repayments were made in gold or yen, while the Japanese government in Thailand paid war relief in baht. As a result, the value of baht rose in Thailand, but Thomas de la Rue's currency printing was stopped because the company was owned by England, a warring nation.

The location of the Royal Survey Department.

In the beginning, Japan was supportive of Thailand's request for assistance in printing banknotes. At the same time, Thailand was unable to rely on Japan's banknote production due to the worsening war situation, so it created its own banknotes despite its lack of experience. The Royal Thai Survey Department was tasked by the government with printing banknotes on paper made in the province of Kanchanaburi by a Thai paper mill. Paper created from Japanese sugarcane pulp was initially provided by Japan; it was white and robust. When it ran out, it was necessary to use locally available raw materials, including rice straw pulp or bamboo pulp, which were less white and had a duller colour than in the beginning

Malaya also printed banknote from its Royal Survey Department in 1940.

To prevent counterfeiting, the paper was watermarked and dusted with red and blue silk. In order to sprinkle silk, beaten silk fibres were poured along a vertical route through the printing paper, which had to line up with the centre of the banknotes, onto wool blankets that the Japanese army had provided to Western prisoners of war. The issue was that the fibres occasionally clumped and adhered to one another on the paper's surface. In order to distribute the pulp equally throughout the sheet, it was later modified to beat the pulp and combine it with water

The watermark in the early period was a constitutional tray shape, made by making a metal seal in the shape of a constitutional tray and pressing it into the paper during the production process before it was dry. The pressing position had to be exactly the same as where the pattern would be printed on the banknote in the empty circle position, which could be inaccurate for many reasons. Later, the watermark was changed to a wave pattern all over the banknote, which was easier to do by creating a coil mold and rolling it over during the paper production process, so there was no need to worry about the watermark position not being in line with the printed color pattern on the banknote.

The new Thai alphabet was used to spell the banknotes that the Royal Thai Survey Department printed. This was because the Prime Minister was told by the Japanese army that the Thai language was challenging and had a lot of consonants with repetitive sounds. They proposed making Japanese the official language. In order to discuss this suggestion, an urgent cabinet meeting was scheduled. It was determined that the Thai language needed to be made easy to understand. As a result, fewer vowels and consonants were used, and a committee was formed to advance language culture. As a result, the Royal Thai Survey Department printed Series 4 banknotes with the name "Rathaban Thai" on them. Prime Minister Kuang Abhaiwong cancelled the spelling revision after the war.

The Series 4 banknotes that the Royal Survey Department printed came in 4 denominations, 1 baht, 10 baht, 20 baht, and 100 baht. 100 baht notes would feature a stamp of the B.O.T logo on the back as it was used for higher transactions.

I personally like the design of the 1 baht note the most, the dark colours and contrast give it a nice touch, unlike the dull-looking 10 baht note. 20's ok, probably the most high quality ones out of this series type. I would love to have the 100 baht note in my collection someday, as very few of these were produced, compared to the Series 6 varieties, which are slightly different. I would recommend this to collectors, who like notes with historical significance, even though the security features aren't that great, they're better than the ones of Series 7, but this may not be for collectors who value beauty more.

Here are some rare signatures to look out for. 1 baht: Leng Srisomwong (Prefix C33) Kuang Aphaiwong (C29 - 32). 10 baht: N51 (two signature types) Wichit Lulithanon (N83 - 86), 20 baht: P83 - 84 (three signature types), Leng Srisomwong (P85 - 88), 100 baht: Leng Srisomwong (S5- 6).

My ranking for this series is 6.3/10. Out of all the series and major varieties, this one stands at 18th place.

Kris' Coins and Banknotes Bonanza - A History of Thai Banknotes: 4th Series Part 2

A History of Thai Banknotes: 4th Series Part 2