Siam / Thailand Coins
Rama 4 Baht

Owner Comments:

King IV, Mongkut, is the king depicted in the "King and I" story. I only mention that because it is how he is most likely known to people outside Thailand. Not because I recommend the story.

More importantly, this King actively got Siam on the path towards modernization in line with what he saw of European states pressuring his neighbors. Burma to the West had been the long-term rival and threat to the Siamese kingdoms occupying present-day Thailand. Burmese armies finally burned the capitol of the strongest Siamese kingdom, Ayutthaya, in 1767. The precursor to the modern Thai state, Siam, began operating under the current Chakri dynasty of kings, from the current capitol at Bangkok, in 1781, the opening of the Rattanakosin era.