Pod Duang 1 Baht

These coins were cast as small silver cylinders, a clever design that let them be threaded on strings for easy carrying and counting—far more practical than the flat coins Europeans favored at the time.

Minted in the Ayutthaya kingdom from 1650 to 1767, the Pod Duang 1 Baht typically bore Thai script indicating their value. We know they were made from silver, possibly sourced from melted foreign trade coins, but precise details on alloys or exact production methods have been lost. No reliable mintage figures survive; records from that era are scarce.

As for myths, I've debunked plenty over the years—claims of magical properties or hidden treasures. They're just coins, worn from use in daily trade.

One oddity: their shape once confused a novice collector into thinking they were ancient bullets. They weren't.