Thailand BE2489 50 satang KM-Y67
This specimen was lot 1232 in Steve Album Auction 54 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2026), where it sold for $360. The catalog description[1] noted, "THAILAND: Rama VIII, 1935-1946, 50 satang (1/2 baht), BE2489 (1946), a lovely example, PCGS graded MS63." During World War Two, the Thai regime signed an alliance with Japan and was rewarded with slices of occupied Burma and French Indochina. The king sat out the war in Switzerland. As a result of the contributions made to the Allied war efforts by the Free Thai Movement, the United States refrained from dealing with Thailand as an enemy country in post-war peace negotiations. The king, aged 20, returned to Thailand in December 1945, but six months later, in June 1946, he was found shot dead in his bed under very mysterious circumstances. He was succeeded by his brother Bhumibol Adulyadej (r. 1946-2016). This type was struck in 1946, likely using a prewar portrait of the king. It was superseded by KM Y71, using an adult bust, which was struck posthumously 1946-50. One baht was 100 satang.
Recorded mintage: 2,721,000 plus 17,008,000 of KM Y71.
Specification: 5 g, tin, 25 mm diameter, reeded edge.
Catalog reference: Y-67.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Hanbing Feng, Auction 54, featuring selections from the Kenneth A. Bovenkamp Collection of Ottoman Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2025.
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