The bird on the obverse of this 1959 10 sen marks the birth of a new Cambodian subunit: that year the riel stopped being divided into 100 centimes, as it had been since its introduction in 1953, and was split into 100 sen instead.

The obverse shows a bird statue facing left, ringed by a legend in Khmer script. The reverse is bilingual: the denomination and date sit within a wreath, and alongside the Khmer wording runs the French legend «ROYAUME DU CAMBODGE» (Kingdom of Cambodia). The coin was struck at the Paris Mint in a mintage of 1,000,000.

It belongs to the short reign of King Norodom Suramarit, who ruled for only five years. He came to the throne in 1955 when his son, King Norodom Sihanouk, abdicated in his father’s favour; after Suramarit died in 1960 the throne was left vacant and Sihanouk became head of state. The 1959 date is the only one for this type, so it fills exactly one slot in a date run.

AU-UNC sits between aUNC and UNC: signs of circulation are almost absent, with at most light rub on the highest points of the relief. For small change of royal Cambodia from the late 1950s, that is very close to how it left the mint.

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