Question On Ayutthaya (Thailand) Clay Coins

Quote:
The earliest form of money in general use consisted of cowries,
which are frequently mentioned in the accounts of early travellers
(Schneider, 1905, pp. 107-8 ; Ferrand, 1922, p. 50). They were
carried as ballast in ships from the Laccadives, Borneo and the
Philippines, and at the end of the iyth century, and up to the middle
of the 1 8th, cowries (there called bid) were the usual small change
of Siam, 800 to the fuang, J of a tical. ^In 1744 Siamese history
records a shortage of cowries, and small red clay seals, called prakab,
were stamped with various designs and issued as substitutes (le May,
1932, p. 125, PL XXXII, Figs. 11-14). That was merely a
temporary setback. They became plentiful again and dropped in
value. Bastian (1863, III, p. 213) noted that for large payments
they were not counted, but measured in plaited baskets or coconut
shells, I ,000 to 1,200 to the fuang. During the reign of King
Mongkut of the Bangkok dynasty (1851-68) the value was fixed at
800 to the fuang, but with his introduction of tin and copper coinage
in 1862 cowries were finally abandoned in commercial centres.
They continued as gambling counters in towns, and are used by the
croupiers in fan-tan, while among the peasants of the country
districts they are still reckoned at some 600 to' 1,200 to the tical.