KINGDOM OF LAOS (1947-1945)
REIGN OF SISAVANG (SAVANG) VATTHANA (1959-1975)
MASSIVE (2.3+ OZS) CORONATION GOLD PROOF COMMEMORATIVE (THE CORONATION ITSELF NEVER TOOK PLACE)
CERTIFIED BY NGC PROOF 69 ULTRA CAMEO
KM # 15
OBVERSE: BUST OF KING SISIVANG VATTHANA RIGHT WITHIN DECORATIVE CIRCULAR BORDER; FRENCH LANGUAGE OUTER LEGEND WITH DATE AT BOTTOM.
REVERSE: WITHIN A DECORATIVE CIRCLE THE ROYAL LAO ARMS (A THREE-HEADED ELEPHANT OFTEN REFERRED TO AS AN "ERAWAN" WITH A RADIANT "PHA THAT LUONG (GREAT STUPA)" ON ITS BACK, FLANKED BY SACRED VESSELS AND UMBRELLAS ALL ATOP LARGE STEPS; DUAL FRENCH AND LAO LANGUAGE LEGEND WITH DENOMINATION AT BOTTOM.
CONTAINS 80 GRAMS OF .900 FINE GOLD (2.3148 OZS AGW)
55 MM IN DIAMETER
THE KINGDOM OF LAOS WAS OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED IN 1947 WHEN GIVEN SELF RULE, A NEW CONSTITUTION, AND BECAME A PART OF A FEDERATION ENCOMPASSING ALL OF FRENCH INDOCHINA. A TREATY WITH THE FRENCH IN 1953 ESTABLISHED LAOS AS A SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENT STATE WITH A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY.
THE LAST KING OF LAOS, SISIVANG VATTHANA (b. 1907; d.1978-84?) SUCCEDED TO THE THRONE IN 1959 AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER. HE HAD BEEN SENT TO FRANCE TO RECEIVE AN EDUCATION AT THE AGE OF 10, AND WHEN HE RETURNED TO HIS NATIVE LAND TEN YEARS LATER HE HAD TO RE-LEARN THE LAO TONGUE. HE WAS A DEVOUT BUDDHIST WHO TOOK ON HIS ROLE AS DEFENDER OF THE STATE RELIGION SERIOUSLY. HE SERVED AS PRIME MINISTER AND REGENT BEFORE BECOMING KING, AND WAS ACTIVE IN HIS COUNTRY'S POLITICS TO TRY TO HELP STABALIZE THE NATION. A SERIES OF COUPS AND COUNTER COUPS BETWEEN THE COUNTRY'S FACTIONS ULTIMATELY LED TO CIVIL WAR. THE KING DELAYED HIS CORONATION INDEFINITELY UPON ASSUMING THE THRONE IN THE FACE OF HIS COUNTRY'S FACTIONALIZATION. HE WANTED THE CORONATION TO BE A SYMBOL OF NATIONAL RECONCILIATION. COMMUNIST INSURGENCY IN LAOS AND THE REVOLUTION OF 1975 AND SUBSEQUENT OVERTHROW AND FORCED ABDICATION OF SISIVANG VATTHANA LATER THAT YEAR MADE A CORONATION IMPOSSIBLE. THE MONARCHY WAS DISSOLVED, AND THE COMMUNIST NATIONALIST PATHET LAO ESTABLISHED THE LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.
THE KING, HIS WIFE AND THEIR TWO ELDEST SONS WERE SENT TO "CAMP NUMBER ONE" WHERE THE MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL PRISONERS WERE HELD. THEY DIED, ONE BY ONE, DEPRIVED OF PROPER FOOD AND MEDICAL CARE. THERE IS STILL CONFUSION WHEN THE KING MET HIS DEMISE, BETWEEN 1978 AND 1984.
THIS COIN COMMEMORATES THE CORONATION OF SISIVANG VATTHANA AND IS DATE 1971. THE KING DEFINITELY WAS NOT CROWNED IN 1971, THOUGH SOME SOURCES CLAIMED HE WAS CROWNED IN 1974 BEFORE THE COMMUNIST TAKEOVER. MOST SOURCES STATE THAT HE NEVER HAD A CORONATION AT ANY TIME FROM HIS ACCESSION IN 1959 TO HIS ABDICATION.
