More changes for Thai coins

It turns out that the new two-baht coin is only one of several changes to Thailand's circulating currency. On February 2, the Treasury Department announced changes to a number of coins. The two-baht coin just happened to be the first one released.

The most visible of the other changes (even though these coins are mostly obsolete) is that the 25- and 50-satang coins are now made with copper-clad iron instead of aluminum bronze. The new color looks something like an American penny:

Other changes are less noticeable. The one-baht coin will switch from cupronickel to nickel-clad iron. The five-baht coins will be a hair less thick, and thus will drop in mass from 7.5 to 6.0 grams. The one-, five- and ten-satang coins are also getting minor tweaks, but I'm not even sure why those are still minted at all.

And as with the two-baht coin, it appears that the portrait of the king will be updated on all coins.

I noticed a poster at 7-Eleven that explains the changes. I took a crappy picture with my phone. It's too bad they don't distribute this nice poster as a file on the actual treasury website.

Two-baht coin changes color, artwork

Have you seen this yet? The new two-baht coins now have a golden hue, with subtle changes to the artwork.

According to the coin's entry on Wikipedia (geez, they have articles on everything), they were released on February 3rd.

The new metal is aluminum bronze, replacing nickel-coated low-carbon steel. Its info page on the Thai Treasury website provides further details: the aluminum bronze alloy consists of 92% copper, 6% aluminum, and 2% nickel.

The overall look of the coin is the same, with His Majesty the King on the obverse, and Wat Saket on the reverse. However, the artwork has changed subtly, having been redesigned for the new version of the coin. His Majesty's likeness is larger, and there are also subtle changes on the reverse.

The new coins were minted, as the Thai numerals show, in 2551, aka 2008. The Treasury website says the date the coins were announced (วันที่ประกาศใช้) is February 5, 2008. That's a full year ago--did they mean 2009, or there is a large gap between announcement and release into circulation?

When I first held the new coin, I thought it felt lighter than its predecessor. Turns out I'm not crazy -- it's 0.4 grams slimmer. I can't believe my fingers could detect that!

The two-baht coin is becoming more and more common. Introduced in 2005, the number minted has increased each year. In 2007, more than a quarter-billion were produced, bringing the total number of two-baht coins in circulation to more than 400 million.

I received these coins today as change at two stores located several kilometers apart, so I guess they've already been widely distributed. This is the first I've seen of them.