Lao Silver Currency

An elongated studded blade shape floats on a thin rod above a black base.

This silver currency piece is from Laos, and dates to the 19th century. Silver was widely used as a medium of exchange in Southeast Asia, and in the form of bars or ingots it was valued by weight. Slender, rounded form with a pointed bottom and small raised bumps down its length, in a dull gray-brown with shiny patches. It is mounted upright on a thin dark metal rod rising from a flat black rectangular stand. It is 2 inches wide, 2 deep and 7 high.

Odd, upright and precisely the way it wants to be.