Lat money

"[1] The bar-shaped coinage of Lan Xang could be differentiated according to shape, weight, metal, alloy, and mint marks.

[5] The founder of Lan Xang, King Fa Ngum (1353–1378), introduced a new mass unit and use of geometric weights, both of which he adopted from the Khmer.

[9] As an inland trade center for Southeast Asia in addition to "lat" coinage other forms of currency from neighboring polities would have been widely distributed.

[1] The areas to the east of Luang Prabang provided accessible copper and silver for mining, gold would have been gathered from alluvial deposits.

[10] The first Western account of the mineral wealth of Lan Xang came in 1552, from a Portuguese explorer Joao de Barros, who noted that the Lao exported silver.

[11] Another Dutch trader, Jeremias Van Vliet, noted in 1692 that Lan Xang was trading in gold with Ayutthaya but not in coin or ingot forms.

[6][14] By the mid-eighteenth century Burmese invasions and succession disputes had divided Lan Xang into the kingdoms of Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Champasak.

It is during the late-eighteenth century that some have speculated the variety of marks increased due to rivalry between Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Champassak with the lion, cow, horse, or deer replacing the elephant as a symbol of royal authority.

[28] Hoi money also known as tiger tongue was a larger denomination of coinage made of higher content silver.

In form the coins are generally larger than other types of lat, and are characterized by a "double sucker" or dotted texture around the rim.

[29] Markings are typically limited to a Buddhist wheel, or a "Na" or "Luang" symbol representing a mythical "Naga" or serpent.