New 2 Baht coin.
 

Not sure which is the appropriate Forum for this but we use money for shopping...

Has anyone else seen the new 2 Baht coin? I hadn't heard of it before but last Monday in a branch on MK in Bangkok I recieved a new 2 Baht coin in my change. It is gold in colour and neither my wife nor our friends had seen one before, the previous 2 Baht issued from 2005 was a silver colour the same as the 1 Baht and 5 Baht.

David

Pictures of the old and new 2 Baht coins. (The coins are the same size it's just the pictures that are different.)

David

The new "bronze" coin is because many people cannot differentiate the old 2 baht with 1 baht and wrote a "2" on the coin with blue marker. Thus the color difference.

I haven't seen the new bronze colour ones, but the old ones are very rare as well, I have seen maybe about 5 in 3 years and a half.

On February 3, 2009, the Royal Thai Mint released the new series two-baht coin, minted in 2008, which use aluminium bronze in place of the former nickel-clad low-carbon steel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_baht

I have got one, it looks beautiful

I thought I'd been fobbed off with a foreign coin when I saw my first one last week. Definitely better than the old ones with the 2 written on with a blue marker.

I collected all my silver 2 Baht Coins once I get them somewhere as change, someday they might be of value http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...lies/smile.png
I already have 20 or so.

Haven't seen the new gold one yet but will look out for it as I will arrive in Thailand on 14. March 2009.

Maybe the old ones will double in value over the next 10 years. http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag.../laughlong.gif I don't know how many of the new ones are in circulation yet but I've only seen one so far.

There's a hair salon in our soi that has lots of old collections of notes in frames on the wall. I only remember the old 10 baht note and the plastic 50 but the salon has some that look to be quite rare, with the king still looking like he's in his 30s.

I don't believe I have seen any of the old silver ones, I initially thought the 2 Baht was a new denomination. However, as Thailand has a binary system of currency (where the next denomination is twice, or thereabouts, the previous one) there should always have been a 2 Baht coin.

25 Satang, 50 Satang, 1 Baht, 2 Baht, 5 Baht, 10 Baht, 20 Baht, 50 Baht, 100 Baht, 500 Baht, and 1,000 Baht. Logically there should really also be a 250 Baht note.

David

Wow! Not long now! Have fun and come back with lots of great stories! http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/images/smilies/clap.gif

Man, I threw all the 'yellow coins' I got in my jar at home without realising it's worth 2 baht. After going through them again, I have thirteen of them!

normally I use the 1-baht coins to pay for drinking water on Mondays (I never meet the delivery guys so maybe they are not amused!) the satangs go in a tin and to a temple every year (the old-style dropping money in each of a hundred or so alms bowls). if these 2-baht coins become widespread, I will have to figure out what to do with them http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...lies/smile.png

What can you buy for 1 baht any more, maybe it's time to get ride of the smaller denominations and set prices at 2 baht intervals.

1 litre of water from the service machines or from the factory is 1 baht. many small snacks are 1 baht.
but I agree with withdrawing 25 and 50 satangs. only Tesco and the like seem to be using them when weighing fruits, veg, meat etc.

Anyhow, I'm going to save the few Satang coins I have as souvenirs. They are actually kind of cute.http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag.../laughlong.gif

I guess that could be a problem. I use a manual wheelchair, have done all my life, and just had a great six weeks out there renting a place in a city in Buriram because my home with my wife in the village is not 'wheelchair friendly' at the moment. http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...lies/smile.png

David

To discontinue the Satang coins would be a good idea. I always thought it was a pain when I had to pay my utility bill at 7/11. The only problem the utility company would probably have to reprogram their computers and so would Tesco and chain super markets.

I think people could deal with paying 65 baht for veggies instead of 64.50 at Tesco. the poorest people go to the market anyway (I guess) where nobody seems to be using satangs anymore.

Living in a country that went Decimal 38 years ago and changed from 240 pennies in the poun to only 100 pennies in the pound experience tells me that all prices would be rounded up. Besides prices are not only marked with 25 and 50 Satang, you can find prices with any number of Satangs. And if you don't want Satangs then you don't have to accept them in your change. http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...es/tongue2.gif

David