CAMBODIA - CAMBODIA Sisowath Monivong (1928-1941). Gold Medal, King's Coronation, Dull Flan, Special Strike (SP) 1928, Paris (Chobillon). Av. CROWNING OF H. M. SISOWATH MONIVONG. KING OF CAMBODIA. Left bust of Sisowath Monivong, signature BELLUGUE on the edge of the neck and below (date). Rv. Legend in Cambodian. Coat of arms of Cambodia. Lec.145; Gold - 19.87 g - 34 mm - 12 h This is the second highest grade! PCGS SP64 (59842685). Special strike (SP) on gold dull blank, with hallmarks on the edge GOLD and maker's pentagon, inscribed AC with two crossed swords in the middle and below 18 K. Minor damage to the right-hand scroll, otherwise with its matt velvet strike. Only 100 struck, rare in large module! Superb at Fleur de coin. Preah Bat Sisowath Monivong (1875-1941) was the fourteenth son of King Sisowath I. He was born in Phnom Penh, which had become the new capital and where Sisowath Monivong already lived. In 1904, his father Prince Sisowath acceded to the throne. In 1906, Monivong accompanied his father to France, where he received military training at Saint-Maixent. He then embarked on a military career, notably with the 2nd Foreign Legion Regiment in Saïda, Algeria, where he became a captain. When his father died, Monivong, the eldest surviving son of the deceased King, abandoned his ambition to become the first Asian general in the French army and acceded to the throne on 9 August 1927. Like his father, he gave way to the French colonial administration, where most of the power was in the hands of the Resident General. Under his reign, the first Cambodian communists appeared, whose main aim was to oust the French. At the end of 1940, Monivong helplessly witnessed the Japanese incursions into Vietnam and then the occupation of Cambodia in early 1941. Sisowath Monivong retired to Kampot, where he died on 22 April 1941. He was cremated and his ashes were transferred on 3 November 1941 to a stupa in the royal necropolis at Oudong.