Blog of Cambodia (1898-2007) and Laos (1948-2007) Revenue Stamps. By Jos Sanders

Updated: January 18, 2026.

For the descriptions of this update, I follow the J. Barefoot 2006, South East Asia Revenues Catalog Pages 11 - 15

Cambodia General Revenues 1953.

Key type revenue stamp from France, inscribed Cambodge in French and Cambodian script in the white circle at the left. Values in cents and piastres. The 30 cents bistre & blue stamp is missing. Stamps printed in France.

Cambodia General Revenues 1953.

In 1953, Cambodia became fully independent of France. Because commercial connections with France remained strong, the first series of stamps were printed in France.

The series exist of 16 stamps, gunned, inscribed in French and Cambodian. The values are expressed in cents and piastres. The stamps show a cockerel, the same bird will be shown in further future Cambodian revenue series.

Cambodia General Revenues 1955.

Similar stamps as in 1953, but the currency changed from piastres to Riel. The series consist of 14 values.

Cambodia General Revenues 1955 on birth certificate document.

The 1 and 4 piastre values on a birth certificate

Views and Patterns 1966.

I do not have any stamps from this series, so temporarily I copy this section out of John Barefoot's South East Asia Revenue catalog edition 2006. As soon as I can acquire these stamps, I will replace this section.

Cambodia General Revenues 1958.

Cockerel design from 1955 but with values in Cambodian script only. Some 18 values in this series exist. notice that the inscription around the cockerel still reads Royaume Cambodge or Kingdom of Cambodia,

Cambodia General Revenues 1958 on copy of birth certificate.

2 stamps of 3 riel, with the 3 corrected by hand.

Cambodia General Revenues 1963.

This is the same design as the 1958 but the colors changed. From this series, believed to exist out of 16 values, only 1 value, the 1 riel yellow & blue seems to exist. See 4 copies above. In 1963, Cambodia entered a turbulent period with King Norodom Sihanouk nationalizing industries and the communists under Lon Nol gaining more and more power..

Cambodia General Revenues 1970 - 1975.

Cambodia was officially named the Khmer Republic between1970-1975 This is also inscribed around the cockerel bird. Value was expressed in Tiel.

Cambodia General Revenues 1970 - 1976

Cambodia Khmer Republic 1970-1975 full sheet of revenue stamps. Value 4 Riel. Cambodia was officially called the Khmer Republic from 1970 to 1975.

The Khmer Republic was established on March 18, 1970, after General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak led a coup that deposed Prince Norodom Sihanouk. This marked the end of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the monarchy system. The republic lasted until April 17, 1975, when the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and overthrew Lon Nol’s government, ushering in the Democratic Kampuchea regime under Pol Pot.

In Khmer letters:

• រៀល (riel)

• សេន (sen / cents)

Cambodia General Revenues 1980.

Cambodia revenue stamps around 1980. During the Khmer Rouge time, 1975-1979, Cambodia had no currency and no revenue stamps (or postage stamps) were used or printed. After Vietnam ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) was established.

The Monarchy remained abolished till 1993.

The revenue stamps above were used during the PRK period.

Cambodia General Revenues 1993

Cambodia revenue stamps 1993. In 1993, Cambodia underwent a historic transformation: the United Nations oversaw its first democratic elections, ending years of civil war and restoring the monarchy under King Norodom Sihanouk. Stamps were once again printed with Royaume de Cambodge written around the cockerel.

Cambodia General Revenues 1995.

Cambodia revenue stamps around 1997. Royaume de Cambodge. The cockerel bird is completely colored in compared to the 1993 issue. The local printed stamps seem to get worse printing over time.

Cambodia General Revenues on driver license 1998.

Cambodia revenue stamps on 1998 driver license. 2 stamps of 1000 riel. I have no idea if currently in 2025, revenue stamps on documents are still used.

Updated: January 12, 2026.

Laos 30 kip revenue stamps (x2) on a Vietnam passport page.

Visa for Laos on a Vietnam passport. Visa issued on Aug 29. 1958 in Saigon.

Two Laos General revenues stamps of 30 kip each are used to pay the visa fee. Rare document sold on Delcampe for about $30.

Updated: November 9, 2025

Error in Cambodia Revenue Stamp catalog.

On page 2 of the Cambodia revenue catalog, posted on this side, is a cigarette stamp listed.

Description: Rooster in circle, imperforate Number C1 value blue on blue $500.

Actually, this is a Thailand domestic cigarette stamp issued around 1953. The toplines read: we support health and education, the bottom lines read Tobacco Factory, Ministry of Finance.

In the circle is a mythical "WaYuPhak bird and the value right of the circle shows a value of 5 satang. This stamp should be removed from the Cambodia Revenue Catalog!

Cambodia Revenue Stamp Catalog Actual Thailand Cigarette Revenue

Cambodia and Laos independence of France, 1953.

Laos officially gained independence of France on October 22, 1953, soon followed by Cambodia in November 1953. Both Laos and Cambodia started to issue their own postage stamps while still under French influence in 1951. For the date of the first issue Revenue stamps, I am not sure.

Below are the pictures of the first revenue stamps as shown in the respective stamp catalogs.

Updated: November 2, 2025

I started to collect the Cambodia and Laos revenues some 5 years ago.

These revenues are rarely offered for sale, although when offered they are in general modest in price. As a new collector it is difficult to find good information on these revenues.

To put all the know information in 1 place, I decided to create a webpage and a Blog, which I plan to update frequently.

All collectors and readers, please give comments or contribute some pictures if you have interesting items. The webpage is temporarily hosted on my website www.thailandrevenues, but over time, if it does expand and when there is enough interest, it will get its own website.

Cambodia Revenue Stamp Catalog 1898-2007.

Laos Revenue Stamp Catalog 1848-2007

For help in identifying Laos and Cambodia revenues, I placed both catalogs on this website.

Both catalogs have also prices in USD$. This is only an indication of the rarely. Since many stamps are seldom or never offered for sale, the actual prices can vary. The catalogs are courtesy of the Society of Indo-China Philatelists (SICP).

To view the 14-page Cambodia catalog, click HERE.

To view the 19- page Laos Catalog, click HERE.

Cambodia Droit de Greffe stamps.

In 1863, the French pushed out the Siam influence over Cambodia and made it an official French protectorate. This lasted till 1953 when Cambodia officially became independent.

During most of the protectorate time, Indo-China revenue stamps were used, with only some exceptions.

The Cambodge Droit De Greffe stamps in French meaning Registry Fee or Clerk's fee, were issued in 1898 to be used as Court Fee stamps. Similar stamps were issued for Cochin China, the southern part of current Vietnam, including Saigon and the Mekong Delta. The 1 Piastre stamp above appears in 2 different shades. I am not sure if this is just a lighter ink printing or a separate print run.

Above used set of the Droit de Greffe does miss a 2 Piastre stamp, I never did see this stamp used and it was maybe never issued.

The set also exist imperforate. Note again the difference in shades on the 1 Piastre stamps.

The following Cambodia Droit de Greffe stamps, overprinted Quittances (Receipts in English) are not listed in the Cambodia revenue stamp catalog posted on my webpage. Since the word Cambodia is also obliterated by a bar, I assume that these stamps were used as provisionals in Indo-China.