Somdej Toh made and blessed over 84 000 pieces of Phra Somdej amulets in his life until he passes on in BE 2415. His amulets are spread all over the world, almost every amulet collector has a piece or more of Phra Somdej.
Somdej Toh Phra Somdej were made in the spread of 3 era:
- BE 2352-2393
- BE 2394-2406
- BE 2407-2415
During the 1st era, Phra Somdej were created not as beautiful as the 3rd era. The molds were crafted by village craftsmen. As old as almost 200 years history, we can expect the condition were very bad as casing of amulets is only start during the 1970s (I suppose?). the condition is so bad that a lot of the Sian Pak can't tell its real or not. so on the market we see right now are mostly mid 2nd era to 3rd era period as the condition is way better. The fact is the material used to produce Phra Somdej is far more than the earliest batch.
The earliest batch of Phra Somdej consist of things they can find around them. rice, clay, shell, etc. So the earliest batch Phra Somdej when you look under the scope you don't see much muan san. During the later stage til he became the Abbot of Wat Rakang, more and better material is added into the amulets.
Although Phra Somdej pim has be classified by collectors up til 500+ pims (What?!). Still its boils down to 5 basic pims (Pim Sen Dai was added in the later stage if im correct)
So no need to remember so many pims (pim ja ka pat, pim sangkhati, pim ok rong etc), every pim trace back to 5 basic pims. can identified the 5 pims you are good enough.
Some of the pims have certain history, like pim chao ban was name because during the olden days the villager gather material (rice, banana, incense etc) they can find and made the amulet, after that they present to Somdej Toh for blessing. therefore pim chao ban are mostly quite plain outlook.
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| pim chao ban |
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As you know a lot of collectors has a few pieces of Phra Somdej but the quality can be vary. For my own preference, I like my Phra Somdej to able to see the muan san. I not saying that the others is not nice. But with so many Phra Somdej circulate around in the market of course i want to own nice pieces. (come on...who don't wish you have something that others don't have?) If you paying a sum for a piece of Phra Somdej, you sure want it to be unique and beautiful right?
Here are some picture of what i would expect to find when i check the amulet.
Somdej Toh used to collect a lot of Phra Somkor and Phra Nang Phaya amulet when he was travel around the country. So we some how will expect to find bits and pieces of broken Somkor or Nang Phaya inside (mostly in the 2nd era and 3rd era batches). burnt incense stick, rice, gems stones contributed by the merchants from neighboring countries. candle wax, roof tiles and many more, and most important is the Somdej Powder.
Do remember that even when Somdej Toh passed away, his disciple still carry on produce Phra Somdej, so there many pieces which i can't say is fake but "not in the right year" I'm not an expert in Phra Somdej amulet, i just write what I have learn so far. Not just the material, you need to study the pim, the history behind, condition like cracks and so on.
And If possible the surface I myself prefer to find Somdej to be as good condition as possible (less crack at the front), but this is up to individual. Of course it is not easy to find consider they are minimum 147 years old and last time people don't know how to protect amulets from damages.
