Indian Antiquary Vol 42

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 265

OCTOBER, 1913.)
THE OBSOLETE MALAY TIN CURRENCY
258
THE OBSOLETE TIN CURRENCY AND MONEY OF THE
FEDERATED MALAY STATES.
BY SIB R. O. TEMPLE, BABT. (Continued from p. 239.)
APPENDIX, VI.
An Achin Kupang or Five Doit Piece. Dr. Hanitsch, J. R. A. S., Straits Branch, No. 39, p. 197 f., says that there was found at - Malacca in 1900 "copper coin, probably one duit, of the following description :-Obv., coatof-arms consisting of a crowned shield enolosing a lion rampant, with the figures 5 and 1/16 to the right and left of the shield respectively. Rev., the legend Indiae Batan 1816.” That is, the coin bears the arms of the Dutch E. I. Co. and was struck in Batavia. "Coins identical with it, except for the date, were issued by the Batavian Repablic previous to the English occupation of Java, and by the Dutch Government after the English occupation, and the Raffles Museum contains such coins of the year 1802, 1818, 1819, 1821 and 1824. The Museum also contains a coin of 1815 ; that is, a coin struck in Batavia with the Datch coat-of-arms during the time of the English rule. Therefore it is possible that the above coin of 1816, found at Malacca, may also have been struck under English rule. I cannot offer any explanation of this. A coin of this kind, but of the year 1802, is figured in Netscher and Chije, pl. VI. fig. 39 (De Munten van Nederlandisch Indie, 1863). The figures 5 and 1/16 to the right and left of the shield respectively are somewhat mysterious. Netscher and Chijs (p 108) say they are not able to offer any explanation of their meaning."
The coins in question are dated 1802-1824 and therefore the following quotation from Kelly's Cambist, 2nd ed., 1835, Vol. I., p. 97, applies to them. “Acheen in the Island of Sumatra. Accounts are kept in tales, pardows, mace, copangs and cash. A tale is 4 pardows, 16 mace or 64 copangs. The coins of the country are mace and cash. The mace is a small gold coin weighing 9 grains and worth about 140 sterling. The cash are small pieces of tin or lead, 2500 of which usually pass for a mace, but this number often varies." This scale of money of account was of long standing in Achin : see Stevens, Guide to E. I. Trade, 2nd ed., 1775, p. 87, who makes almost the same statement as Kelly. It goes back in fact a long way in the Malay countries : see Bowrey, Countries round the Bay of Bengal, Hak. Soc. ed., p. 280 f., writing about 1675. From the statements above quoted we can extract the following results:
A. 'Achin Ourrency. 40 cash
make
1 kapang 4 kapang
1
mas 4 mas
1 pardao 4 pardao
1 tahil 2560 Cash to the tabil 640 cash to the pardao
B. Value of mas and pardao. 1 mas
equal 14d. 1 pardao
,
562 = 46. 8d..
Ses ante, p. 87.