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1/2 Dollar
| Issuer | British East India Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1788 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely occupied by a bold Nastaliq calligraphic inscription in the Arabic script, reading 'Jazira-i Prins Abuwalis' (Prince of Wales Island, i.e. Penang), rendered in three lines across the field. The large, flowing script fills the flan with characteristic Nastaliq elegance, and the whole design is enclosed within a toothed (dentilated) border consistent with the obverse. |
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| Reverse lettering | جزيرہ پرنس ابويليس |
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| Additional information |
The British East India Company's Sumatra coinage of 1788 was produced for circulation at its west Sumatran pepper-trading settlements, principally Bencoolen. The Company had maintained a presence there since 1685, but chronic shortages of small-denomination specie repeatedly undermined local trade — this issue was a direct administrative response to that problem.
Singh's cataloguing of this piece as SS 20 places it among the scarcest of the Sumatran series. Bencoolen was ceded to the Dutch in 1824 under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, effectively ending any further Company coinage for the region.