1/2 Duit - Willem I

The half duit was the smallest practical denomination in the colonial currency hierarchy of the Dutch East Indies, and Willem I authorized its continued production largely because the existing copper coinage infrastructure in Batavia demanded it — small change was chronically short across the archipelago's markets. The KM#280 series spans three die varieties distinguished primarily by minor legend differences and the arrangement of the VOC-successor monogram, making attribution dependent on close die study rather than casual inspection.

Willem I had reclaimed the colony from British interregnum administration only in 1816, and these coppers were among the first regal issues to physically circulate as Dutch authority reasserted itself across Java.