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1/2 Pitis - Mansur Shah
| Issuer | Sultanate of Malacca (Islamic states of Malaysia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1456-1477 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 14.2 mm |
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| Obverse description | Central field occupied by a multi-line Arabic kufic-influenced legend cast in low relief across the irregular flan. The inscription reads the royal titulature of the sultan in two or three lines, set within a plain, undefined border. The casting surface displays typical granular texture consistent with tin-lead alloy production. The script is compressed and stylized, characteristic of Malaccan mint practice of the mid-fifteenth century. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Additional information |
Mansur Shah's reign marked Malacca's commercial peak — the port was processing trade from Arabia, India, China, and the Malay archipelago simultaneously, and small-denomination tin coinage was the grease that kept local market transactions moving while foreign merchants settled larger accounts in gold or silver. The pitis was fundamentally a bazaar coin, handled by petty traders and market vendors rather than the merchant princes whose names dominate the historical record.
Tin was smelted locally from Perak and Selangor deposits, giving Malaccan coinage a supply independence rare among Southeast Asian polities of the period.