1 Cash Bencoolen

Obverse description	The obverse displays the initials 'CCE' in relief within a divided rectangular frame, the field separated horizontally into two registers by a raised bar. The upper register contains the abbreviated monogram referencing the Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading to the East Indies, rendered in bold Latin capitals. The lower register features horizontal ruled lines. The flan is irregular and roughly circular, characteristic of hammered coinage of the period, with a heavily granular copper surface exhibiting natural patination.
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Obverse lettering	C C E (Translation: `(The) G(overnor and) C(ompany of Merchants of London trading to the) E(ast Indies))
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Additional information	The Bencoolen factory — established on Sumatra's west coast in 1685 after the English were expelled from Bantam by the Dutch — required local small change almost immediately, and London was in no position to supply it promptly. These cash pieces were struck for pepper-trade transactions at a remote, disease-ridden outpost that killed staff at such rates the Company struggled to keep it staffed at all. Bencoolen remained an English liability for nearly 140 years before being ceded to the Dutch under the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty.