Catalog
1 Cash - Christian IV FOR / TUN
| Issuer | Danish East India Company |
|---|---|
| Year | ND (c. 1620-1640) |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Coin alignment ↑↓ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Crude hammered lead flan of irregular round form, heavily worn and encrusted. The obverse bears a roughly incuse or relief design consistent with the monogram or device typical of Danish East India Company cash issues for Tranquebar, the detail largely obscured by corrosion and surface deposits. The field is flat and uneven, characteristic of primitive lead casting and striking methods employed at the Tranquebar mint in the early seventeenth century. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Produced at Tranquebar — the Danish trading settlement on the Coromandel Coast ceded to the Danish East India Company by the Nayak of Tanjore in 1620 — this lead cash was among the earliest European-issued coinage struck for circulation in India. The FOR / TUN split across the coin references Fortuna, a deliberate invocation tied to the Company's commercial gamble in a settlement that struggled to turn profit for most of the seventeenth century.
Lead was the practical choice: locally available, cheap to work, and acceptable for small market transactions where copper was scarce. Tranquebar's mint output in this period was irregular and poorly documented, which explains the broad twenty-year attribution window.