The Danish East India Company's Tranquebar settlement on the Coromandel Coast used lead cash precisely because the metal was abundant, cheap to procure locally, and matched the small-denomination coinage already familiar to Indian traders. Frederik III came to the Danish throne in 1648 following the death of his father Christian IV, inheriting a state nearly bankrupted by the disastrous wars with Sweden — the Company's Indian operations were one of the few revenue streams still functioning.
Lead coinage of this type circulated almost exclusively within Tranquebar itself. Few examples survived in collectible condition; the metal corrodes aggressively in tropical humidity.
The Danish East India Company's Tranquebar settlement on the Coromandel Coast used lead cash precisely because the metal was abundant, cheap to procure locally, and matched the small-denomination coinage already familiar to Indian traders. Frederik III came to the Danish throne in 1648 following the death of his father Christian IV, inheriting a state nearly bankrupted by the disastrous wars with Sweden — the Company's Indian operations were one of the few revenue streams still functioning.
Lead coinage of this type circulated almost exclusively within Tranquebar itself. Few examples survived in collectible condition; the metal corrodes aggressively in tropical humidity.