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1 cash - Xīn Ruì Yuán
| Issuer | Xīn Ruì Yuán (trading house / merchant issuer, Bangka Island) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Tin |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Chinese (traditional, regular script) |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain, unadorned reverse field with no inscription, device, or decorative element. The surface retains the characteristic texture of cast tin, with minor flow lines and patination consistent with age and circulation. The same distinctive irregular rectangular outline with concave-lobed corners is clearly visible, mirroring the obverse silhouette. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Bangka Island's tin-rich soil made the metal so abundant that local merchant houses could credibly issue their own coinage from it — the raw material was essentially underfoot. The Xīn Ruì Yuán tokens circulated within a tightly bounded commercial ecosystem, accepted by workers and traders who dealt directly with the issuing house and had little practical access to official Dutch colonial currency in the interior.
This kind of merchant-issued tin cash was tolerated, occasionally suppressed, and periodically revalidated by Dutch authorities throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, depending on how urgently the colonial administration needed to assert monetary control over the island's Chinese mining communities.