The duit was already an anachronism by the time Willem I authorized its continued production for the East Indies. The VOC had struck duits for the archipelago for nearly two centuries, and the post-Napoleonic colonial administration simply kept the denomination alive because local markets in Java demanded small copper for everyday transactions — particularly the payment of market tolls and petty taxes that silver coinage was too valuable to handle.
The two KM varieties distinguish between subtle differences in the lettering punches used across the decade-long run, a span that itself reflects how long it took colonial monetary reform to actually reach the minting stage.
The duit was already an anachronism by the time Willem I authorized its continued production for the East Indies. The VOC had struck duits for the archipelago for nearly two centuries, and the post-Napoleonic colonial administration simply kept the denomination alive because local markets in Java demanded small copper for everyday transactions — particularly the payment of market tolls and petty taxes that silver coinage was too valuable to handle.
The two KM varieties distinguish between subtle differences in the lettering punches used across the decade-long run, a span that itself reflects how long it took colonial monetary reform to actually reach the minting stage.