1 Keping Perak

The Keping series was minted for the Straits Settlements under East India Company authority primarily to serve the small-denomination needs of the Malay peninsula's local market, where Spanish and Dutch colonial coinage dominated larger transactions but left a persistent gap at the lowest end of commerce. The 1836 issue was struck at the Soho Mint in Birmingham under the direction of Boulton & Watt's successors — the same facility responsible for much of the Company's Asian copper output in this period.

Surviving examples in better condition are notably scarce relative to other Keping dates, likely a consequence of heavy use in bazaar trade rather than hoarding.