1 Keping - Syarif Kasim Alkadrie

The Sultanate of Pontianak, founded in 1771 on the west coast of Borneo by the Arab-Malay Sharif Abdurrahman Alkadrie, produced indigenous coinage under a lineage that maintained a complicated balancing act between Dutch commercial interests and local sovereignty. This keping was struck under Syarif Kasim, the third sultan, during a moment of particular instability — 1811 was the year the British under Stamford Raffles seized Java and the surrounding Dutch colonial apparatus effectively collapsed, briefly reshuffling allegiances across the archipelago.

Kepings of this issue are scarce survivors; the tropical humidity of coastal Borneo is brutal on copper.