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1 Pagoda - Dutch East India Company Porto Novo
| Issuer | Dutch East India Company (VOC) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1662-1677 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Rupee (1615-1785) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse entirely covered with a uniform granular or pellet pattern, consisting of closely packed raised bosses or granules covering the entire surface of the flan. This distinctive textured reverse, characteristic of South Indian pagoda coinage, is produced by the hammered technique and serves as an anti-counterfeiting surface treatment. No inscriptions, legends, or figural elements are present. |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Negapatnam, modern-day Nagapattinam, India |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Porto Novo mint operated under VOC authority on the Coromandel Coast, where the Company held trading rights that required issuing coinage acceptable to local merchants accustomed to South Indian pagoda denominations. This piece is trimetallic — a construction almost without parallel in world coinage — with a gold core seated within concentric rings of silver and copper. Whether this unusual architecture was driven by bullion economy, a desire to approximate the pagoda's traditional gold value while reducing precious metal content, or simply local minting convention remains debated.
The VOC's Porto Novo factory was never among the Company's dominant establishments, and the short issuing window of roughly fifteen years limits surviving numbers accordingly.