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2 Keping Pattern
| Issuer | British East India Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1786 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 7.46 g |
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| Obverse description | Central field features the quartered shield of the British East India Company set upon a starburst of projecting rays emanating in all directions, the whole enclosed within a lobed tressure of scalloped arcs following the oval flan. The date 1787 appears in the exergue below the shield. The circular legend UNITED . EAST . INDIA . COMPANY . is distributed around the periphery within the tressure. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | UNITED. EAST. INDIA. COMPANY. 1787 |
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| Additional information |
The 1786 keping patterns were produced in Birmingham as part of a broader effort by the Company to introduce a standardized copper coinage for the Straits Settlements, where a chaotic mix of local tin coins, Dutch issues, and Chinese cash had made small-denomination commerce deeply unreliable. Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint was involved in early discussions, though production of the eventual circulating series would not materialize until years later.
Pattern status means this piece almost certainly never reached the Malay Peninsula at all.