3 Keping

The East India Company's Sumatran copper issues of the late 18th century were minted primarily to facilitate trade at Bengkulu (Bencoolen), the Company's struggling west-coast Sumatran outpost that never quite delivered the pepper profits London had anticipated. The KM#Pn12 designation flags this piece as a pattern, meaning it was struck for approval rather than general release — making surviving examples products of the mint room rather than the marketplace.

Bengkulu remained a persistent drain on Company resources until its cession to the Dutch under the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty.