Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
4 Keping Thin flan
| Issuer | British East India Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1804 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The heraldic coat of arms of the British East India Company occupies the central field, comprising a quartered shield supported on either side by a rampant lion. Above the shield rises a helm surmounted by a lion passant guardant holding a crown, flanked by two flagstaffs bearing pennants. A ribbon scroll in the lower field carries the Latin motto legend, with the curved inscription EAST INDIA COMPANY arranged along the upper periphery and the Gregorian date 1804 prominently displayed in the exergue below the arms. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The 1804 Penang kepings were struck at Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint in Birmingham under contract with the East India Company, part of the same broader reform effort that produced the famous Soho-struck coinage for Britain and its colonial possessions. The "thin flan" designation is not incidental — it distinguishes this issue from the heavier, thicker strikings of the same type, a variation that arose from production inconsistencies at Soho rather than any deliberate policy change.
Penang, ceded to the Company by the Sultan of Kedah in 1786, required its own token coinage because Spanish dollars and local tin currency created chronic small-change shortages in the port settlement.