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4 Keping Thin flan

Issuer British East India Company
Year 1804
Type Standard circulation coin
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Reverse description The central field bears a multi-line Arabic inscription stating the denomination and the Hijri date, with the numeral ۴ (four) positioned at the top and the Hijri year ۱۲۱۹ (AH 1219) at the bottom. The inscription is enclosed within a continuous inner border of beads that runs along the full circumference of the reverse, framing the legend against a plain field.
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Reverse lettering ۴ امڤت کڤڠ ۱۲۱۹
(Translation: Four keping AH 1219)
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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.