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Tampang Tin Hat - Jiu Li
| Issuer | Sultanate of Pahang (Islamic states of Malaysia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1820 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Square cast tin tampang of the hat (pyramid) form, featuring a raised central square field containing two Chinese characters 就利 (Jiu Li, meaning 'profit' or denomination) in incuse relief. The surrounding flat border bears a Jawi Arabic legend reading ملك العدل (Malik al-Adl, 'The Just Sultan') along with the Hijri date ١٢٣٥ (1235 AH), distributed across the upper and lower registers of the border. The surface exhibits the characteristic rough, granular texture typical of cast tin coinage, with the central field elevated in the distinctive stepped pyramid profile from which these tampang derive their 'hat' designation. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Pahang's tin hat money occupies a genuinely strange corner of monetary history. These cast pieces functioned as fractional currency in a sultanate whose economy ran almost entirely on tin mining — meaning the raw material and the money were, quite literally, the same commodity. The jiu li denomination designation reflects Chinese influence on the weights system, a consequence of the substantial Hakka mining labor population in the Pahang interior during the early nineteenth century.
Casting quality varies dramatically across surviving examples, as production was never centralized in any meaningful way.