Java 1644 1/2 stuiver
The first specimen was lot 75051 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, February 2022), where it sold for $456. The catalog description[1] noted, "NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. Dutch East India Company. Java. 1/2 Stuiver, 1644. Batavia Mint. NGC EF Details--Environmental Damage. From a crudely cast emergency issue, this piece still exhibits significant detail across all devices and satisfactory surfaces for the grade. A SCARCE and very historical piece that will see aggressive bidding. The East India Company itself did not produce this coinage, instead contracting a Chinese immigrant named Conjok to cast both 1/2 and 1/4 Stuivers. These coins were later demonetized before the end of 1644." The second specimen was lot 78310 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, November 2025), where it sold for $780. The catalog description[2] noted, "NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. Dutch Java. 1/2 Stuiver, 1644. Batavia Mint. PCGS VF-25. Emergency issue coinage." This coin was accompanied by a quarter stuiver (KM 30). In 1645, the VOC issued cast silver 24 and 48 stuivers, also rare. While the VOC dominated the trade of Indonesia in the seventeenth century, its political control extended only over parts of Java and the Moluccas.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: cast copper.
Catalog reference: KM-31; Sch-18.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Passon, Tom, Catalogus van de Munten van de Nederlandse Gebieden Overzee, vanaf 1601 tot heden, Apeldoorn, Netherlands, 2022.
- Scholten, C., The Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories, 1601-1948, Amsterdam: Jacques Schulman, 1953.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The February 2022 World Collectors Choice Online Auction - Ancients & World Coins, Featuring Selections from the Kings Norton Mint Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
- [2]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, November 2025 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.
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