Sumatra 1804 keping
This specimen was lot 73327 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, June 2020), where it sold for $480. The catalog description[1] noted, "NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. Sumatra. Keping, AH 1219 (1804). NGC MS-64 Brown. A token coinage for Singaporean merchants, this lustrous specimen is RARELY encountered so attractive and blazing." The Dutch hold on the East Indies in the early nineteenth century was weak and the British captured Batavia more than once during the Napoleonic Wars. Dutch control was restored at the Congress of Vienna. In the 1820's, the Dutch had conquered Java, parts of Sumatra and the Moluccas and was steadily expanded to include all of what is now Indonesia by World War One. This type was struck in two varieties: KM Tn1 (shown here) with "p" for 1, KM Tn2 with "q' for 1. The token is attributed to the "Singaporean merchants" even tho Singapore would not be founded until 1819. In 1804, the merchants in question were based at Malacca.
Recorded mintage: common.
Specification: copper.
Catalog reference: KM Tn1; SS-6; Prid-1.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- 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, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The June 2020 Collector's Choice sale: World and Ancient Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2020.
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