World coins chat: Malay Peninsula & British East Indies

The Malay peninsula forms the Asian mainland western half of Malaysia, with the eastern part of Malaysia located on the northern part of Borneo. The peninsula was the location of some local sultanates until the Portuguese started settling in Malacca in the 16th century. The Dutch and English drove the Portuguese out with the Dutch only keeping Malacca and the English gradually adding more and more protectorates in the region. In 1824 the Dutch and English decided to swap Malacca for Bencoolan, an English settlement on the island of Sumatra which was part of the Netherlands East Indies.

Map of the Malay peninsula showing the Straits Settlements in red, the Federated Malay States in yellow and the Unfederated Malay States in blue:


The East India Company controlled Penang, Malacca and Singapore from 1824 to 1867, after which it became a crown colony known as Straits Settlements. The remaining Malay states were protectorates, of which a few federated in 1895. In 1909 the Anglo-Siamese Treaty forced Siam to cede its southern provinces to the British, forming the current Thai-Malaysian border.

Diagram of the geopolitical history of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei:


In 1948 the Federation of Malaysia was founded including British North Borneo and Sarawak. Singapore was expelled in 1967 forming the current situation.

Currency
Before 1825 Spanish Dollars formed the main silver currency, which was worth 400 Keping (copper coin) or 4000 Pitis (a tiny tin coin). Penang used Dollars subdivided in 100 Cents which were also named Pice. In 1825 Sterling was made the official currency of the entire British Empire, but it never became widely used in East Asia. Instead, the Straits Settlements, controlled by the East India Company, introduced the Rupee in 1837 at a rate of 48 Pice/Cents per Rupee.

Spanish Dollars remained popular in the area and the introduction of the Hong Kong Dollar made the Straits Settlements adopt this too around 1870 at a rate of around 2.5 Rupees.

As of March 2016, all EIC coinage listed under Malay Peninsula and under Netherlands East Indies haave been moved to British East Indies.

Coins
Tin coins denominated in Pitis and copper or bronze Keping coins were struck for various settlements and states. Penang, the capital of the Straits Settlements before Singapore took that role issued coins in Cents and fractions of Dollars. The Malacca coin of 1 Keping is known as the 'Haantjesduit' (Cock Duit) in the Netherlands as it circulated next to Dutch East India Company (VOC) money.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/peninsule_malaise-1.html

Coins of British East Indies:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/british-east-indies-1.html

I discovered that most British Sumatra coins are listed under Netherlands East Indies (see links).

These should be rearranged but I'm not sure what's the best solution. I prefer to have all EIC coinage of that region together.

I tried to have them separated from Netherlands East Indies a few years ago but to no avail.

My wife is from Penang and last time we were there she took me to a remote part of the island to see the local silversmith. I was able to buy from him several straits settlements coins. He wasn't sure if he wanted to sell, but he tested me to see which ones I liked the best. Once he understood I was a collector and not just some chump trying to get souvenirs he agreed to sell me a bunch of them.

..and what about Sultanate of Banten. Where it should be added ?

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces76366.html

That coin would belong to Netherlands East Indies or more factually a pre-stage of that. Something like 'Indonesian states'. There are quite a few Acehnese coins that are now catalogued with Netherlands East Indies.

For pre-Indonesia I have also this coins:

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces76388.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces76387.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces76386.html


I hope someone, will add them soon.

Made some changes to reflect the change in the catalogue with British East Indies added as a separate country.

Some coins are wrongly listed as British East Indies, as part of Princely States under NEI. Deli, for example.

Quote: "chomp-master"​Some coins are wrongly listed as British East Indies, as part of Princely States under NEI. Deli, for example.

​
I agree with you. Many coins and tokens are from sultanates that existed on Sumatra and were independent or had a deal with the Dutch. Deli and Siak are examples.

Deli, Menangkabau, Siak and Trumon already spotted. Asked for their move back.

Quote: "geraltttt82"​..and what about Sultanate of Banten. Where it should be added ?

Paraphrasing another discussion, all non spanish, british or Dutch coinage of this region, including Chinese colonies coinage, pre-dutch Sumatra and Java coinage, non-british Malay states should be gathered in a "Native east indies" Numista country that would replace and extend the "Malay peninsula" Numista country.

Headache in progress... Coin moves rejected as "issued by the British within NEI"

Coins for Sumatra with the obverse logo VEIC are from “The United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies.” This is shortened to the letters V.E.I.C. on the balemark, for United East India Company.
That is different to the "United East Indian Company" (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; VOC), referred to by the British as the Dutch East India Company.

Not these ones... I didn't move them. Only specific keping coins minted after Anglo-Dutch agreement for East Indies borders for theoretically Dutch territories.