Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society/Volume 44/On a Second Collection of Coins from Malacca
On a Second Collection of Coins from Malacca.
BY R. HANITSCH, PH. D.
With one Plate.
In a former number of this Journal[1] I described a col- lection of coins which in the year 1900 had been obtained during excavations near the mouth of the Malacca river, and which had been collected together by the Hon'ble W. Egerton, Resi- dent Councillor of Malacca, and presented by him to the Raffles Museum. The most interesting of these, previously not describ- ed, were certain Portuguese tin coins from the time of King Emmanuel (1495-1521) and John III (1521-1557), the earliest of which must have been struck by Albuquerque soon after his occupation of Malacca (1511). Towards the end of last year (1904) the Hon'ble R. N. Bland, Resident Councillor of Malacca, succeeded in obtaining more coins from the same locality which he generously presented to the Raffles Museum. He tells me that the dredger brought them up imbedded in a kind of blue clay, possibly a little to the sea-ward of the place where Mr. Egerton's were found.
The most remarkable of these are six huge tin coins, struck in two varieties, giving neither the date nor the name of a ruler, but having a pattern similar to that of the coins issued by King Emmanuel and John III,, namely with the cross on the ob- verse and the sphere on the reverse. The one variety (see figs. 1 and la), of which there are five specimens, measures from 35 to 36 mm. in diameter, 6 mm. in thickness and weighs from 37 to 115 grammes. On the obverse, around the cross, is the inscrip- tion NOSTRE SPES VNICA CRVX XPI. The mistake in NOSTRE is very extraordinary, but such errors are not uncommon on old Portuguese coins. The last three letters XPI, if taken as Latin characters, would be difficult of interpretation. Taken as Greek they would stand for Christ, although they are then more usually written in the form of a monogram ☧, For this interpretation I am indebted to Mr. Robert Sewell, M.R.A.S., who in January last passed through Singapore and kindly examined the coin.
The inscription on the reverse is more difficult to read, the last few letters especially being much worn on all five coins. The letters seem to be SMPRDEPV SORDIEM. The first four characters I take for an abbreviation for 'semper.' The next seven letters may stand for 'Depulsor,' the letter 'l' being omitted or being covered by part of the device, viz. the pro- jecting axis of the globe. The word 'Depulsor' occurs in a few Latin inscriptions, as an epithet of Jupiter, the averter of evil. The last four or five letters are very indistinct. 'Diem' would hardly give any sense, and I am inclined to think that the inscription should read something like 'Semper Depulsor Deus'.
The other variety (see figs. 2 and 2a) of which there is only one specimen, is of an unusual shape, the diameter of the obverse being 37 mm., but that of the reverse 35 mm. only. giving to the coin the shape of a truncated cone, and this ap- pearance is heightened by the sharp edges of the coin. Its thickness is 6.5 mm. and its weight 45 grammes. The coin fur- ther differs from the first variety by the shape of the cross, the outlines of its arms being not parallel to each other, but converging towards the centre, and by the sphere on the reverse being somewhat smaller. The inscription, however, on the two varieties.
Very similar to these is a much smaller coin (sec figs. 3, 3a, 4 and 4a), also of tin, 24 mm, in diameter, 15 min. in thickness and 4.1 grammes in weight. It again shows the usual devices of the cross and the sphere. The reverse bears no inscription, whilst the obverse has the words NOSTRAE SPES VNICA, resembling thus the above described large coins by another, almost incredible, mistake. The word 'crux' is omitted, but may be understood from the figure of the cross in the middle of the inscription. There were three specimens of this coin. The other Portuguese coins collected by Mr. Bland are identical with those described in my former paper. I therefore merely give the number of the specimens found with their references:
Eight coins from the reign of King Emmanuel (1495-1521), loc. cit. p. 194 pl. I, figs. 2 and 2 a.
Eight coins from the reign of King John III (1521-1557), loc. cit. pl. II, figs. 8 and 8 a.
Five coins from the same reign, loc. cit. pl. II, figs. 9 and 9 a.
Seven coins from the same reign, loc. cit. pl. II, figs. 10 and 10 a.
Three coins without incription, loc. cit. pl. I, figs. 3 and 3 a.
One coin, with the letters B. A. and three crossed arrows between them, loc. cit. pl.II, figs 12 and 12 a.
In addition to these there are about twenty-five Malay coins, most of them, however, too much worn to be deciphered. One of them hears the inscription (language characters) and is almost indentical with the one described in my former paper (p. 185, pl. I, fig. 5). The Rev. Dr. Luering has kindly pointed out to me that the reading I gave at the time of this inscription, viz. "maliku ’l-‘âdil" and the translation 'The just king,' were based on a wrong vocalisation of the first word which is not to be read 'malik,' i. e. king', but 'milk' or 'mulk', that is 'possession,' 'property,' and is often used with regard to coinage in the sense of the French 'fonds.' He further says that the word 'âdil' which originally means 'just,' 'righteous,' has in this connection the secondary meaning of 'equal weight,' 'full weight,' so that the inscription might be translated 'full weight currency,' or 'legal tender.'
I wish to point out that the figures of the accompanying plate are faithful reproductions of the originals, in natural size, and that their indistinctness is not due to the photographer and printer, but to the condition in which the coins were found. Only by examining the coins in different lights was it possible to decipher their inscriptions.
Explanation of the Plate:
| Fig. 1. | Obverse | See page 213 |
| Fig. 1 A. | Reverse of the same | See„ page„ 214 |
| Fig. 2. | Obverse | See„ page„ 214„ |
| Fig. 2 A. | Reverse of the same | See„ page„ 214„ |
| Figs. 3 and 4 | Obverses | See„ page„ 214„ |
| Figs. 3 A and 4 A | Reverses of the same | See„ page„ 214„ |
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Tin Coins from Malacca.
- ↑ "On a Collection of Coins from Malacca." Journal, Straits Branch, R. Asiatic Society, No. 39, June 1903, pp. 183 to 201, 2 plates.