Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Larin 'Kuda' - Muhammad Mueenuddeen I
| Issuer | Maldives |
|---|---|
| Year | 1802-1833 |
| 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 | 10.76 mm |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Irregularly shaped hammered copper flan bearing a two-line Arabic legend in bold, crude relief occupying the central field. The inscription reads 'Sultan Mohammed Mu'in' in Thaana-influenced Arabic script, characteristic of Maldivian coinage of the early nineteenth century. The lettering is arranged in a flowing, somewhat informal calligraphic style typical of hand-struck Islamic minor coinage. The field is flat and unadorned, with no border or decorative elements. Surface shows characteristic green patination consistent with copper oxidation over time. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | سلطان البر والبحر ١٢۴۰ سنة (Translation: Sultan of the land and the sea year 1240) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The larin was a wire-money denomination whose form derived from the fishhook-shaped silver larins traded across the Indian Ocean littoral for centuries. By the time Muhammad Mueenuddeen I's administration began striking copper fractional pieces in the early nineteenth century, the Maldives were nominally under Ceylonese suzerainty — itself a British protectorate arrangement — yet the sultanate retained independent coinage rights. The *kuda* designation simply means "small" in Dhivehi.
Copper issues of this type circulated primarily in local bazaar trade, with cowrie shells remaining the dominant exchange medium for smaller transactions throughout the archipelago well into the 1800s.