1 Cent

The British East India Company's coinage for its Sumatra settlements — issued from Bencoolen (now Bengkulu) — was a commercial necessity rather than a sovereign act. The Company held its West Sumatran pepper trade interests under increasingly precarious terms throughout the late 18th century, and local barter economies demanded a reliable small denomination. Singh's cataloguing of these pieces remains the primary reference, with KM#4 representing one of the better-documented varieties.

Bencoolen was ceded to the Dutch in 1824 under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, ending Company coinage there entirely.