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 Pitis
| Issuer | Malay peninsula |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Circular tin flan pierced by a central square hole, the annular field bearing a raised inscription in Javanese script distributed around the perforation. The legend is crudely rendered in low relief, consistent with cast production, with characters arrayed in the field surrounding the square aperture. The flan edge is irregular, typical of hand-cast Malay pitis coinage, and the overall execution is characteristic of small-denomination tin currency from the Malay peninsula. |
|---|---|
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Pitis coinage circulated widely across the Malay peninsula as the fractional currency of everyday trade — rice markets, river tolls, petty commerce — where silver was too valuable to subdivide further. Tin was the natural medium: the peninsula sat atop some of the world's most accessible tin deposits, making the metal cheaper to coin than to import anything else.
Attribution on these pieces is notoriously difficult. Without a clear issuing state or date, individual examples could originate from any number of small sultanates operating their own casting operations, often in rudimentary conditions far from anything resembling a formal mint.