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Cockerel Ring Money

Issuer Kedah, Sultanate of
Year 1710-1773
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Value 1 C (0.0001)
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Reverse description Reverse presents the same cast form as the obverse, the piece being fully three-dimensional and symmetrical in its construction, showing the reverse aspect of the cockerel finial at the upper terminal with tail feathers extending to the right from this perspective. The column of six open annular rings with their intervening biconvex connectors is visible in full, the surfaces displaying natural casting flow lines and minor surface patination consistent with aged tin. The piece bears no reverse legends, inscriptions, or decorative devices beyond its inherent architectural form. The lowermost ring serves as the terminal element of the shaft.
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Edge Plain
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Additional information

Kedah's tin ring money circulated across the northern Malay Peninsula at a time when the sultanate was navigating tribute relationships with both Siam and the emerging British East India Company presence. Tin was the economic backbone of the region — Kedah controlled significant upstream deposits — and these cast pieces functioned as genuine transactional currency rather than ceremonial objects, despite their appearance.

The Singh reference places this squarely within a taxonomy that remains the primary scholarly authority on Malay tin coinage, a field still underrepresented in Western numismatic literature.

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