Summary
1/2 Cent or 1/2 Pice, Issued by Pulau Pinang, Penang, Prince of Wales Island, Malaysia, 1787
Minted by Calcutta Mint, India
Obverse Description
United East India Company bale mark, below 1787
Reverse Description
Inscription in Arabic script "Jezirah Perrinsa ab-Wailis" (Prince of Wales Island)
Edge Description
Plain
Significance
Cents and 1/2 cents were struck for Captain Francis Light at the Calcutta Mint the year after he founded the British colony of Penang. They were the second issue of copper coins for the island after the heavy undated uniface cents attributed to 1786. In Penang the standard coin was the Spanish American silver dollar and these coins were 100 and 200 to the dollar. However they have for a long time been termed a pice and 1/2 pice, an Indian denomination which was a fraction of a rupee. The earliest notice of this incorrect terminology is reported by Pridmore as occuring in 1825.
More Information
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Transfer from National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), 15 Mar 1976
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Date Issued
1787 AD
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Issued By
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Mint
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Commissioned By
Captain Francis Light - East India Company, Penang, Penang (Malaysia), 1787
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Denomination
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Series
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Material
Copper
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Axis
12
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Dimensions
19 mm (Outside Diameter), 4.369 g (Weight)
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Exhibition Collection Management
0 mm (Width)
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Shape
Round
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References
KM#2.1 (Malay Peninsula, Penang) Pridmore 5
[Book] Pridmore, Fred. 1955. Coins and Coinages of the Straits Settlements and British Malaya 1786 to 1951.
[Book] Bruce, Colin R. 2007. Standard Catalogue of World Coins 1701 - 1800.
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Keywords
