Notes on tampang
W. Linehan’s “Notes on Tampang” (JMBRAS Vol. 9, 1931, pp. 131–133) is a brief numismatic note documenting the history and typology of the tin coinage used in Pahang, accompanied by two plates of specimens.
Summary
Linehan traces the tampang from its earliest attestation in fifteenth-century Chinese chronicles describing tin blocks cast in Malacca, through its suppression by D’Albuquerque in 1511, to its continued use in Pahang as recorded by Abdullah Munshi c. 1837 and by British Protectorate proclamations of 1889. The coins ceased to be legal tender in 1893, at which point the Pahang Treasury held a nominal value of $1,125.00; an assay showed the coins contained 86.75% tin with a trace of zinc and iron, and 13.25% tin oxide (p. 132).
The note then describes individual specimens illustrated on Plates IX and X, including a solid early form bearing no inscription, a 1819-dated piece inscribed “Malik-Al-Adil” (The Just Lord), a 1847 one-cent piece reading “Sarafi Pahang Sanat 1264,” a 1854/1864 four-cent piece, and a smallest one-cent type also bearing the “Malik-Al-Adil” legend (pp. 132–133). Linehan notes that the ultimate fate of the recalled coins is unknown, though Sir William Maxwell had opined they would prove valuable to museums and collectors rather than being destroyed (p. 132).