Some further notes on coins from the northeastern Malay states
Anker Rentse’s 1947 article in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society presents a numismatic survey of recently discovered gold and pewter coins from Kelantan, Patani, and Trengganu, arguing that the variety and distribution of these coin types confirm the northeastern Malay states as significant pre-modern trade centres with active local minting traditions.
Summary
Rentse builds on his earlier publications in the same journal to catalogue newly found specimens, situating them within the broader economic history of the region. He argues that extensive alluvial gold mining in Kelantan produced raw material for both export ingots and local coinage, and that the exclusively Arabic inscriptions on all known gold coins indicate a Muslim origin for the coinage tradition. No gold coin predating 1500 A.D. has yet been found, and only one bears a legible date, leaving the precise chronology of the earliest issues uncertain.
The most significant discovery discussed is an octagonal gold coin from Kuala Trengganu bearing the name of Sultan Zainal-Abidin Shah and the date 1120 A.H. (1708–9 A.D.), which Rentse identifies as the first dated Malay gold coin. This finding pushes back the commencement of Zainal-Abidin’s reign from 1725 (as given by Winstedt) to approximately 1708–9, and provides a firm terminus for the period during which gold coins circulated as currency in the region. Rentse also describes a gold coin he attributes to a female ruler of Patani, linking it to the grave of Nang Chayam at Kampong Rawa in Kelantan, where “Chinese-lantern” type tombstones of sandstone bear the shahada inscription.
The pewter coin section covers both Patani and Kelantan issues, including a remarkable example minted by a Chinese trader, Wee Sin Hee, in Kuala Trengganu under sultanic authority, valued at 40 to one Straits Dollar. Rentse also documents a pohon pitis (tree of coins) from 1321 A.H. (1903 A.D.) and corrects Bucknill’s earlier reading of a date as 1313 A.H., arguing that the two specimens Bucknill distinguished as separate issues are in fact the same 1300 A.H. coinage.
Key Findings
- The first dated Malay gold coin was found in Kuala Trengganu: an octagonal piece (7 grains) inscribed Sultan Zainal-Abidin Shah / Khaliphat al-muminin 1120 (1708–9 A.D.), which predates Winstedt’s accepted start date of 1725 for that sultan’s reign (pp. 19–20).
- A gold coin (18 grains) from Kelantan bears the inscription Al-hukumah Kelantan on the obverse and Kaliphatul-rahman on the reverse; it is twice the size of other known gold coin types from the region (p. 16).
- A gold coin attributed to a female ruler of Patani was found at Kedai Lalat, Kelantan, near the grave of Nang Chayam at Kampong Rawa, which has sandstone “Chinese-lantern” tombstones inscribed with the shahada (pp. 17–19).
- A pewter coin with a square central hole, minted by the Chinese trader Wee Sin Hee in Kuala Trengganu under sultanic kuasa, was valued at 40 to one Straits Dollar and used for gambling and local currency (p. 20).
- A pohon pitis (tree of coins) from Kelantan dated 1321 A.H. (1903 A.D.) is approximately twice the size of the type illustrated by Linehan and the same size as the 1300 A.H. issue (pp. 20–21).
- In 1663 the Dutch vessel Ganges arrived in Perak with a cargo seized from two Moor ships from Kedah, including 563 Patani mas and 269 Johore mas (gold coins), evidencing the scale of gold currency circulation at that time (p. 19).
Conclusion
Rentse’s central historical takeaway is that the northeastern Malay states maintained a sophisticated and long-lived monetary system rooted in local gold production, with coinage traditions spanning at least from the early eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. The discovery of the dated Trengganu coin provides the first firm chronological anchor for this tradition, while the attribution of a coin to a Patani queen and the associated archaeological evidence at Kampong Rawa extend the narrative into the political history of female rulership in the region.
Context
- The study draws on Rentse’s personal collection of coins acquired through fieldwork in Kelantan and Trengganu, supplemented by references to specimens in the collections of Bucknill, Linehan, and Ivor H. N. Evans.
- Historiographically, the article extends and corrects the numismatic record established by Bucknill (1923) and Linehan (1934), and contributes epigraphic evidence to the political histories of Kelantan, Patani, and Trengganu compiled by Winstedt and Linehan in the same journal.