A note on Kelantan gold coins
A brief note by Anker Rentse on the interpretation of inscriptions on Kelantan gold coins, published in JMBRAS Vol. XIV (1936), p. 305.
Summary
Rentse responds to Mr. Linehan’s earlier paper on Kelantan coins (JRASMB, vol. XII) by addressing a local belief that an inscription on the Kelantan Masdinar coin reads as 577 A.H., which would place the arrival of Islam in Kelantan at a very early date. Rentse argues that the inscription is more likely decorative (bunga) rather than a genuine date. He reports that Dr. van Stein Callenfels read the inscription as Su, a contraction of the Sanskrit suwarna (gold), paralleling the ancient Javanese usage of Ma (from machankha) for silver coins (p. 305).
The note also includes Plate XVIII, which provides illustrations of two clear specimens of the Masdinar coin and a specimen of a fourth kind of Kelantan gold coin previously described by Linehan but not illustrated (p. 305).