Observations upon some coins obtained in Malaya and particularly from Trengganu, Kelantan and southern Siam
Sir J. A. S. Bucknill, President of the Numismatic Society of India and a former resident of the Malay Peninsula (1914–1920), published this descriptive catalogue of indigenous coinage from Trengganu, Kelantan, and the Siamese province of Patani in the first volume of the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1923). The article documents pewter, gold, copper, and silver issues from these states, drawing on specimens collected during Bucknill’s official postings and on correspondence with local British advisers and Siamese authorities. Its overarching contribution is the first systematic attempt to correlate the scattered pewter “piti” coinage of the eastern seaboard with specific rulers, mints, and dates, while candidly acknowledging the limits of attribution in a field where find-spot rarely equals mint of origin.
Summary
Bucknill’s numismatic interest was triggered in 1917 when he purchased a small earth-caked lot of coins from a Chinese dealer in Singapore, which yielded specimens of the pewter coinage of Trengganu, Kelantan, and Kedah (p. 194). His subsequent three-week stay in Trengganu in autumn 1918, facilitated by the Hon. J. L. Humphreys, the Resident Representative of the High Commissioner, provided both specimens and local knowledge of the currency system. Bucknill assembles a chronological table of Trengganu’s Sultans from the seventeenth century onward and documents the evolution of the “piti” from a coin running 3,840 to the Spanish dollar in the early nineteenth century (as recorded by the Malay writer Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir in 1838) to a more stable ratio of 960 to the dollar by the mid-nineteenth century (pp. 195–196). The later pewter issues of Sultan Zenalabidin III (1892–1918) introduced a ten-keping piece dated A.H. 1310 and, in 1907–8, regular one-cent and half-cent pieces bearing the Sultan’s initials “S. Z. A.” separated by six-pointed stars (pp. 206–207). The 1920 issue, struck under the young successor, was placed on parity with Straits Settlements bronze cents owing to the then-high price of tin, creating a confusing dual currency of visually similar pewter cents of different intrinsic worth (p. 197).
The Kelantan section documents six pewter issues between 1882 and 1903, all bearing a central circular hole for stringing and inscribed in Arabic script with the state name and a Hegira date (pp. 209–210). The Patani material, supplied by His Siamese Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant Phya Dejanujit, reveals three distinct mints—Patani (inland), Yaring (coastal, ~30 miles north), and Saiburi (coastal, ~130 miles south of Singora)—each producing pewter coins of slightly different values: 800 to the dollar at Patani, 500 at Yaring, and 500 at Saiburi (p. 212). Bucknill notes that these coins were not struck by formal government authority and had fallen out of use by approximately 1909, with trade in the region still substantially conducted by barter (p. 212).
Throughout, Bucknill is careful to distinguish between coins found in a locality and coins actually minted there, citing the example of Millies’ speculative attribution of ten tin coins to Trengganu on the thin basis of a single reference in Abdullah’s travel narrative (pp. 198–199). He also records the discovery of gambling tokens (“Jongkong”) in Trengganu, pewter counters with a square central hole issued by a Chinese lessee named Bun Peng, which incorporated a piece of thin copper wire stamped into the face as an anti-forgery device (pp. 207–208).
Key Findings
- The Trengganu pewter “piti” underwent a significant devaluation from 3,840 per Spanish dollar (c. 1838) to 960 per dollar (mid-nineteenth century), reflecting the state’s economic decline and the shift in the reference unit of value (pp. 195–196).
- Sultan Omar’s reign (1839–1876) produced two dated pewter issues—A.H. 1265 (1848–49) and A.H. 1271 (1854–55)—both inscribed “Thuriba Trengganu” (Struck Trengganu), providing the first firm mint-and-date evidence for the state’s coinage (p. 206).
- The 1907–8 Trengganu one-cent pewter piece (A.H. 1325) bore a local exchange rate of 4 to 3 against the Straits bronze cent, but the 1920 reissue was revalued to parity with the Straits cent due to rising tin prices, creating a confusing dual-currency situation (p. 197).
- Kelantan issued at least six distinct pewter types between 1882 and 1903, all with a central hole and Arabic inscriptions naming the state; the 1895–6 issue (A.H. 1313) is described as “a well made clearly stamped coin” (pp. 209–210).
- The Siamese Lord Lieutenant of Patani confirmed that pewter coins were produced at only three mints—Patani, Yaring, and Saiburi—were not government-authorized, and had been obsolete for roughly twenty years by 1921, with values of 800, 500, and 500 to the Straits dollar respectively (p. 212).
- Trengganu gambling tokens (“Jongkong”) issued by the Chinese lessee Bun Peng featured a 20 mm copper wire embedded in the face to deter counterfeiting, and bore bilingual Chinese and Malay inscriptions identifying the proprietor (pp. 207–208).
Conclusion
Bucknill’s definitive takeaway is that the indigenous coinage of the eastern Malayan seaboard remains poorly understood and that the standard numismatic practice of attributing a coin to the place where it was found is methodologically unsound. He demonstrates this by showing that coins of uncertain origin—gold pieces bearing “Sultan Sulaiman” or “Shah Alam,” and small gold coins with an unidentified animal type—were found in Trengganu and Kelantan but could not be confidently assigned to either state, while conversely the pewter coins he could positively identify as Trengganu or Kelantan issues were of a much more modest and locally confined character. The article thus serves less as a definitive catalogue than as a call for more rigorous provenance research and better access to the international numismatic literature, which Bucknill laments was unavailable to him in the Peninsula (pp. 193, 198).
Context
- The article was published in the inaugural volume of the JMBRAS, reflecting the Society’s early commitment to documenting the material culture of the Malay states during the period of British protectorate administration (both Trengganu and Kelantan came under British protection in 1909).
- Bucknill’s specimens and those of the Raffles Museum, Singapore (examined with the assistance of Major J. C. Moulton, the Museum’s Director) form part of the archival collections that underpin subsequent scholarship on Malayan numismatics (p. 199).