Islamic cash Scarce tin Xian Ping Yuan Bao, late 1500s-early 1600s, S. Sumatra, Indonesia

Xian Ping Yuan Bao // Blank. 20mm, 1.49 grams. cf.Zeno 161843 (the so-called "Tian Ping calligraphic group); cf.ONS Newsletter 171, 23-24, 2002

This is a tin imitation of Chinese Song dynasty cash coin that is consistent with descriptions given by early Dutch travelers to Java and Sumatra around the 1600s. According to Yih (2012:33) and Mitchiner (2012:24-23) they were probably produced in southern Sumatra, in the region of Palembang, and imitated Song dynasty Chinese coins. They are fairly scarce and are difficult to find in good quality as they were very crudely cast in inferior alloys.