1941

BANGKA ISLAND: COLLECTION of 135 different coins

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - Asia Start Price:4,250.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
BANGKA ISLAND: COLLECTION of 135 different coins
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BANGKA ISLAND: COLLECTION of 135 different coins, this is a fantastic collection put together in Malaysia of Bangka Island Gongsi tin cash coins in Chinese style, with legends in Chinese and/or Jawi script, a great variety of types and varieties, this is a wonderful collection of these scarce coins issued by Chinese tin miners on Bangka which lies just east of Sumatra, average circulated quality with some quite nice, retail value $10,000, lot of 135 coins.

During the 18th and 19th centuries Chinese immigrants, especially Hakkas from the southern part of China, were involved in the exploitation of tin mines on the island of Bangka and gold mines on the western coast of Borneo in the former Dutch East Indies. They settled in separate villages, maintained their own customs and in due time organized themselves into a number of political unions, known as gongsi.

Data on the cash pieces from the various Chinese gongsis in the former Dutch East Indies was scarce and their illustrations are mainly restricted to the antiquarian books of Netscher/van der Chijs (1864) and Millies (1871). These types have now been well documented by M. Mitchiner & T. Yih that appeared in the ONS Journals in 2013 & 2014 and in a new book by Puji Harsono,"Sejarah Dan Mata Uang Bangka" in bahasa Indonesia and English.

The Borneo gongsi pieces consist of a mixture of tin and lead, whereas the Bangka pieces have mainly tin as the major metallic component.