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| image: obverse and reverse of the coin |
Country of Origin: Malacca (Now a state, part of Malaysia)
Date: 1446 - 1456 AD
Denomination: Half Pitis
Weight: 1.85 - 2.26 grammes
Edge: -
Dimension: Diameter of 15mm
Composition: Tin
Population: Unknown
Reference: SS2
Mint: Malacca
Category: Malay Sultanate Coin
Extra Note: The obverse "Muzaffar Shah Al Sultan", The Supreme Ruler, Muzaffar Shah, and reverse interlaced Arabic inscription "Nasir Dunia Wal Al Din", means Helper of The World and the Religion, i.e Islam.
This is might be the first official coinage series that was once used in Malaysia. Possessing a piece of coin from Malay Sultanate Era surely gives you a time-travel experience, especially when you hold the coin in your bare hands.
Unfortunately, there are possibly impossible to acquire a mint condition coin, as the composition of lower denomination coins were made from tin, which is highly reactive to environment. But still, the condition of my coin here is worth for keeping as it is about in the same quality as what they have in museum.
Tin coins are easy to be counterfeited, including this Malay Sultanate Era coins. The best way to detect fake coins is to conduct experimental tests on the coins, carbon grading, composition test and so on, but involves a lot of money. Do not go for this unless you are hardcore serious collector. The other way to ensure you will have the genuine coins is by knowing the background of the seller. Make sure you know whether the seller has reputation or not in selling genuine coins. Extra point is given to the seller which is also a collector, because a collector will never claim a fake one to be a genuine one.
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| cropped document from reference, SS. |
6 comments:
Hi mnfaj,
A great specimen here.
Keep it up.
Will be keeping track of your Pitis collection.
Tin coins!
Ya, you're right.
Easily counterfeited.
Started collecting some but stopped after feeling doubtful.
But no doubt, very interesting esp when Msia was once a tin producer.
Thanks for sharing.
Come on guys, how do i start collecting tin coins when there are so many counterfeits. Give me some heads up on where to buy the so called "trustworthy" sellers? In this case, can i even trust the MNS auctions?
Hi whycollect.
Thank you for visiting. I hope you can start collecting tin coin back as these tin coins are the earliest currency in the form of coin in our country. And yes, hopefully the genuine and the counterfeited ones can be differentiated effectively in order to avoid from buying the counterfeited one.
Hi Sugar Coated Candyman,
Thanks for visiting. IMHO, the best way to collect tin coins is through connection with tin coin collector. As far as I am concern, there are less than 10 people (probably 5) who are knowledgeable in differentiating the genuine and counterfeited one.
Especially for collecting tin coins, dealers' advice and opinion come second after collectors'. You can try to contact those in MasDinar (The Malay Sultanates Indigenous Numismatic Heritage Association) - the numismatic society which focus on sultanate coins (gold, silver, tins, etc).
In ebay, I can recommend one honest and knowledgable dealer that I used to get my coins. (golden_age_collectibles_trading)
If you need extra information or just to have discussion on this, I would be really interested. Write me at mnfdzly@gmail.com
Hi i would like to know the market price for malay sultanate coins..especially gold coins.. if i have some where can i sell it with the highest price
i have about 50 of these coins, where can i find the year of fabrication?
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