1787 - Dutch - Ceylan
Colombo - Silver Rupee

Silver Rupees from Dutch Mint of Colombo issued for internal under Resolution of 1787 May 12th, use with reduced weight of silver owing to its high price.

SPECIFICATIONS
DenominationOne Rupee
AlloySilver.8455
TypeStruck
Diameter~21. mm
Thickness3.4 mm
Weight legal9.882 gms
Weight9.81 gms
ShapeRound
EdgeCounteMark
DieAxis
MintColombo
1787_surup_ag_obverse 1787_surup_ag_reverse 1787_surup_ag_edge
Codrington PL128; Schloten 1262; Krause #31.2
Obverse : Malay-Arabic Legend
in Rim of radial dashes
Wang

Walan-d

Kompani

Kolom-bu

Coin

Holland

Company

Colombo

Reverse : Malay-Arabic Legend
4 dot cross above
Year 1787 below.
Puqu djaziret

Sailung

Money, Island

(of) Ceylon

They were emergency coins and in the absence of an assayer attached to the Mint at Colombo, they were tested by the sworn assayer and given a hall-mark (Kleine Keur) on the edge. A mango tree with a dove (Columbus) on it between K-K

The inscription in better executed in abbreviated Malay-Arabic letters. 20,000 were struck in 1787. It is listed as extremely rare (RRR) in Scholten.

See also the classic heavier 1784 Colombo Silver coin from that Dutch era. According to the Minting Reports in 1788(65,000) and 1789(>37,500) were struck again to this standard in Tutucorin but none are known.

1787_surup_ag_countermark.jpg

Text from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  Chapter X Dutch - Coins of the Eastern Mints. Plate 128. Page 132
* The Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories- 1601-1948
  C. Scholten, 1953, Amsterdam: Jacques Schulman. page 148-149

This coin type illustrated as lot#37 in Taisei-Baldwin-Gillio Auction #19 of Richard Ford collection of The Colonial Coinage of Ceylon, held in Singapore on 1995 February 23rd.

Coin was scanned at 600 dpi and displayed at 250 dpi. It was obtained in 2015 June from Lalith Raddella's collection in Colombo.

Silver Purity measured at 87% using XRF at Devi Jewellers Sea Street, Colombo matches legal value of 84.55% within measurement error.

See also (lot#37) of this extreamly rare silver coin from Jan Lingen's collection.