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| Sunday, 16 June 2002 |
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Features |  |
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Trinco coins down the ages
Summarised extracts from an illustrated lecture by Wing Commander Rajah M. Wickremesinhe Rtd. SLAF, President Sri Lanka Numismatic Society, at the North East Provincial Council Auditorium - Trincomalee, June 15 under the distinguished patronage of North-East Governor, Maj. Gen. Asoka Jayawardena. "Gokanna", Trincomalee by its ancient name is first referred to by Prof. K. M. de Silva in his History of Sri Lanka, in circa 504 B.C. as the landing site of Panduvasudeva the successor to King Vijaya. Thereafter Gokanna is mentioned in respect of commercial and trading relations with China and South-East Asia. Subsequently mention is made in respect of the spice trade which was initially a monopoly of the Arabs prior to the arrival of western nations. Trincomalee, Kottiyar bay and Batticaloa on the east coast had been entry/exit points for trade between the Kandyan Kingdom and traders who frequented our shores.
Though our focus is on Trincomalee and the North and East of the island, some evidence of the coinage in the Kandyan Kingdom at the time would be of assistance. We extract this information from Robert Knox who was a hostage of the King of Kandy from 1660 - 1679, having been captured in Kottiyarbay. Knox mentions that, "there were 3 sorts of coins in the Kings domains; the first being the 'tagom massa' and the 'podi tangom' (the Portuguese Saint type silver double tanga and the single tanga), the second the Sinhala fanam and the third the Kandyan Larin." However attention is drawn to 5 distinct high value coins which were used predominantly - the Venetian ducat and sequin, the gold Pagoda, the gold Fanam, the silver Xerafim and the silver piece - of - eight locally called 'Pataca' which was of Spanish American origin. The interest of European trading nations remained focused on Trincomalee and by 1620 we observe that a Danish fleet had arrived off the harbour. Ove Giedde was one of two Dutchmen who had arrived with this fleet and been granted authority by the Danish King to establish contact with the King of Kandy, for the purpose of trading and the offer of assistance against the Portuguese. However, on his return to Trincomalee in 1622 he found that the fort approved by the king had not been erected, but that a silver Larin coin had been struck by his Danish colleague Erich Grubbe, adding the Portuguese prefix Don, to his name.
It is most unfortunate that in the published translation by Mary Mackenzie of a Danish History by Johann Heimrich Schlegei in 1771, details regarding this coin or the inscription are not recorded. Howland Wood in 1934 researching a find of Larins from Gampola comprising 705 pieces along with 114 other coins provides interesting evidence on the manufacture of Larins in the Kandyan Kingdom. The Dutch captured Batticaloa in 1638, Galle in 1640, Colombo in 1656 and Jaffna in 1658, thereby replacing the Portuguese in the coastal regions of the island. Dutch coins used initially in the island were the cast copper 1/2 and 1/4 strivers bearing a sword (the Arms of Batavia) struck in 1644. These coins from Batavia would certainly have been among the trading coins of the Dutch on the East coast. Thereafter the Dutch struck copper coins called 'doodoes' in Colombo, Galle, Jaffna and Trincomalee bearing the VOC monogram (Vereenidge - Oost - Indische - Campagnie). Of particular interest being the I striver coins with the 'T' above the monogram denoting Trincomalee struck in 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792 and 1793. The most commonly found and popular among coin collectors are the Dutch I duit and half duit values struck between 1726 and 1803 from the mints of Holland, Gelderland, Utrechi, Zealand and West Friesland. These coins were also used into the early British period. The silver Ducatoon was a high value large coin, used in the later years of Dutch rule. The French too had entered the realm of seafaring and trading along the Southern Indian coasts with Cardinal Richelieu in 1647 having initiated the West & East Indies Companies. You would, I am sure be surprised to learn that Trincomalee harbour was captured by the French in 1672 driving the Dutch off the East coast for a period of time, and again in 1782 nearly a hundred years later. The earliest British period coins used in Ceylon, featured the bale mark of the 'United East India Company'. They were of the values of 96 and 48 to the rupee dated 1794 and 1797. The first British coins bearing the legend 'Ceylon' were stuck in 1801 of the values 12, 24 and 48 indicating numerically the values to the rix dollar the then unit of account. It is of interest that a coin bearing 192 indicating its value as 192 to the rix dollar but stuck in England was used along side the Dutch duit which I have already referred to, valued at 144 to the R. D. All these British coins bore on the obverse an elephant to the left. The British silver coins of high value used during the early British period were of the 1/2, 1 and 2 rix dollar values, the 1815 rix dollar coin being more accessible to the collector. Some of the other coins in copper were both struck in Ceylon and minted in England, details of which are not included here, except for the 1/4 farthing first struck in 1839 for use in Ceylon and Malta. Currency notes being of concern to the Numismatist will be dealt with very briefly. The first 'paper money' issued in the island was the 'Kredit Brieven' of 10th May 1785. They were in actual fact Promissory notes issued on similar lines to Dutch issues in Batavia. Notes issued by the Oriental Banking Corporation dated June 1, 1881, specifically for Jaffna are known. The indigenous coinage of our island has been radio-carbon dated from the strata in which they have occurred in, to the 3rd Century B.C., an examination of which would have to be on a subsequent occasion. In commemoration of this fact the Philatelic Bureau issued a set of four stamps featuring coins on June 18, last year. The details of which are contained in the first day cover stamp booklet No. 482. Of special interest to you would be the Rs. 17.- value stamp depicting the 'Sethu' coin, attributed to the Arya Chakaravartis of Jaffna in the 13th - 14th centuries AD. |
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