Malaysia Penang 1 and 1/10 Pice 1786 and 1787

This wasn't an easy one to find information about! It turns out to bear the heart-shaped design of a merchant's mark, or 'bale mark', used by the British East India Company in the late 18th century. Such a token would identify a unit of goods as belonging to the East India Company, such that they could be successfully recovered and ownership proven after transport from India to Great Britain.

These coins or tokens were produced in numbers that seemingly allowed them to also circulate as coinage, with the bale mark image of the East Indian Company on the coin as a sort of official seal of approval.

Genuine larger 1 pice coins weigh around 9.65 grams, while the tiny one-tenth pice coins only weigh 0.9 to 1 gram. These coins were minted in Calcutta, India.

If your coin has no date and only one side has a design (the EIC inside the heart standing for East India Company), then it was minted in 1786. Coins with only one side struck are known as 'uniface' coins.

All varieties are rare and highly collectible, as outlined in the listings below. The example in our picture comes from Stephen Album Rare Coins in Santa Rosa, California, USA, where it sold for $340 US dollars in a 2013 auction. CoinQuest thanks Steve Album for use of his coin image.

ONE-TENTH PICE 1787 (small and light, 1 gram):
worn: $100 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $500
well preserved: $1000

ONE PICE 1787 (large and heavy, 9 grams):
worn: $20
average circulated: $200
well preserved: $400

UNIFACE COIN, NO DATE (minted 1786):
worn: $15
average circulated: $75
well preserved: $160

Issues such as holes, corrosion or gouges will lower the value considerably, though the rarity of these coins will mean that they remain slightly collectible even with moderate damage.

Refer to our 'Important Terminology' page found on the top left in order to properly determine the catalog values listed on this page.
cqLastNotify