12/08/2026
Tin, not silver and not gold. Coins from Tin, because that was the easy way!
This coin is made of tin, struck ten thousand kilometers from Lisbon. This 10 soldos or bastardo comes from Malacca, in what is now Malaysia, struck between 1521 and 1557 under the Portuguese king João III. The Portuguese had conquered Malacca in 1511, which gave them control over one of the most important trade hubs in the world. All the spices from the east passed through there.
Silver and gold were scarce out there, but the Malay soil was full of tin. So the Portuguese did something practical: they mined and simply struck their coins or cast them from tin. This piece weighs a full 11 grams. On the front the Portuguese coat of arms, on the back the armillary sphere, symbol of the Portuguese voyages of discovery. Under this same king, Portuguese traders were the first Europeans to reach Japan in 1543.
Colonial history, seafaring and coinage in one object. If you want to know ,just send me a message.
Do you collect coins from one specific part of the world, or from everywhere?
vanzandwijkmunten: because one coin is never enough