1785 - Ceylan
Bonk bar - Colombo VOC 4 3/4 Stuiver

SPECIFICATIONS Denomination 4 3/4 Stuiver Alloy Copper Type Struck Length 65. mm Width(max) 20. mm Thickness  mm Weight Legal 63.41 gms Weight 63.67 gms Shape Bar Edge Dump Mint Colombo
	Codrington 129; Schloten 1295c; Mitchiner #2184; Krause #32

Obverse : Two round countermarks stamped on either end of bar; within a rim of of beads outside a plain circle - On left: 4 3/4 ST ; On right: VOC monogram, below C (Colombo)
Reverse : Same

VOC monogram of the Dutch East India Company has a large V superimposed on OC.

The length and weight of these flattened bars of Japanese copper bars often differs considerably from 58 to 105 mm and from 54 to 62 grams. The legal weight based at that eras copper standard in Stuivers should be 63.413 grams.

KM32	S1295a*	RRR	ND	the VOC monogram to left, the value to right
KM32	S1295b	RRR	ND	with S-T
KM32	S1295c*	RRR	ND	the value to left, the VOC monogram to right

These bar coins are extremely rare.

Note that this Bonk Bar like those illustrated in Schloten Codrington and Mitchiner and on display in the Colombo Museum have a flat (screwdriver-like) end and a concave bar rather than the rounded end and convex bar coin of doubtful authenticity in the in the LakdivaCoin collection.

Note also that since the VOC symbol and the value oppose in orientation on both sides this bar could match either descriptions 1295a and 1295c depending on which symbol is upside down.

Text from
* The Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories- 1601-1948
  C. Scholten, 1953, Amsterdam: Jacques Schulman.

I thank Jan Lingen who kindly sent me a 600dpi scan of this VF+ coin from his collection. The images was compessed to 300dpi to enable the full image to be displayed on most moniters and displayed at 200dpi.