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Scholten 1220 Codrington # ; Dutch India KM # 38 |
Obverse : PA_ on top below which IIII above the VOC
monogram with the foot slightly between the arms of the V,
in beaded circle. Reverse : Arabic inscription in the name of Sultan Abdulla in 3 lines within in beaded circle. | Benam Sultan Abdulla |
Note the use of ancient Roman style IIII rather than IV According to Wikipedia IV and IX were only used after around the 13th century, and never in Ancient Rome where they used IIII and VIIII. Probably in illiterate 17rh century India understanding that IV is same as IIII may have been confusing. Before the adoption of the subtractive notation the roman digits could be written in any order as they were purely additive, IV and VI both implied 6. See the use of IIII in clocks and both formats as King George IV or IIII in his Coins.
Text edited from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
PULICAT Chapter X Dutch Page 137
* The Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories-1601-1948 by C. Scholten, 1953, Amsterdam:
Jacques Schulman. Chapter X PULICAT page 133.
his VF- coin was obtained from a dealer in Kandy in October 2018 and is scanned at 600 dpi and displayed at 250 dpi