Title
Disc-shaped coin
Year/Period
7th-14th century
Region
Java, Indonesia
Dimension
Object size: D-0.7cm
Accession No.
1997-03847
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Andy Ng
Javanese silver coins are usually concave disc-shaped, and are stamped with a four-petaled sandalwood flower design within a square depression. On the reverse side, silver coins are inscribed with the Sanskrit character ‘ma’, which perhaps refers to ‘masa’, a measurement of weight to indicate the weight of silver the coins were supposed to contain. Silver coins were generally more widely used in Java than gold coins. Javanese coins were used as currency around the 7th century to about 1350, when Chinese bronze coins replaced them as the main medium of exchange.
