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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ScottSemans, post: 4067306, member: 100481&quot;]Rob, thanks for showing me this thread, and TuckHard, you have made a real step forward here in identifying the design on that 4 Massa.&nbsp; Most I&#039;ve seen for sale have been blurred reverse.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>These are the gold-rush days for pre-Colonial Malaysian and Indonesian coins, with the river dredging turning up types never seen before.&nbsp; The best finds are the tin coins which have been nicely preserved in the fresh waters, while those above ground have rotted away or been melted to the point where mid-19thC authors like Millies, and Netscher &amp; Van Der Chijs knew of only a handfull of types.&nbsp; The breadth of coinage from Sultanates like Jambi, Siak and Palembang is now somewhat organized and published at the zeno.ru site.&nbsp; The Bangka jokoh series has proven to be huge, with hundreds of types now published, while a few years ago you would be lucky to find two examples auctioned in a year.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>A worthwhile book is <i>The Evolution of Thai Money</i> by Ronachai Krisadaolarn (Ron Crystal) which is crammed with gorgeous photos of early Thai as well as Maritime coinages (and an extra CD with hundreds more).&nbsp; The gold cross coins which Panzerman introduces to the thread are published here in three denominations (though 4 exist), as well as the gold denominations of sandalwood flower, which were unknown until a few years ago.&nbsp; You can find this book online at a ridiculous cheap price, so no excuse for not getting it even if Thai is not your focus.&nbsp; The book unfortunately contains some fake, fantasy and what I would call doubtful items, also featuring this&nbsp; punaghata / phra tao (vase &amp; flowers) motif, such as cut coppers with the vase on the convex side, and irregular flat squares which appear to be gold, derived from the extremely rare sycee piece well-known from Millies.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Recently I was offered some gold-plated novelties mixed in with cut gold and broken coins as camouflage.&nbsp; These &quot;vertical 4 Massa&quot; use the unclear, devolved reverse of the usual type discussed here.&nbsp; Let&#039;s hope the manufacturer will read this thread and improve the quality of his product <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie67" alt=":nailbiting:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The temple frieze posted by TuckHard takes me back to the theme of wonderful new tin things being discovered.&nbsp; Here are two examples of the design (and a bulk lot) from a series of hundreds of (usually) tiny rounded (or conelike) objects.&nbsp; None of them are published anywhere that I know of, yet they turn up on ebay at under $10 and <i>may</i> follow a rough denominational sequence of .30, .60, .90, 1.20gm.&nbsp; Themes include Buddhist symbolism, Sanskrit letters, animals (usually maritime), and geometrical designs.&nbsp; Gambling pieces?&nbsp; Devotional/charm?&nbsp; Coins?&nbsp; We live in exciting times.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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