Unusual coinage series - Ceylonese Kandyan Silver Larin

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by Loong Siew, Oct 13, 2015.

  1. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    Something unusual.

    Ceylon. Silver Larin trade coinage. Circa 16-17th century AD. Rare

    Also known as koku ridi (fish hook) silvers, they were modelled after the Persian Larin (aka hairpin) silver coins. The Ceylonese modified the original designs by bending it into the shape of hooks. Some believe that was to facilitate a more convenient mode of carrying/hooking onto the dress. Although original Persian Larins have descriptive Persian scripts on theirs, the Ceylonese eventually imitated the design and patterns in Persian although they are unintelligible.

    The Larins made their way from Persia though the Arabian gulf and popular through the Indian Ocean particularly in Ceylon, Maldives and parts of India. In particular the Portuguese period saw their most widespread use as a popular trade coin.

    20150908_204702-1.jpg 20150908_204846-1.jpg 20150908_205136-1.jpg
     
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. Mikey Zee

    Mikey Zee Delenda Est Carthago

    That is so COOL !!

    I LOVE the unusual and most of us have a few earlier types of Western examples that were utilized as 'coinage' or in trade. I even keep a bag of 'salaria' around the house in case the economy tanks:rolleyes::D

    Oh yeah, here is one example of a 'rock' (Aes Rude) traded for value that I just threw a bid on:
    Aes rude rock coin bronze.jpg
     
  4. harris498

    harris498 Accumulator

    I want a fish hook! How rare is 'Rare'?
     
    Loong Siew likes this.
  5. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    Now that's cool.. if you didn't tell me I wouldn't have guessed that it was actual currency. .
     
    Daniel Jones likes this.
  6. mlov43

    mlov43 주화 수집가

    Thanks for sharing this piece.

    Interesting how the Ceylonese kind of faked the Persian writing, making it not readable. Was this a kind of counterfeiting, or just trying to copy the design since these coins were fashionable with people as money? Hmm.
     
    Mikey Zee and Loong Siew like this.
  7. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    Thanks.. I do not know exactly how rare but their distribution of this type is not very wide and was used more for trade purposes. These were local design coinage and records were not properly kept. Nevertheless a recent specimen was sold by Stephen Album at a pretty amazing price

    Screenshot_2015-09-18-14-14-34.png
     
    spirityoda and Mikey Zee like this.
  8. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    Now these were legitimate and official. It was imitative but was actually used for trade officially. Just that they copied the Persian writings poorly. Here's a more detailed article

    http://lakdiva.com/coins/kandyan/kandyan_larin.html
     
    Daniel Jones and Mikey Zee like this.
  9. Daniel Jones

    Daniel Jones Well-Known Member

    Interesting items. If you had not mentioned those were currency, I would have thought they look like little rocks, at least, that is how they look in the photos.
     
    Mikey Zee and Loong Siew like this.
  10. Daniel Jones

    Daniel Jones Well-Known Member

    Fascinating! I never saw such items used as currency until just now. May I ask, how much do those examples you photographed retail/wholesale for?
     
    Loong Siew likes this.
  11. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    Thanks. The one I have does not have a retail or wholesale price as the dealer I got from directly from Sri Lanka have only 3 from which I got 1.
     
    Ancientnoob likes this.
  12. chrsmat71

    chrsmat71 I LIKE TURTLES!

    another cool thing i've never seen before.
     
    Loong Siew likes this.
  13. Jason Hoffpauir

    Jason Hoffpauir Avid Coin Collector

    very unusual!!! O.O
     
    Loong Siew likes this.
  14. Collect89

    Collect89 Coin Collector

    Loong Siew likes this.
  15. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    Thanks.. it was an old thread... but thanks for raising an interesting topic for discussion.... :)
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page