1 Cash - Heshun Kongsi republics ND

Reverse

Corrupted Manchu script similar to contemporary Qing dynasty coins, Two Manchu words (read vertically) separated by the hole. Possibly modeled on Boo-Gui

Script: Mongolian / Manchu

Lettering: ᠪᠣᠣ ᡤᡠᡳ

Unabridged legend: Boo-Gui

Edge

Plain

Comment

The Chinese characters on the coins display a considerable degree of variation and many subtypes exist. The Catalogue of Coins in the Ethnographical Museum lists 33 gongsi coins, and other varieties continue to turn up.

The Fosjoen (Heshun) Federation was formed in 1776 when fourteen smaller gongsis from around Monterado in southwestern Borneo united into a single federation. The federation's leading members were the Samtiaokioe Gongsi, which controlled mining sites to the north of Monterado, and the Thaikong Gongsi, which controlled sites to the west and southwest of Monterado.

The absence of any other inscriptions might indicate that these coins were issued before the confederation was dominated by the Dagang Gongsi in 1837. The Heshun Gongsi Federation ended with the surrender of the Da Gang Gongsi to the Dutch in July, 1854. After the surrender the majority of the gongsi cash were melted down.

A paper which covers the Gongsi of southwestern Borneo has been published in the Numismatic Chronicle, London 1993, pp.171-196, and a hitherto unknown piece has been described in the Newsletter no. 143, p. 15-16, 1995 of the Oriental Numismatic Society by Dr.T.D.Yih.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongsi_republic

Interesting fact