Classification of Ingot Money Forms
of Malay Peninsula, Kra Isthmus
and Menam Valley

      Southern Indochina and Malay Archipelago since early times were under strong influence of India, which strongly influenced flat coinage of this region [Guehler], and originated first forms of native primitive money. Succeed by Chinese presence in the region, Chinese ingots came into circulation, and developed new forms of ingot currency.

      First primitive form of native money appeared on the Malay Peninsula Kra isthmus Hindu Kingdom of Kalah in early 8^th century. This was called "namo" because of symbol "na" shown on the coins. Symbol of "Na" origins from Brahmi, and often seen on late Gupta coins struck in Bengal in 515-530AD [Allan]. Mitchiner speculates that earlier ingots, flower money, served the prototype for "Namo" coins, while others attribute the other ingots development to substantially later period [Kneeder, Oliver, Shaw and Kassim Haji Ali]. "Namo" coins were changing seriously with time, and, according to Mitchiner, supposed to be the prototype for bullet coins appeared in Malay isthmus in early 14^th century. Oliver gives another explanation of bullet coins shape saying that this might be an attempt to imitate the cowry shells that circulated widely in this area. Kud money could be considered as a transition form between cowry shells and the bullet money. Bullet money was circulating in kingdoms of Sukhothai, and later Ayuthia, and Thon Buri, as well as in Siam during early Rattanakosin, and are unique form of money could be found only in Menam valley and Kra isthmus. Bullet money (called Pot Duang) is shown in the supplementary table as a fact of their existence; no supremacy for classification of Pot Duang shapes is made here.

      Ingot money supposed to appear in Menam Valley first time in early 14^th century in Lannathai Kingdom [Mitchiner]. First were the bracelet money of different shapes issued by cities of Chiengmai, Chiengsen, Nan, and Sak. Until the Lannathai Kingdom overrun by Burmese in 1556, another ingots happened to appear. Called "broken bracelet", this money was more common, and was produced in Chiengmai, Chiengsei, Chiengrai, Fang, Han, and Sak on the North, and Lakhon, Prae, Saw, and Nan on the South of the kingdom. Bracelet money, however, are found southern to the Menam valley, in the Kra isthmus, Kedah area now [Mitchiner]. Most of the bracelet and broken bracelet money series carry textual inscription. With the exception of the sample found in Kra isthmus, the inscriptions are made on Thai. The Kedah bracelet money carries the Arabic inscription. Lannathai Kingdom produced some other forms of ingots that are difficult to attribute to any more specific time period. These ingots as well as ingots produced by contemporary Larn Charng Kingdom (Mekong valley) are covered in the table.

      Early 15^th century produced ingots currency originated from Malay Peninsula [Groeneveldt]. First the tin pagoda or pyramid shaped ingots appeared in Selangor, Perak, Pahang, and to a lesser degree, Kedah and Perlis. Another shapes of money were developing as well, and besides of varieties of primitively formed tin ingots, various animal shaped ingots appeared in early 18^th century (however, some authors dates first animal shaped ingots, supposed originated in Malacca, by early 15^th century [Chiew]). The form of animal shaped ingots was originated both, from Hindu (e.g. elephant), and from China (e.g. tortoise). Besides having a monetary function, these ingots carried a religious value. It was common practice for Chinese miners to guarantee that the new tin opening would be lucky by making an animal sacrifice before indulging in thecustomary celebration [Doyle]. Animal shaped ingots were widely produced in Perak. A variety of ingot money (fighting cock ingot) was circulated in Kedah and Perlis in the middle of the 18^th century. Another variety of ingots appeared based on the pagoda and pyramid series in Pahang. It was shaped in so called "tin hat" shape so that it included a hollow pagoda under the tin carcass. This form of ingots is the first known to be originated in Malay Sultanates and carried a legend. According to Saran, first known tin hat shaped ingot appeared in 1819.

      References:

      Allan, J., Catalogue of the Indian coins in the British Museum: Coins of the Gupta dynasties and of Sasanka, King of Gauda. London, 1914. (The British Museum Collection)

      Chiew, B., Tin Animal money from Malacca, http://www.charm.ru/coins/misc/tinmalaccacoinage.shtml

      Groeneveldt, W.P., Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca compiled from Chinese sources, Batavia (privately printed), 1876, p.124

      Guehler, U., Essays on Symbols and Marks of Old Siamese Coins. The Journal of The Siam Society 1949, Vol.XXXVII, Pt.2, p. 124-143.

      Doyle, P., Tin mining in Larut. E. & F.N.Spon. London, 1879, p.21

      Kneeder, W.H., The Coins of North Siam. Journal of The Siam Society 1937, Vol. XXIX, p. 1-11

      Mitchiner, M., The History and Coinage of South East Asia Until the Fiftieth Century. Hawkins Publications: London, 1998, 256 p.

      Oliver, T., Twenty Centuries of Coins: Thailand's Currency Through the Ages. White Lotus Co.: Bangkok, 1978, 79 p.

      Saran, S., The Encyclopaedia of the Coins of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei 1400-1967, Malaysia Numismatic Society Publication, Kuala Lumpur, 1996, 604 p.

      Shaw, W., Kassim Haji Ali, M., Tin Hat and Animal Money. Muzium Negara: Kuala Lumpur, 1970, 29 p.

Type	Subtype	Area of circulation	Legends and marks	Metal	Measure	Plate / Picture	Notes
Animal money	Kura Kura, or Tortoise	Central Malay Peninsula	No, or pattern imitating tortoise	Tin	min 9 g	B1, B2
			In Chinese, (various)
	Gajah, or Elephant		No	Tin	100 g - 1.1 kg	B3
	Buaya, or Crocodile		Pattern imitating crocodile	Tin	Up to 3 kg	B4
	Ayam, or Cockerel		No, or pattern imitating cockerel	Tin	min 6 g	B5, B6
			In Chinese, (various)
	Belalang, or Grasshopper		No, or pattern imitating grasshopper	Tin		B7
	Ikan, or Fish		No, or pattern imitating fish	Tin		B8, B9	See type Fish money for silver and silver alloy fish shaped ingots
			In Chinese, (various)
	Kambing, or Goat		Pattern	Tin		B10
	Crab		Picture of crab	Tin		B11
Bar money	Tiger tongue, or Hoi money	Mekong valley	Three stylized markings of "na"	Surface: silver Inside: silver, silver alloy, bronze, copper	Two major sizes	A1	In 1940s still in use in some districts of Mekong valley and Northern Menam valley
	Leech money, or Lat money	Mekong valley; North Menam valley	Two to four markings: elephant necessary in center, wheel or star in addition	Surface: silver alloy (on copper samples), silver (on silver alloy pieces) Inside: copper, impure silver	Four main sizes	A2	Used as smaller denomination of Hoi money in bargaining sessions
	Canoe money, or Lat Hoi money	Mekong valley	Usually no markings; few samples known shown star markings on the ends	Bronze, seldom silver		A3	Used as well as symbolic offerings to spirits
	Canoe money, or Lat Hoi money	Mekong valley	Usually no markings; few samples known shown star markings on the ends	Bronze, seldom silver		A3	Used as well as symbolic offerings to spirits
Bracelet money	(Circular cross section)	North Menam valley	Elephant and floral markings	Silver	about 5x5 cm about 60 g	A5
	(Rectangular cross section)	North Menam valley	Early coins: chakras and wheel markings, geometrical design Later period coins: In Thai: inscription showing the city of origin, numeral showing denomination (4), "na" symbol marking	Silver	about 5x5 to 6x6 cm about 60 g	-	Similar to circular cross section bracelet money
	(Quadrilateral cross section)	Kra isthmus	In Arabic: Al Adil, floral and geometrical design	Silver with minor addition of copper	about 3x4 cm about 15 g	-	Similar to circular cross section bracelet money
Cieng money		North Menam valley	In Thai: inscription showing the city of origin, numeral showing denomination (4), floral and geometrical design, sun, wheel, chakras, "na" markings	Impure silver, copper, zinc	2.5x2.5x2.5 cm to 3.5x4x3.5 cm, 61 to 65 g fractional (three main denominations) 1.2x1.5x1 cm to 3x3x1.5 cm, 3.3 to 9.5 g	A6	Also called Broken bracelet money
Fighting cockerel money	(Fighting cockerel perched on different amount of vertical rings)	Malay Peninsula (Kedah)	Pattern imitating cockerel	Tin	(size of cockerel) 3.2x1.8 cm	B12	Different number of remaining rings
Fish money		North Menam valley	Pattern imitating fish	Silver, silver alloy		-	Rare; Found together with Leaf money
Flower money		North Menam valley	Flower like pattern	Silver	(diameter) 1 to 4.5 cm	A7	Imitate coriander blossom (Oliver), or cowrie shell (Kneedler)
Leaf money		North Menam valley	Leaf-like lines design	Surface: often silvered; Inside: brass, copper, never silver		A8	Also known as Line money; Believed to be one of the earliest Lannathai ingots
Lump money	"Namo" money	Kra isthmus	Early coins: "Na" symbol on obverse, reverse bullet shaped; Later period coins: "Na" symbol on obverse flower, chakras, shell, temple markings	Gold, copper, minor silver additions	(diameter) 0.5-1.1 cm 0.8 - 2.5 g	A9	Appearing obverse and reverse terms, the classification of later "namo" coins as primitive money is questionable
	Kud money	Menam valley, South of Menam valey	Chakras, elephants, shells markings	Stone, tin-lead alloy		A10
	Pot Duang money		Chakras markings	gold, silver, silver alloy, copper, bronze	usually 1-60 g; generally, up to kilograms	A11	Circulated extensively since early 14th century until the late 19 thcentury
Sycee money	Saddle money	Menam valley, Mekong valley, Irrawaddy valley	In Chinese, (various)	Silver	Up to kilograms	A12	Chinese originated form of ingots
	Shoe money					A13
Tampang money	(Hollow)	Malay Peninsula (Pahang)	In Arabic, Jawi, Chinese, (various)	Tin, silver (?)	2.8x2.8x0.8 cm to 9x9x3.2 cm, 13 to 218 g	B13	Also known as Tin hat money
	(Solid)	Malay Peninsula (Perak)	Ornamental flower design	Tin	3x5x3.5 cm to 4.5x11x5 cm 900 g - 1.1 kg	B14	Also known as Pyramid / Pagoda money
Tin ingot money	Mound shaped	Malay Peninsula (Perak)	No	Tin	200g-2.5kg	-	Semispherical irregular form ingots
	Conical / Cylindrical shaped		No	Tin	160 g - 1.1 kg	-	Conical or cylindrical more or less regular form ingots
	Chandi, or Mountain shaped		No	Tin	2x3x10 cm to 4x9x40 cm 600 g - 1.7 kg	B15
	Sugar-Loaf shaped		No	Tin	5x6x11 cm to 6x7x13 cm 3 - 4 kg	B16
	Bidor, or Pagoda shaped		No, or ornamental design	Tin	5x3x2.5 cm to 12x5x7 cm 400g - 3kg	B14, B17
Tok money	Nan Tok money	North Menam valley; Nan	No	Silver, silver alloy, copper, bronze; silver was poured with egg yolk or chicken blood when manufacturing	1 to 4.5 cm	A14	In 1940s still in use in some districts of Northern Menam valley and Mekong valley
	Chiengmai Tok money	North Menam valley; Chiengmai	Chakras, symbol drawing, "na", deer markings; two or three markings on ingot; markings on sides usually are mirror	Silver alloy poured with egg yolk or chicken blood when manufacturing	1.5 to 5 cm	A15	Both, hollow and not hollow variations appear
	Pig mouth money	North Menam valley	No	Silver		A16	Hollow
	Horse-Hoof money	North Menam valley; Chiengmai	Chakras and symbol drawing markings	Silver alloy	about 60g	-	Hollow; Similar to Tok money of Chiengmai, however space inside is smaller