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Figleaf
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« on: February 04, 2009, 09:48:41 PM » |
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Plantage-, Handels-, en mijngeld van Nederlands-Indië by A.J. Lansen (who is an esteemed member of this forum) and L.T. Wells Jr. is the first significant catalogue that has something to add to Scholten's book on the coins of the Netherlands' East Indies. This book treats plantation tokens in their own right, with a small treasure of maps and background documents that do much to create an understanding of the world of the plantations. In this way, the book creates a "third dimension" of knowledge of the tokens: their economic and social environment. The body of the book is in Dutch. There is a small list of words translated From Dutch or Bahasa Indonesia into English, German and Bahasa Indonesia, but the book would have gained from more translated texts.
Each plantation has a short chapter in alphabetical order, started by a description of the plantation and followed by dates of issue, metals and shapes used, one or more b/w pictures and a general description of the tokens (catalogue number, denomination, metal, diameter) plus notes. I would gladly have traded the metals and shapes for more pictures, since metals are mentioned in the specific descriptions and shapes follow from diameter notations. I would have liked references for the pieces not mentioned by Scholten and Van der Chijs.
A separate section describes private tokens of the NEI, including mining tokens. Many of these are not in Scholten and a joy to discover. More pictures, especially in the sections on Sinagar and bamboo money would have been warranted.
A surprisingly useful section is on tokens that are wrongly described as issued in the Netherlands' East Indies. Many of these were used in British North Borneo, including some that are inscribed in Dutch. Therefore, a chapter is added on all known plantation tokens of British North Borneo. This chapter easily bests Pridmore's work for this area. Of course, Saran Singh also treats this area, plus the coins.
The book concludes with a useful table comparing its own catalogue with other relevant catalogues and a section on pricing, that's probably pretty useless by now and would have been more practical as a loose attachment. After two pages of fun stats and ratios, a few pages are devoted to paper plantation money. Another section explains size notations. The single page on imitations must be woefully incomplete now, since the book spurred a spate of imitations and fantasies. The two plates should have been included in the main text with the other pictures.
This book is a step forward in our knowledge of NEI token issues in that it combines the knowledge of several authors with a wealth of interesting and useful background information. Some sections need updating, which would be a welcome opportunity to repair some of the points mentioned above. Meanwhile, this is simply far and away the best book available for NEI tokens.
Peter
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