page_title: Early Nusantara coins
section_title: Silver coins
hierarchical_section_title: Early Nusantara coins / Early development in Central Java / Silver coins
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Prent. Door Engelse particulieren voor Sumatra geslagen munten
context_page_description: By the 10th-century, Java had one of the most complex economies in Southeast Asia. Despite the importance of rice farming which acts as the chief tax income for the Javanese courts, the influx of sea trade in Asia between the 10th and 13th centuries forced a more convenient currency to the Javanese economy. During the late 8th-century, ingots made of gold and silver were introduced. These are the early Nusantara coins.
context_section_description: Central Javanese silver coins have very different shapes compared with the gold coins. Most silver coins are round and known as "sandalwood flower" coins referring to the four-petaled flower (quatrefoil) found on the reverse. The silver coins lasted from the early 9th until the 14th century. The same flower appears on one side of older silver ingots from central Java; the other side is stamped with a flowing vase design, which is never found on coins. The observe of the sandalwood flower coins are stamped with the nagari character ma (abbreviation of masa).
  Unlike the gold coins, the silver coins changed rapidly. In only one century, the character ma degenerated very quickly, perhaps because it is different with the Javanese Kawi letter for ma. The shape also changed; in the early 10th-century, the shape of one masa changed from a thick and flat coin to a thin and cup-shaped coin. The silver coins were presumably served as small change. The silver coins were probably created by smiths in the market for use in market transactions.
  In Java, beginning at the end of the 10th-century and onwards, more and more Chinese copper coins were imported in greater quantities, as well as Chinese cash and local copies, known as pisis. These coins began to displace the silver alloy coins as small denomination currency. By the mid-14th century, there were so many pisis in circulation, that the Javanese court recognized them as official currency for tax purposes.
caption: Sandalwood decoration or quatrefoil appeared in the silver ingot on the picture below.
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