½ duit van Nederlands Indië, 1821 1821

This coin, a ½ Duit from the Dutch East Indies, was struck in 1821 during the reign of King Willem I of the Netherlands. The design is simple, focusing primarily on the text arranged in horizontal registers across the coin’s surface. The word 'INDIA' surmounts 'BATAV', above the year of issue, 1821. This coin, small in scale, bears the weight of colonial enterprise. The very material – copper – speaks to its function as a tool of economic exchange. The coin's design, dominated by its textual elements, is less about aesthetics and more about asserting authority and practicality. Consider how such a humble object, through its design and material, embodies larger structures of power and trade during the colonial era. Its intrinsic value as a historical artifact lies not just in its physical presence but in the complex networks of exchange and control it represents.