1298

MALAYSIA: PAHANG: Sulaiman Badrul Alam Shah, 1722-1760, AV kupang (0.60g), XF-AU

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - Asia & Middle-East Start Price:350.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 600.00 USD
MALAYSIA: PAHANG: Sulaiman Badrul Alam Shah, 1722-1760, AV kupang (0.60g), XF-AU
SOLD
2,800.00USD+ buyer's premium (560.00)
This item SOLD at 2026 Sep 18 @ 15:57UTC-07:00 : PDT/MST
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PAHANG: Sulaiman Badrul Alam Shah, 1722-1760, AV kupang (0.60g), SS--, Pridmore--, Zeno--, Jawi legend sultan / sulaiman / shah // al-malik / al-'adil, tentatively attributed to Pahang during its subjugation under Johor (1623-1770), harshly cleaned, unpublished and apparently unique, XF-AU. We are fairly certain that the Sultan Sulaiman Shah cited on this coin is Sulaiman Badrul Alam Shah of Johor, based on its calligraphic similarities with his coins (cf. SS-21 & 21A). We are also certain that it does not refer to the only other Sultan Sulaiman in this region from the about same period, i.e., Sultan Sulaiman Shah of Kedah (1602-1625), as the calligraphy is noticeably different (cf. our Auction 52, Lot 1280). The use of the title al-Malik al-'Adil is curious, for it does not appear on the coinage of Johor, which instead uses Khalifatul Muminin ("Caliph of the Faithful"); the word malik ("ruler") also connotes less prestige and is seemingly inappropriate for a sultan ("authority"), which is an exalted sovereign title not automatically held by all rulers in Southeast Asia (Gallop 2020). However, al-Malik al-'Adil does appear on the iconic 19th century tampang currency (i.e., "tin hat" money) of Pahang, which gained de facto independence from Johor after 1770. Thus, it is plausible that the sultans of Johor ruled the territory of Pahang under a less prestigious title -- in a manner similar to many contemporary Asian and European monarchs -- and issued local coins bearing this title. More research and discoveries are needed to confirm this theory.See our Auction 48, Lot 1260 for the gold kupang of Sultan Muzaffar Shah of Pahang (1530-1540), which has a similar calligraphy to this example. To our knowledge, that was the only gold coin of Pahang to appear in a public auction until the present example. Pridmore knew of only one example, which was once in the collection of the Taiping Museum in Pekan but lost during the Japanese occupation.