1646 - 1794 - Dutch India
Paliakate - VOC One Kas

SPECIFICATIONS Denomination One Kas Alloy Copper Type Cast ? Diameter 9.5 mm Thickness 3.2 mm Weight Legal 1.65 gms Weight 1.55 gms Shape Round Edge Plain Die Axis 210° Mint Paliakate
	Scholten 1223 Codrington # ; Dutch India KM # 34

Obverse : P (Paliakate) above the VOC monogram with the foot between the arms of the V, in beaded circle.
Reverse : Arabic characters degraded to undulated lines in beaded circle.

Scholten lists a dozen varieties of the 1-kas coin, with various difference in the orientation of the P which sometimes is horizontal or q or a b (maybe like the coin shown above), and also the O and C of the VOC monogram.

The small copper coins were current only within the limited area of the Company. In the small denominations struck in large quantities over a long period the inscriptions were corrupted by the Tamil engravers unacquainted with Arabic characters, finally having only wavy lines or crescents.

Text edited from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  PULICAT Chapter X Dutch Page 137
* The Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories-1601-1948 by C. Scholten, 1953, Amsterdam:
  Jacques Schulman. Chapter X PULICAT page 133.

The coin was scanned at 600 dpi and displayed at 600 dpi. It was obtained in 2001 December directly from farmer who found it in Ruhuna via Mr A. Ratnayaka a collector in Katharagama, Lanka.