NEW BOOK: COINS OF SAMUDRA-PASAI

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V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 3, 2026, Article 4

Ad Lansen submitted this announcement and review of a new book by John Leyten on Sumatra coins. Thank you. -Editor

The history and coins of Samudra-Pasai and Samudra-Pasai and Aceh on Sumatra

The author of this new book, John Leyten, born May 12th 1937 in Amsterdam, now almost 89 years old and known as a numismatist whose collection area includes Dutch colonies, especially the Dutch East Indies with the associated earliest known numismatic history. He started about 60 years ago with collecting coins of the Dutch Kingdom coins. After a few years his interest turned to collecting Provincial coins from the period 1588-1796. In doing so, he naturally met collectors of VOC coins. This aroused his interest and it became a new area of collecting, with special interest in coins with Arabic inscriptions and the associated Indonesian-Islamic history.

In 2004, his first publication on the gold coins of Samudra-Pasai and Aceh appeared in the yearbook for Coin and Medal Studies, number 91, issued by the Royal Netherlands Society for Coin and Medal Studies in Amsterdam. New information acquired in recent years about the history of the rulers of Samudra-Pasai and Aceh made an update necessary, and this 2025 edition has made this a reality.

History, genealogy, Titles and Coins of the Rulers of Samudra-Pasai and Aceh. With an updated catalogue of their coins.

Sub-title: A study defining the rulers of Samudra-Pasai and their genealogy, by combining rulers' coins with their epitaphs. An update of the history and the titles of the rulers of Aceh.

In 2004 Leyten published about the golden coins of Samudra-Pasai and Aceh. This release is an update of this publication. In this update, the names, titles, genealogy and history of the rulers of Samudra-Pasai, from about 1265 to 1524, are described in detail as much as possible. Also, a detailed history of the rulers of Aceh from about 1497 to 1903. A comprehensive update of all coins known to date from Samudra-Pasai and Aceh, with detailed descriptions and beautiful, clear, largely black and white images.

Chapter 1: General introduction to the coins of Samudra-Pasai and Aceh with their description.

Chapter 2: Extensive and detailed description of the history of Samudra- Pasai with the coins they issued.

Chapter 3: Extensive and detailed description of the history of Aceh with an update of the coins they issued.

Chapter 4: A comprehensive update of the existing catalogue of the coins of Samudra-Pasai an Aceh known to date.

The appendix contains detailed descriptions of, among other things, Arabic letters, Arabic script, and examples of deciphering Arabic script on coins. Also added vocabulary with explanations about Arabic texts on coins. Very clear and valuable explanatory numismatic information for the entire content of the book.

In order to place coins on time on which the name of the monarch is mentioned but no year, it is important and necessary to find the genealogy of that monarch. The genealogy of these rulers takes up a large part of this publication, which did not exist before of Samudra- Pasai.

Leyten was the first to succeed in compiling the genealogy of the rulers of Samudra-Pasai. This is Unique; there has never been a publication about it before! He has also corrected the genealogy of the first rulers of Aceh and placed them in the correct order. He was also able to prove that Samudra-Pasai was a Kingdom and not a Sultanate. He has also been able to demonstrate that Aceh began as a Kingdom and after 1607 became a Sultanate.

This book is a must-read for every numismatist and collector interested in the historical and numismatic history of Indonesia, specifically Sumatra with the rulers of Samudra-Pasai and Aceh.

Reviewer: A.J. Lansen. Member of the Royal Netherlands Society for Coins and Medals, E.G.M. P.; A.N.A. Author of: Plantation Tokens of the Dutch East Indies, Paper Money of the Estates on Sumatra, Monetary

Documents of the Netherlands Trading Society and Plantation Tokens of British North Borneo.