180 
HINTS TO COIX-COLLECTOES 
This victory, coupled with their alKanoe ydih. the victors, 
tui'ned the tables in their favor ^ and from this time we find 
their power steadily increasing, till their final conquest of 
the Portuguese in 1656 made them complete masters of 
Ceylon, the natives (to whose coinage I alluded in the fii'st 
part) thenceforward sinking into utter nonentities, a position 
which they have ably maintained ever since. 
The early issues of the Dutch were of intensely coarse 
make, without definite shape and of the 
rudest possible design. No. 50 is a fair 
specimen of their earlier productions. This series consisted 
of 2, 1, I, 5 and g stiver pieces. They were stamped with the 
value of the coin, the initials ST. (the T or both letters 
inverted) being used as an abbreviation for the full word 
stiver (or as it was then spelt stuiver). This style of coin was 
succeeded by one bearing the monogram of the Company, 
formed by the three letters V.O.C. (Vereinigte Ostindische 
Compagnie) in which the 0 and the C are superscribed each 
on one side line of the V. This monogram "wiU very soon 
become a familiar sight to the coin collector in the soutli, 
from the fact of its almost invariably occiirring on the 
small thin copper issues, a quarter stiver 
^ ' °- • value, known as " duits,'^ or " challis, " 
which are still met with in great quantities both in Ceylon 
and all over the extreme south of India (PI. lY. No. 51) ; 
indeed, according to Sir Walter Elliot, " the copper money 
now current in Cochin consists entirely " of them. The 
V. 0. C. half stiver of 1644, struck at Bata-\da, is also occa- 
sionally met with in Ceylon. It is a thin coin about the size 
of a " ehalli," having the " \ ST " above the monogram, and 
on the reverse the field occupied by a sword around which 
runs the inscription " BATAYIA ANNO 1644." 
Under the monogram invariably appears the yeai' of issue, 
and from the list given in Be Miodcn ran Ncderland^eh Indie 
of Messrs. Netscher and Yander Chijs, these aj^peaa- to range 
from 1726 to 1798. The side bearing the monogram is 
