1753 AD., Dutch East India Company, minted in Holland, Duit, C 2.

Dutch East India Company, minted in Holland, 1753 AD.,
Duit (23 mm / 3,77 g),
Obv.: crowned ams of Holland: a lion rampant to left .
Rev.: VOC-monogram, date 1753 below, a rose between dots above.
C 2 .

For use in colonial trade between the Netherlands and its dominions. By the seventeenth century the Netherlands had become a prosperous country through its shipping trade across Europe and its trade links with the Far East. The United Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) was formed in 1602 in order to unite various small trade companies which had created commercial links with the India and the Far East during the late sixteenth century. With bases in Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, the Company became a powerful trade organization. It was even given powers of rule over its dominions, along similar lines to those of the English East India Company. Like its British rival, the Dutch East India Company issued coins for trade in its dominions. The coin bears the Company's monogram (VOC) and the date.
In 1723 the Company needed small change in the Indies. The supply of coinage there was low since in 1722 the Japanese banned export of copper cash (pitis) which were the main source of coin upto that moment. The Company was forced to look elsewhere for sources of small coin and it produced an extensive series of copper Duit coins struck for their colonies from 1726 to 1794. On the obverse is the balemark of the United East India Company, forming the letters VOC (Vereengide Oost-Indische Compagnie). The reverse design is the coat of arms of the issuing province. 5 of the 7 provinces issued coin for the Indies (Holland, Gelderland, Westfrisia, Utrecht and Zeeland).

The duit was a Dutch coin worth 2 penning, with 8 duit equal to one stuiver and 160 duit equal to one gulden. It was once used in the Americas while under Dutch rule.
Duit is also the Malay and the informal Indonesian equivalent of the English term "money".