{"id":1048,"date":"2026-01-28T07:46:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/?p=1048"},"modified":"2026-01-28T07:46:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:46:30","slug":"collection-focus-the-last-rajah-1930-sarawak-cent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/?p=1048","title":{"rendered":"Collection Focus: The Last Rajah (1930 Sarawak Cent)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Following on from the previous post about Rajah Charles Brooke, we move forward in time to the reign of his son,\u00a0<strong>Charles Vyner Brooke<\/strong>. He ruled from\u00a0<strong>1917 to 1946<\/strong>, succeeding his father during the First World War and reigning until the aftermath of the Second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vyner Brooke was the third and final &#8220;White Rajah&#8221; of Sarawak. This coin, minted in 1930, represents the twilight years of the dynasty. Within just over a decade of this coin being struck, the Japanese Imperial Army would invade Borneo, and the unique century-long experiment of the Brooke Raj would come to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Historical Context: Modernisation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>By 1930, Sarawak was a different place than it was in the 1880s. The state was modernising, and so was the coinage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most significant change here is the metal. While the previous 1 cent we looked at was Copper, this 1930 issue is struck in&nbsp;<strong>Copper-Nickel<\/strong>. This was a more durable, &#8220;modern&#8221; alloy that resisted the humid tropical climate of Borneo better than pure copper (though as this example shows, it still toned heavily over time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Coin: 1930 Sarawak One Cent<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Sarawak-C-V-Brookes-1-Cent-combined-1024x540.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-283\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Sarawak-C-V-Brookes-1-Cent-combined-1024x540.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Sarawak-C-V-Brookes-1-Cent-combined-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Sarawak-C-V-Brookes-1-Cent-combined-768x405.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Sarawak-C-V-Brookes-1-Cent-combined-520x274.jpg 520w, https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Sarawak-C-V-Brookes-1-Cent-combined-940x496.jpg 940w, https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Sarawak-C-V-Brookes-1-Cent-combined.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Denomination:<\/strong>\u00a0One Cent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ruler:<\/strong>\u00a0Rajah C.V. Brooke (Charles Vyner Brooke)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Year:<\/strong>\u00a01930<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mint:<\/strong>\u00a0Ralph Heaton &amp; Sons (Birmingham)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Metal:<\/strong>\u00a0Copper-Nickel<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reference:<\/strong>\u00a0KM 18<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Heaton Connection:<\/strong><br>Once again, the Heaton Mint in Birmingham struck this coinage. Unlike the 1885 &#8220;Ghost&#8221; issue, the 1930 issue typically displays the mintmark proudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Look closely:<\/em>\u00a0On the reverse, just above the date\u00a0<strong>1930<\/strong>\u00a0(specifically above the gap between the 9 and the 3), you should see a tiny letter\u00a0<strong>H<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Condition &amp; Grading<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Grading Copper-Nickel is slightly different from Bronze, as the metal is harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Assessment:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Obverse:<\/strong>\u00a0The portrait of Vyner Brooke is clear. The ear and the jawline\u2014typical wear points\u2014are distinct. The hair detail is a little flat, but this is often due to the strike quality on this harder metal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reverse:<\/strong>\u00a0The wreath remains sharp, and the lettering is bold.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Surface\/Colour:<\/strong>\u00a0Interestingly, this coin has a dark, bronze-like tone. Copper-Nickel is silver in colour when new, but in tropical climates, it often tones to a dark charcoal grey or brown. This &#8220;jungle tone&#8221; is very common for Sarawak issues. There is some minor surface residue (verdigris) amongst the letters of the legend.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grade: Very Fine (VF)<\/strong><br><em>A solid, collectable example of the type, showing honest circulation in the pre-war era.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Verdict<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This coin completes a &#8220;mini-set&#8221; within my collection: the Father and Son (Charles and Vyner Brooke). It tells the story of the transition from the rugged 19th-century expansion of Sarawak to the established state of the 20th century, all manufactured in the workshops of Birmingham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Further Reading &amp; Data:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=E&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fen.numista.com%2Fcatalogue%2Fpieces4398.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">View 1930 Sarawak Cent Specifications on Numista<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following on from the previous post about Rajah Charles Brooke, we move forward in time to the reign of his&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,142,131],"tags":[145,98,104],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-1048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1917-1946-rajah-charles-vyner-brooke","category-borneo","category-coins","tag-cupro-nickel","tag-heaton-mint","tag-one-cent"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Sarawak-C-V-Brookes-1-Cent-combined.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1049,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048\/revisions\/1049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1048"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gbc.31pendleton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwf_post_folders&post=1048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}