Page 201 - Loss of the VOC Retourschip Batavia, Western Australia, 1629

Trade items UNCERTAIN TRADE Bronze manillas
BAT 3583 BAT 3257 BAT 3259 BAT 3399
T h e s e o b j e c t s a r e t h o u g h t to b e m a n i U a s , o r i g i n a l l y a s l a v e t o k e n o r u n i t o f m o n e y . T h c y a r e k n o w n t o h a v e b e e n u s e d
as tokens in the late 18th and 19th centuries in West Africa. Their presence on the Batavia cannot be explained. They
do resemble examples of manillas, although the West African examples have a different treatment of the ends, having
a trumpet-shaped ends, without ornamentation and they are also larger. In some cases, they were large enough to wear.
It is difficult to explain what a V.O.C. ship of the early 17th century would be doing with West African slave tokens;
V.O.C. ships did visit the West African coas~ and there is mention that the Batavia visited Sierra Leone (although it is
not certain that the ship stopped there). The numbers found on the site suggest that they were not merely curios collected
by the crew. On the other hand, they are not recorded on other V.O.C. shipwrecks, nor are they mentioned in the 0;, requiSition lists of the time. It is possible that they are not slave tokens at all, but have some other purpose. The ornate
and intricate treatment of the end suggests a decorative function, since it resembles an animal's fOOl.
Lead bale seals
Lead bale seals were widely used to seal bales of cloth to give an approval or quality mark to the goods. They con-
sisted of two disks that could be clipped through the cloth and fastened together and then stamped on both sides. The manufacture of fabrics involved a number of different processes from the weaving to the final washing. Each stage was subject to the supervision of inspectors of the cloth guild. When approved, these small bale seals were attached to the cloth, and could denote quality,length, town of origin or the shipper (in this case the V.O.C.) The length oftheroU was occasionally stamped on the seal; there are two examples of '4L' (BAT 3335 and BAT 7042) which would show that
How the seal is used BA T7055 (SCALE1:1)
BA T 3335 (SCALE 1:1)
BA T 7042 (SCALE 1:1)
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