Page 236 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

Appendix IV: VOC EXPORTS OF PRECIOUS METALS AND COPPER COINAGE, 1602-1795
In table 46 below have been gathered the amounts of precious metals and copper coinage allotted annually by the Heren Zeventien to the Company chambers for dispatch to Asia. It follows that the resolution books constitute the most important source for this table. Up to ca. 1620 the resolutions usually give the number of coins - nearly always Spanish reals - per ship. Later a total in guilders is given. From the resolutions one may conclude that the chambers were also told in what denominations they were to ship their share, but this subdivision has in many cases not been incorporated in the resolution books. Occasionally this subdivision into types of coinage has been found in the letters from the Heren Zeventien to the Governor-General and Council in Batavia, and for a number of years it could be derived from the 'demands of the Indies allotted by the Heren Zeventien, preserved in the archives of the Zeeland chamber. From 1690 however the resolutions nearly always give the subdivision into denominations. Occasionally the minutes of the Haags Besogne have had to be consulted, since in the eighteenth century this committee used to draw up a preliminary settlement of the demand from Batavia. Since the dispatch of precious metals to China after 1756 was no longer determined by the Heren Zeventien, but by the China Committee, the papers of this committee for the years after 1756 have been consulted.
The most important question is of course whether the sums mentioned in the resolutions of the Heren Zeventien agree with what was in fact dispatched. In the early period, when the amounts per ship are mentioned, any deviations from the original are frequently accounted for in later resolutions. In addition the correspondence between the Republic and Batavia provides information about the dispatch. The chambers are obliged to catch up on possible arrears in dispatch in the following season; when exceeding their allotted amount they are allowed to subtract this from whatever the new decisions impose on them. Deviations from this rule are stated emphatically in the resolutions, at least when considerable sums are involved - cf. the notes to the table for the years 1665 and 1790-94. From 1676 the resolution books always record in how far the chambers are behind or ahead of the resolutions; the explanatory notes to the tables give for each decade the deficit or surplus in dispatch.
It is more difficult to ascertain in how far the chambers have in fact complied with the prescribed subdivision into types of specie. It should be kept in mind that the chambers - as apparent from the note to the table - were given some latitude in the matter; e.g. when reals were scarce and expensive the chambers were allowed to dispatch silver bars or ducatoons instead. A thorough investigation into the value of the silver, gold and copper coinage received in Asia over the period 1720-1740 indicates that the chambers kept fairly well to the resolutions. In these years some 5% more gold was dispatched than was decided upon, including rather more ducats than required, while the dispatch of 'coarse silver specie', i.e. silver bars, reals and ducatoons, conformed more or less to the resolutions, and about 5% short of the 'payement' was shipped. The required amount of copper duiten was not quite met either, falling 9% short. In certain years some chambers would deviate considerably from the resolutions, only to straighten out the differences in the following years.1
1. A . Pol, 'Tot gerieff van India'. Geldexport door de VOC en de muntproduktie in Nederland 1720-1740', in the Jaarboek voor Munt- en Penningkunde 72 (1985).