VOC monogram, stemmed flower (turnip) between stars above (priby mark of the mintmaster Jan Knol), date below (.1731.) / Crowned arms of West Friesland. 21mm, 2.73 grams. Krause KM #132 (early type with a curved shield).
Issued in the Netherlands for circulation in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia).
The VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) was the Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602 and often considered the world’s first multinational corporation. It held a government-backed monopoly over Dutch trade to Asia, maintaining its own fleets, forts, and even military forces. The VOC dominated the spice trade and built a vast commercial empire centered on Batavia (Jakarta). Though extremely profitable in its early centuries, corruption and rising costs led to its dissolution in 1799, after which its territories became the Dutch East Indies.