World Coins - Asia & Middle-East. BRUNEI: brass cannon money (637g), 19th to early 20th century, Opitz p.100 (plate example), cf. SS-60, 179mm, lovely old example, VF-EF, R, ex Charles Opitz Collection. Used in several locations such as Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak and other parts of southeast Asia. These cannons were made of various metals including bronze, brass, copper, iron and other metals. Valued by weight at $25-30 a Picul, they were used for a multitude of purposes such as "bride price" or wedding and engagement ceremonies, trading purposes, barter of goods, payment of fines and in the purchase of slaves (a slave being valued in Piculs of brass guns), and they were actually fired on important occasions such as weddings and the birth of children. During World War II many were melted down, which accounts for their rarity today.
