Item number: A67

Year: AD 1950s-

Material: Iron

Weight: 10.05 g

Size: 13.69 x 13.14 mm

Manufactured by: workshop near Surabaya

Provenance: Stack’s Bowers Galleries 2023

This object, Peluru Pitunang, is also known as Buntat Besi Pitunang or Peluru Bahari.

It is said that no one can accurately identify the origin and the earliest production date of these iron ball money / talismans. In the book “The World of Islam” by Michael Mitchiner, these coins are referred to as “Iron currency of the north-east Indonesian Sultanates,” with specific locations mentioned in Brunei and Borneo.

However, French researcher Pierre-René Bauquis posited that the production of these iron balls commenced approximately in the 1950s in Gresik, a small town situated northwest of Surabaya. Those balls were used to mimic ancient talismans rather than being actual currency.

Pierre-René Bauquis acknowledged that he couldn’t confirm whether the creators of these iron balls were reviving a historical tradition and craft. Further research is needed to provide a definitive answer to this question.

Pierre-René Bauquis’ research on iron ball money/talismans was published in two articles in AD 1987 in the Oriental Numismatic Society. The results are as follows:

A Strange Tale of Talismans – Part 1. by P. R. Bauquis
Looking through the stock of certain dealers, I came across some iron bullets and plaques engraved with designs and Arabic, Chinese and even Javanese characters. My curiosity aroused, I determined to find out the origin and purpose of these objects. The ensuing research taught me a lot about people’s mentalities, whether those of dealers, specialists or other actors, foreign or Indonesian, who became involved in this instructive game of detection.
It all started in June AD 1981, when, rummaging through a second-hand dealer’s in Balikpapan, the main town of East Kalimantan, I noticed a hand-full of rather rusty iron balls, varying in size from a cherry to a walnut, and which were engraved with geometric figures (spirals, dashes, dots, lines, etc.), certain worn designs (stars, faces, dragons etc.) and in some cases Arabic inscriptions. Beside these balls there were some flat pieces of the same material, but with more varied designs. These were about 5 cm in diameter and the engraving revealed a curious mixture of Chinese and Arabic inspired designs. The technique used to effect the designs and inscriptions seemed at first sight to be that of etching. The merchant assured me that they were Dayak “bullets” (projectiles) and money. This assertion did not surprise me as everything the second-hand dealers in Balikpapan sell to passing tourists, i.e. mainly expatriate oilmen, is described as Dayak. As I had been particularly interested in numismatics for many years and found these objects aesthetically attractive, I needed no further stimulus to decide to research them more seriously.

A Long Search
Back in Jakarta I began to ask several people about the origin and nature of these objects but did not get any worthwhile information.
A search through the literature at first gave no information either and I was surprised that no work or article published during the colonial period appeared to mention them. In particular, the few works dealing with Indonesian numismatics were silent on the subject, including the book by H. C. Millies (Recherches sur les Monnaies des Indigenes de I’Archipel Indien et de la Péninsule Malaise, The Hague AD 1871) which mentioned nothing like them, though it is still today the reference work in this area. Eventually, I found a publication which gave a description accompanied by numerous photographs which left no doubt that here were the ‘balls’ in question. In fact the book “Oriental Coins & their Values — the World of Islam”, by Michael Mitchiner, AD 1977, devotes three pages (474-6) to them with numerous photographs, accompanied by the following note:
“Iron currency of the north-east Indonesian Sultanates”
Small rectangular iron bars were used as currency in Brunei and other parts of Borneo and the metal was both mined and valued in other east Indonesian islands. The iron specimens considered here are irregularly rectangular to spherical in shape and bear Arabic inscriptions. One group was sent to the west from Singapore and the other group from Hong Kong, the former was said to have been found in Borneo. Their legends resemble those found on certain Indonesian kris used for currency purposes; their shape could be conceived as a development from the “bean” shaped coins of Srivijaya, analogous to the evolution of the “bullet” coinage used in more westerly regions.
This note is followed by the description of the specimens depicted:
“Spinning top shape with pointed ends and a cylindrical waist. The facetted apices bear ornamental spirals. The waist has an inscription in Arabic letters. The designs are etched, not engraved, struck or cast. . .”
Because Mitchiner mentions only the spheroid items and not the flat types, I wrote to him to inform him of their existence, and, above all, to ascertain his sources and references. His response indicated that he was clearly not at all sure of his attribution and that these famous coins were perhaps nothing of the sort. He put forward a new hypothesis according to which they could be temple money (religious offerings) and asked me by way of conclusion to try to research the subject in order to confirm or not the interpretation published in his work. This response naturally aroused my curiosity and provided further stimulus for my research.
The latter in due course enabled me to confirm two things it appeared first of all that none of the dealers or amateur collectors I questioned seemed to have the faintest idea of the true nature, age or origin of this “money” Equally, it appeared that these objects had spread around the world as recently as AD 1977 and that dealers were offering them m their lists with the same attribution as Mitchiner, whilst a few numismatists were taking an interest Here are a few examples:
— “France Numismatique”, a company located in Mulhouse, offered in its catalogue no 191 of 15 November AD 1981 some “iron money from Borneo with geometric designs” and referred to Mitchiner.
— An American dealer, a specialist in primitive money, offered similar ‘corns’ in his lists (ref World Coins, Scott Semans, list no 40) and also referred to Mitchiner It should be noted that this inquisitive and honest dealer withdrew these items from his catalogue soon after, when he doubted their authenticity He also sent me an interesting letter on this subject for which I was very grateful.
— The “European Union to search for, collect and preserve primitive and curious money” in Landau, West Germany, wrote to me saying that they were familiar with the Borneo iron balls but that “their use and origin remained obscure”.
— Another specialist I consulted, the Rev Richard Plant, wrote that in his view the spheroid objects were money whilst the disc-shaped items were religious medallions to be classed with temple tokens or talismans. He also reported having acquired examples of the disc-shaped ones at the 1979 New York com fair.
— A specialist, working as an expert in Far Eastern art at a large London auction-house, declared that in his view these objects “probably came from Cheribon” and “would date from the 19th century”.
Thus, researching the literature and consulting a fairly large number of competent individuals brought little enlightenment. The publication, at my request, of a photograph by the magazine Arts of Asia (September-October AD 1982) brought little better result.
With my curiosity still unsatisfied, I decided to carry out parallel research in the field by gathering as large a number and variety as possible of these objects to see whether studying the engravings and inscriptions could provide an answer to the questions who had made the artefacts? when? and for what use precisely ?
The Jakarta dealers became quickly aware of my interest and came to offer me some new types, whilst I was also able to acquire specimens in Singapore But it was during a trip to Surabaya in September AD 1981, that I was able to make the finest harvest of these things The town harboured a veritable mine of them Several dealers offered them to me, they came in a procession to the hotel as soon as news of my interest had done the rounds The study of this abundant crop revealed several elements:
— the scale of dimensions and weights was much wider than I thought (for the spheroid types, it went from the size of a small pea to that of a bowl used in pétanque, and for the flat types, the diameter went from that of a French coin to that of a dessert plate.
— the forms were also much more varied than I originally thought rectangular plaques entirely covered with religious inscriptions in Arabic, spear-head shaped objects with inscriptions and designs of Chinese inspiration were added to the balls and discs (which however remained the most common);
— in addition to the “Arab” and “Chinese” characteristics, I came across three very fine balls engraved with Javanese legends and with drawings of people, including an easily recognisable Semar.
The study of all these objects left me rather discouraged in view of the number of contradictory indications:
— the overlapping of Arab, Chinese and Javanese cultural characteristics seemed inexplicable;
— the ‘money’ hypothesis seemed untenable (no consistent weight standard among the 150 or so pieces collected at that
time, large pieces too unwieldy for such a purpose, the absence of earlier documentation etc. );
— the ‘projectile’ hypothesis seemed even less likely, for all these objects appeared to be related and it was difficult to see how flat, rectangular and circular shapes or the ‘spear-heads’ could correspond with such a definition;
— the ‘temple money’ hypothesis or ‘talisman’ remained the most plausible, but this hypothesis needed to be confirmed by the answer to three fundamental questions: who? when? and precisely what for?

A Strange Tale of Talismans — Part 2 by P. R. Bauquis
To try and answer these questions 1 took it upon myself to study the inscriptions. This, however, turned out to be a difficult task for the non-specialist and in the end did not achieve any concrete results for reasons that will become clear later on. Nevertheless, the study did produce some interesting information and this is summarised below.

Study of the inscriptions
Arabic texts
The spherical and disc-shaped objects are generally decorated with brief inscriptions containing the name of Allah, Muhammed or descendants of the prophet. Sometimes the entire Kalima can be found. On the disc-shaped items there are often sequences of figures giving the impression of dates. It is the rectangular plaques that appear most interesting as the texts on them are more extensive.

Javanese texts
Among the specimens I was able to collect, two ‘pétanque balls’ bearing inscriptions in Javanese. The texts are as follows:
Ball 1. “kowe mantep tur setuju ngakal hulet daging kulitmu” which can be translated as “You ought to be certain and agree to think profoundly, as if it were a question of your flesh and your skin.”
Ball 2: “ratuning pengasüi sejatining wong agung” which can be translated as “a generous king is truly an eminent man”. This text is clearly visible in the illustration above. One learned Javanese claimed that this text represented a date in the form of ‘candra sengkala’: Ratu = 1, Pengasih = 6, Sejati = 7, Wong agung = 1. The date would be 1761 A.J. or 1833 A.D. Be that as it may, these texts do not provide any information on the origin or use of the balls on which they are engraved.

Chinese texts
The examination of the Chinese inscriptions was to turn out more interesting whilst at the same time leading me along a number of wrong tracks. I arrived quickly at one conclusion, which, at the time, I considered particularly interesting: all the items bearing inscriptions in Chinese, whether they were tiny ingots less than a centimetre long, large or medium-sized balls, small or large flat pieces, blades or spear-heads, all, without exception, mentioned the name San Po, together with the usual surnames of this great ambassador-navigator San Po Kong, San Po Tai Jin (San Bao Da Ren).
This finding naturally led me to take an interest in the cult dedicated to San Po by certain Indonesian communities of Chinese origin. Alas, the visit to the Chinese temple of Semarang dedicated to San Po produced nothing: not a trace of any of these objects. I had set even greater hope on discovering the key to the mystery at the temple of Ancol (Da-Bo Gong Miao): as a number of the pieces showed a mixture of Islamic and Chinese characteristics, I thought that this half-Chinese, half Islamic temple should lead me to hybrid communities, whose existence I was already picturing in my mind. The fact that San Po was himself a muslim strengthened this hope, as did the fact that one of his lieutenants and his wife were buried in this temple. Alas, this visit, too, proved abortive the caretaker knew who San Po was alright but he had never seen the famous balls or plaques that I showed him.
The translation made by some devoted people of two works in Indonesian about San Po did not provide any clues either, though another publication did maintain my conviction that these objects had an old origin. In effect, I was informed that the magazine Majalah Arkeologi had published an article (vol III, 1-2 Sept -Nov., AD 1980) or a spear-head found at Lombok in AD 1972, analogous to those that I had collected from the dealers (see illustration above. )
It was clear, according to this article written by a historian of repute, Sukarto K. Atmodjo, that the hypothesis of a recent date was not envisaged. The author mentions the name of the discoverer and the approximate date of the find (during the AD 1940s), and concludes that this was an important archaeological discovery Despite the reassurance that this article was able to give me concerning the early date of the iron blades engraved with the name San Po, my examination of the Chinese inscriptions was not to lead to any results that enabled me to answer the questions I continued to set myself, viz. who? when? why?

An Unexpected Conclusion
Somewhat discouraged by so much fruitless effort, by the not inconsiderable number of purchases, and by false leads, I had practically given up my research autumn 1982; my conclusion at that stage was that they had to be talismans, good-luck charms or something similar of probably ancient origin but still being produced (an intermediary had undertaken, for a considerable sum, to get me a specimen with my own initials incorporated into the design!). The condition of certain pieces, with lustrous metal and seemingly brand new, gave strength to this conclusion. Further reinforcement came (and this practically clinched the matter for me) when Henn Chambert-Loir acquired from a dealer in Yogyakarta a lot of brand new good luck charms. These were made of iron or brass, the former etched, the latter engraved and seemed to be the modem day representatives of this family of objects. Amongst them were an iron nail with Arabic inscriptions, a small silhouette of a semar in the same material, a small whip (also of iron) identical to that depicted on a number of my specimens, etc.
Finally it was chance, once again, that came to my aid and provided a more precise conclusion — and a somewhat unexpected one. Passing through Jakarta during September AD 1982, Claude Guillot, a specialist in Indonesian religious matters, took it upon himself to carry out some research on these objects, which I had shown him. While questioning various dealers, he finally managed to get himself taken to a workshop near Surabaya, from where he had been assured certain of these objects came. Imagine his surprise when he found ten or so people working there fabricating the whole range of “talismans” that we had come across from the “oldest” to the “newest”, with designs and inscriptions in Arabic, Chinese or Javanese. Once the owner was assured that his little business was of interest not to a competitor or a dealer, but to a man from a university with no commercial interest in the matter, he told his story.
Some thirty years ago, his father used to work for a cement company near Gresik (north west of Surabaya) where there were scrap-heaps of damaged or split metal balls used in the crushers. One day it occurred to him to take home bit of these balls then to take a wax pipette (of the type used for designing batik). He then proceeded to make some wax inscriptions on the metal before dipping it in acid. As some metal fragments presented a concave surface, he drew on them a fine spiral pattern calling to mind the thumb-print of a supernatural black-smith — an old Javanese myth well-known to our man Satisfied with the results, it then occurred to him to give these objects as presents to friends and neighbours He told them they were very old, magical good-luck charms Later on, these people spoke highly of the virtues of these talismans and called for more. Our man kept his secret to himself and set to work to meet this unexpected demand. His success grew and grew, obliging him to create a veritable workshop where the whole family were employed while carefully maintaining due secrecy. In order to increase the credibility of these talismans, he obtained for himself an old work on Indonesian magic (kitab mujarabat) which enabled him to copy numerous traditional motives known to those initiated into esoteric mysteries.
Thus for a period of some twenty years, his trade developed, the designs and shapes multiplied and the clientele apparently remained exclusively local. Then the inevitable happened, some shrewd middlemen got hold of some specimens and, probably in AD 1977, for the first time, offered these mysterious objects to dealers in Singapore and Hong Kong, whence they arrived in Europe and the United States that same year What happened then is well known.

Epilogue
The account given to Claude Guillot by the man responsible for a talisman workshop probably provides a conclusion to my enquiry. The story as related is compatible with all the observed facts and is thus very likely. The only question that remains is whether the starting date for this industry is exact and whether its creator was not in fact reviving a tradition and a technique that existed previously. Only additional research would provide a definitive answer to this question.

——Article excerpt, adapted and translated from ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY No. 108, 109

Legends Museum declares that it does not own the copyright of the above article published in the ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

物件編號: A67

年代: 公元 1950s- 年

材質 : 鐵

重量: 10.05 g

尺寸: 13.69 x 13.14 mm

製造地: 泗水附近工作室

來源: SBP錢幣拍賣 2023

此物件Peluru Pitunang也被稱為Buntat Besi Pitunang 或 Peluru Bahari

據說沒有人能確切知道這種鐵球錢/護身符的起源地和最早何時開始製作，但在 The world of Islam by Michael Mitchiner 一書中，作者將此類錢幣稱為“印度尼西亞東北部蘇丹國鐵幣(Iron currency of the north-east Indonesian Sultanates)”，並點出了汶萊Brunei和婆羅洲Borneo兩地的地名。

但法國人Pierre-René Bauquis對鐵球錢/護身符的研究最終指出這些鐵球實際上是約公元1950年代起在Gresik(泗水西北部小城)開始製造，並被用來冒充古代的護身符，所以也並不是錢幣。

但Pierre-René Bauquis也指出他並不能確定此種鐵球等相關物件的創造者是否其實是在恢復一個歷史上曾經存在過的傳統和工藝。也只有進一步的研究才能為這個問題提供明確的答案。

法國人Pierre-René Bauquis對鐵球錢/護身符的研究於公元1987年刊登於東方錢幣學會(ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY)的兩篇結果如下:

符咒的奇異故事 – 第1部分

在翻閱某些商家的貨品時，我偶然發現了一些鐵彈和平板刻有阿拉伯、中文，甚至爪哇文字的設計。我的好奇心被激發了起來，我決定找出這些物品的來歷和用途。

接下來的研究使我對人們的心態有了更深的了解，不論是商家、專家，還是其他參與了這個啟發性的偵查遊戲的外國人或印尼人。

一切都始於公元1981年6月，當我在東加里曼丹省的首府巴里巴伴（Balikpapan）一家二手商店翻找時，注意到一把生鏽的鐵球，大小從櫻桃到核桃不等，上面刻有幾何圖案（螺旋、短劃線、點、線等）、某些磨損的設計（星星、臉、龍等）和在某些情況下阿拉伯的文字。這些鐵球旁還有一些相同材質的扁平物件，但設計更加多樣。它們直徑約5厘米，雕刻出一種靈感來自中國和阿拉伯風格結合的奇特圖案。這些設計和刻字的技法乍看之下似乎是蝕刻。商人告訴我它們是達雅族（Dayak）的「子彈」（彈藥）和貨幣。這種說法並沒使我訝異，因為在巴里巴伴的二手商店裡，向路過的遊客(主要是外籍石油工人)，出售的所有東西都被形容為達雅族物品。由於我多年來一直對錢幣學感興趣，並且發現這些物件在美學上很有吸引力，我不需要更多的激勵就決定更認真地研究它們。

漫長的搜索

回到雅加達後，我開始向幾個人詢問這些物品的起源和性質，但沒有得到任何有價值的信息。
初期對文獻的搜索也沒有提供任何信息，令我驚訝的是，在殖民時期發表的著作或文章似乎都沒有提及它們。
特別是，少數涉及印度尼西亞錢幣學的著作對此主題保持沉默，包括 H. C. Millies所著的書（Recherches sur les Monnaies des Indigenes de I’Archipel Indien et de la Péninsule Malaise，海牙 公元 1871 年），其中沒有提到任何類似的內容，儘管直至今日它仍然是這方面的參考工具書。
最終，我找到了一份提供描述並附有大量照片的出版物，毫無疑問，這裡有我們在探討的“球”。 事實上，邁克爾所著的《東方錢幣及其價值——伊斯蘭世界》(Oriental Coins & their Values — the World of Islam”, by Michael Mitchiner, AD 1977) 一書，用了三頁 (474-6)附有大量照片的篇幅來介紹它們，並附有以下註釋：
“印度尼西亞東北部蘇丹國的鐵貨幣”
在汶萊和婆羅洲其他地區，小矩形鐵條被用作貨幣，小矩形鐵條在文萊和婆羅洲其他地區被用作貨幣，此金屬在印度尼西亞東部的其他島嶼被開採和估價。

這裡做為鐵樣本的是不規則的矩形到球形，並帶有阿拉伯銘文。 一組從新加坡送往西方，另一組從香港送往西方，前者據說是在婆羅洲發現的。 它們的銘文與某些印度尼西亞短劍(kris)上的銘文相似 ; 它們的形狀可以被認為是演變自三佛齊(Srivijaya)“豆”形硬幣，類似於更西部地區所使用的“子彈”貨幣的演變。

本註釋後面是對所描繪樣本的描述：

“陀螺形狀，兩端尖銳，中間為圓柱形。兩端面上有裝飾性的螺旋圖案。圓柱中部刻有阿拉伯字母的銘文。設計是蝕刻的，而不是雕刻、壓印或鑄造…”

由於米奇纳只提到了球形物品而沒有提到扁平型的物品，所以我寫信給他告訴他它們的存在，尤其是為了確認他的資料來源和參考文獻。 他的回覆表明，他明顯地對自己的屬性歸類不確定，且這些著名的錢幣也許根本不是錢幣。他提出了一個新的假設，認為它們可能是寺廟的錢幣（宗教供品），並且請求我進行研究，以確認或否定他在著作中的解釋。這個回答自然引起了我的好奇心，並為我的研究提供了進一步的激勵。
後者在適當的時候使我證實了兩件事，首先，我所詢問的經銷商或業餘收藏家似乎都沒有對這種“錢”的真實性質、年代或起源有最一丁點的了解。
同樣地，這些物品似乎在1977年之後迅速傳播到世界各地，商人們在他們的目錄中以和米奇纳相同的屬性歸類來提供它們，而一些錢幣學家則對此感興趣。以下是一些例子：

• “France Numismatique”，一家位於米盧斯Mulhouse的公司，在 公元 1981 年 11 月 15 日的目錄號 191 中提供了一些”來自婆羅洲的帶有幾何圖案的鐵錢” 並提到米奇納。
• 一位美國經銷商，一位原始貨幣專家，在他的目錄中提供了類似的”錢幣”(參考World Coins, Scott Semans, list no.40），也提到了米奇纳。需要指出的是，當這個好奇誠實的經銷商在懷疑它們的真實性時，便從他的目錄中撤回了這些物品。他還給我發了一封關於這個主題的有趣的信，對此我非常感激。
• 德國西部普法茲地區蘭道的 “歐盟尋找、收藏和保存原始和奇特貨幣” 寫信給我，表示他們熟悉婆羅洲的鐵球，但「它們的用途和起源仍然不明」。
• 我諮詢的另一位專家理查德·普蘭特(Rev. Richard Plan)認為，球狀物體是貨幣，而圓盤狀物品則是與寺廟代幣或護身符相關的宗教徽章。他還稱有在1979年的紐約錢幣交易會上獲得了一些圓盤狀物品的樣本。
• 一位在倫敦大型拍賣行擔任遠東藝術專家的行家宣稱，他認為這些物體「可能來自井里汶Cheribon」且「可以追溯到19世紀」。

因此，研究文獻並請教相當多有能力人並未帶來太多啟發。應我的要求，《亞洲藝術》雜誌於（公元 1982 年 9 月至 10 月）刊登了一張(相關的)照片，但效果並沒有好多少(沒什麼人知道)。

因我的好奇心仍然沒有得到滿足，我決定在這個領域進行平行研究，盡可能地大量收集這些物品不同的種類，以研究雕飾和銘文是否能夠提供「是誰製作了這些工藝品」、「何時製作」以及「用途是什麼」這些問題的答案。

雅加達的交易商很快地察覺到了我的興趣，並前來向我提供一些新的種類，同時我也能夠在新加坡獲取到樣本。

但正是在公元1981年9月去泗水Surabaya的一次旅行中，我才獲得了最豐富的收穫。

這座城市確實蘊藏著大量的這些物品。當我對此感興趣的消息傳播出去後，許多家交易商立即形成一個隊伍來到酒店向我提供。

對這豐富的收穫進行研究後，揭示出了幾個要素：

• 尺寸和重量的範圍比我原先想像的要大得多（對於球狀類型，從小豌豆大小到法式滾球中使用的碗的大小不等；對於扁平類型，直徑從法國硬幣大小到甜點盤的大小不等）。
• 形狀也比我原本認為的更加多樣:
  • 完全被阿拉伯文宗教銘文覆蓋的矩形平板
  • 帶有中國風格銘文和設計的矛頭形狀物件，也被添加到了鐵球和圓盤中（儘管鐵球和圓盤仍然最常見）。
• 除了「阿拉伯」和「中國」的特徵外，我還遇到了三顆刻有爪哇銘文和人物圖案（包括一個容易辨識的塞馬Semar）的精美的鐵球。

對於這些所有物品的研究讓我感到有些沮喪，因為存在著許多相互矛盾的跡象：

• 阿拉伯、中國和爪哇文化特徵的重疊看起來無法解釋
• 「貨幣」的假定似乎站不住腳（在當時收集的大約150個物品中，沒有一致的重量標準，大型物品對於這樣的用途來說太笨重，缺乏早期的文獻等…）
• 「發射物(子彈)」的假定似乎更不太可能，因為這些所有物品似乎都有相關聯，很難看出扁平、矩形和圈形或「矛頭」的形狀如何與這樣的定義相對應
• 「寺廟貨幣」假定或「護身符」仍然是最合理的，但這個假定需要通過回答三個基本問題來確認：「由誰製作」、「何時製作」以及「具體用於什麼目的」。

符咒的奇異故事 – 第2部分

為了嘗試去回答這些問題，我決定自己研究這些銘文。 然而這對非專家來說是一項困難的任務，且最終也並沒有取得任何具體的結果，而之所以的原因將在本文後面變得更加清楚。
儘管如此，該研究確實產出了一些有趣的資訊，資訊總結如下。

銘文研究

阿拉伯語文本
球形和圓盤形物體通常有著簡短，包含阿拉、穆罕默德或先知後裔名字的銘文裝飾。有時可以找到完整的伊斯蘭教真言(Kalima)。 圓盤狀的物品上經常有一系列的數字，給人一種數字應代表日期的想法。 矩形平板顯得最有趣，因為它們上面的文本更為詳盡。

爪哇語文本
在我收集到的樣本中，有兩個“法式滾球”上刻有爪哇語銘文。 銘文如下：

• 球 1:
  • “kowe mantep tur setuju ngakal hulet daging kulitmu”
  • “你應該要確信並同意深思熟慮，就像這關乎你肉體和皮膚的問題一樣”
  • “You ought to be certain and agree to think profoundly, as if it were a question of your flesh and your skin”
• 球 2:
  • “ratuning pengasih sejatining wong agung”
  • “一位慷慨的國王確實是一位真正傑出的人”
  • “a generous king is truly an eminent man”

一位瞭解爪哇語的人聲稱，球2 這段文本代表著一個形式為「candra sengkala」的日期: Ratu = 1，Pengasih = 6，Sejati = 7，Wong agung = 1。該日期可能是公元1761年或公元1833年。儘管如此，這些刻在球上的銘文並沒有提供關於這些球的起源或用途等信息。

中文文本
對中文銘文的研究結果更加有趣，同時也讓我走上了一些錯誤的軌道。我很快得出了一個當時我認為特別有趣的結論：所有帶有中文銘文的物品，不論是不到一公分長的小錠、大或中型的球形物品、小型或大型的扁平物件、刀或矛頭，全都無一例外地提到了三保的名字，以及這位偉大的大使兼航海家的慣用姓氏: 三保公San Po Kong, 三保大人San Po Tai Jin (San Bao Da Ren)。

三保公為明朝下西洋的三保太監鄭和

此一發現自然使我對某些印尼華裔社區對三保的崇拜產生了興趣。然而，造訪印尼專門供奉三保的中國廟宇城市「三寶瓏Semarang」卻毫無所獲: 沒有發現我所追尋的這些物品的任何痕跡。我還更寄望能在安卒Ancol的(安卒大伯公廟Da-Bo Gong Miao)找到解開謎團的關鍵: 因為其中一些物品展示了伊斯蘭和中國特色的混合，我認為這個半中國、半伊斯蘭的廟宇應該能引導我找到我已經能在腦海裡想像出來的混合社區。三保本身是個穆斯林，加上他的副官和副官的妻子同時也埋葬在這座廟宇中的事實，加強了我的希望。然而，這次的訪問也以失敗告終: 管理人確實知道三保是誰，但他從未見過我向他展示的那些著名的球體或平板。

一些熱心人士翻譯的兩本關於三保的印尼作品也沒有提供任何線索，但另一本出版物確實增強了我對這些物品具有著古老起源的信念。事實上，我被告知《考古學雜誌》（Majalah Arkeologi）發表了一篇文章（公元1980年9-11月第三卷第一、第二期），介紹了公元1972年在龍目島Lombok發現的一個類似於我從經銷商那裡收集到的矛頭。

很明顯地，根據著名歷史學家Sukarto K Atmodjo所撰寫的這篇文章，很明顯並未提及(物品是)近期的假設。作者提到了發現者的名字和發現的大致日期（公元1940年代期間），並得出這是一個重要考古發現的結論。儘管這篇文章能使我對刻有三保名字的鐵刀為早期的感到放心，但我對中文銘文的研究並沒有帶來任何能夠回答我一直在問自己問題，即「誰」、「何時」、「為什麼」。

意想不到的結論

因徒勞的努力、非常多次的購買，和錯誤線索造成的心灰意冷，我幾乎在公元1982年秋天放棄了我的研究。那時我的結論是它們一定是護身符、幸運符或類似的東西，但可能有古老的起源，卻仍在生產中（一名仲介以相當多的費用給我弄到了一個刻有我名稱縮寫的樣本!）。

某些物品的狀況良好、金屬光澤明亮、看起來像全新，這些事實都強化了我的理論。更進一步的證據（這實際上解決了我的問題）是當 Henri Chambert-Loir 從日惹市Yogyakarta的經銷商那裡購買了許多全新的幸運符。這些幸運符由鐵或黃銅製成，前者蝕刻，後者則鐫刻，看起來像是現代這類物品的代表。其中包括一根帶有阿拉伯文銘文的鐵釘，以及同樣材質的塞馬神Semar剪影和小鞭子(也是鐵做的)，與我所研究的一些樣本上的圖案相同等等。

最後，一次偶然的機會幫助了我，並提供了一個更準確且還是一個有點出乎意料的的結論 。公元1982年9月途經雅加達時，印度尼西亞宗教事務專家Claude Guillot決定對這些我曾對他展示過的物品進行一些研究。在詢問各個經銷商後，他最終得以前往泗水Surabaya附近的一間工作室，並得到保證確定某些物品都來自那裡。

你可以想像一下他的驚訝，當他發現那裡有大約十個人在製作從「最古老」到「最新」的整個「符咒」系列，上面有阿拉伯文、中文或爪哇文的設計和銘文。

當工作室的老闆確定對他的小生意有興趣的，並不是競爭對手或經銷商，而是一位來自大學且對此事沒有商業利益的人，他便傾吐了自己的故事。

大約三十年前，他的父親曾在Gresik(泗水西北部小城)附近的一家水泥公司工作，那裡有一堆曾在破碎機中使用而損壞或裂開的金屬球的廢料。有一天，他突然想到把這些金屬球的一小部分帶回家，然後使用蠟移液器（用於設計蠟染Batik的那種類型）在金屬上進行蠟刻字，之後再浸泡在酸液中。由於一些金屬碎片表面呈凹面，他在上面繪製了一個精細的螺旋圖案，使人聯想到一個超自然的鐵匠指紋(和這個老闆熟知的一個古老爪哇神話有關)。對結果感到滿意後，他突發奇想，把這些物品作為禮物送給朋友和鄰居，並告訴他們這些物品非常古老，是具有魔力的幸運符。後來，這些人對這些符咒的效果讚不絕口，並要更多。

這個老闆保守了這個秘密，並開始努力滿足這種超乎意外的需求。他越來越成功，迫使他不得不建立一個真正的工作室，且全家人都受雇於其中，並謹慎地保持著秘密。為了增加這些符咒的可信度，他為自己找到了一本關於印尼魔法的古老著作(kitab mujarabat)，這本書使他能夠複製許多熟悉神秘學的人所知的傳統圖案。

因此，在約二十年的時間裡，他的業務得到了發展，設計和形狀不斷增加，但客戶群明顯仍然僅限於當地。然後，不可避免的事情發生了，一些精明的中間商得到了一些樣品，並在1977年（可能是首次）將這些神秘物品提供給新加坡和香港的經銷商，從那裡它們抵達了歐洲和美國。之後所發生的事情眾所皆知。

結語

由對此護身符工作室負責的人(工作室的老闆)向克勞德·吉約Claude Guillot提供的描述算是為我的調查提供了結論。所述的故事與所有觀察到的事實相符，因此故事很可能是真實的。

唯一的問題是這個行業的起始日期是否確切，以及它的創造者是否其實是在恢復一個歷史上曾經存在過的傳統和工藝。

只有進一步的研究才能為這個問題提供明確的答案。

——文章擷取改編翻譯自ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY No. 108, 109

本館聲明不具上述刊登於東方錢幣學會(ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY)文章的著作權