To me "in treasure" suggests that these were luxury goods seized by plunder, for instance by privateers. The sentences preceding that one might make it clearer.
Thanks for your kind involvement, and sorry for not providing the context. I have edited and added the sentences. Plea
"The Dutch alone imported an annual average of 1.28 million florins in treasure during the 1660s, and 2.87 million florins in the 1710s."
What does treasure precisely mean here? Is there a similar usage reference?
The reference is from R M Eaton's The rise of Islam and the Bengal frontier.
Thanks.
Context:
"One consequence of this manufacturing boom was that substantial quantities of silver were attracted from outside the province, whether carried by European or Asian merchants. In 1516 Bengali ships carrying local textiles to Burma brought mainly silver back to the delta.[27] And in the 1550s the Portuguese found themselves shipping so much treasure to Bengal that the value of silver currency in Goa actually fluctuated with their sailing seasons to Bengal and Malacca.[28] From the second half of the seventeenth century on, we have precise figures in this matter. The Dutch alone imported an annual average of 1.28 million florins in treasure during the 1660s, and 2.87 million florins in the 1710s.[29] To this must be added the imports of the English East India Company, which in 1651 had also established a trading factory in Hooghly. Between 1709 and 1717 the two companies together shipped cargoes averaging Rs. 4.15 million in value into Bengal annually, 85 percent of which was silver.[30] Advanced to Bengali agents, merchants, or weavers, this treasure was absorbed into the regional economy, adding considerably to the existing stocks of rupee coinage already in circulation.[31] All the while, the overland import of silver by Asian merchants continued until the very end of Mughal rule in the delta.[32]"
