East India Company, Bengal Presidency, Calcutta Mint: Second milled issue, copper Pice (3), in the name of ‘Shah ‘Alam II (1173-1221h/1759-1806), frozen regnal yr 37 [1796], sanah julus 37 shah alam badshah [in the 37th year of the emperor Shah ‘Alam], revs. ek pai sikka/yek pai sikka/ek pai sikka [one pai sikka], 30.2mm (2), 9.01g/12h, 8.44g/12h, 29.5mm, 8.53g/12h (Prid. 204 [Sale, lot 629]; Stevens 4.29; KM. 52) [3]. About extremely fine, attractive examples £60-£80

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Puddester Collection.

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Collection

E. Wodak (Melbourne) Collection
C.E. Pitchfork Collection, Part III, Noble Numismatics Auction 48 (Melbourne), 11-13 July 1995, lot 2142 (part) [acquired c. 1970-1]
R.A. Climpson Collection, Noble Numismatics Auction 85B (Melbourne), 25 July 2007, lot 2154 (part).

Owner’s tickets.

Following the major currency reform in 1793 and the agitation for a new copper coinage by the assay master at Patna, the Governor-General of Bengal, Sir John Shore (1751-1834), considered the matter at some length and proposed regulations for a new copper coinage which would be struck exclusively at Calcutta and bear trilingual values. Specimens of the two denominations were approved in November 1795, bearing the recently completed 37th year of Shah ‘Alam’s reign, but the proposed method of producing them, using copper from melted Prinsep and other issues, was found to be more difficult than first envisaged. By employing sheet copper and reducing the weight of the coins, production began in April 1796 and by October all of the available copper had been converted.

Of almost 100 coins of the variety Prid. 204 (Stevens 4.29) once owned by Mr Puddester, he distinguished three distinct groups; large flan, 30+mm (9+g), medium flan, 29-30mm (8-9g) and small flan, 27.5mm (7-8g). See also next lot