East India Company, Bombay Presidency, Early coinages: Mughal style, silver Fifth-Rupee for the Malabar Coast in the name of Shah Jahan II (1131h/May-August 1719) but struck under the auspices of Muhammad Shah (1131-61h/1719-48), Mumbai, type A/I, yr 1 [1719], sikka mubarak badshah shah jahan 5 [The auspicious coin of the victorious emperor Shah Jahan 1/5th], rev. zarb munbai sanah ahd julus maimanat manus [Struck at Bombay in the 1st year of tranquil prosperity], 2.29g/1h (Prid. 34 [not in Sale]; Stevens 7.19; KM. 270). About extremely fine £70-£90

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

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SNC (London) November 1980 (9340), ticket.

Owner’s ticket.

The earliest British-inspired silver coins circulating in the Malabar Coast region were introduced c. 1719-20 and, though they bear the name of Shah Jahan II, were almost certainly issued in the reign of Mohammed Shah. The extensive series of 18th century ‘velli fanams’ or ‘billies’ have been the subject of much detailed research by Shailendra Bhandare and Paul Stevens (cf. The Coinage of the Bombay Presidency, p.329 et seq.), who have suggested a chronological order based on style, with the title of the Moghul emperor and the regnal year each coin bears being of secondary significance and complicated by the ‘frozen date’ sequence employed