The Puddester Collection (Part I)

East India Company, Bombay Presidency, Early coinages: English design, silver Anglina, type I, yr 7 [1672], arms of the Company, hon : soc : ang : ind : ori · [The Honourable English Company of the East Indies] around, rev. a : deo : pax : & : incrementvm : [Peace and increase cometh from God] around mon : bombay anglic regims Ao7o [Money of the English Government of Bombay year 7] in five lines in centre, 11.53g/3h (Prid. 12 [Sale, lot 446]; Stevens 1.2; KM. 135). A stunning coin, extremely fine and toned, extremely rare and almost certainly the best specimen available to commerce [certified and graded NGC AU 55] £50,000-£70,000

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

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Collection

Major-General Henry Hyde, R.E. (1824-87, Master of the Calcutta Mint 1861-76)
H. Montagu Collection, Sotheby Auction (London), 3-4 May 1892, lot 69 [by private treaty from H. Hyde]
J.G. Murdoch Collection, Sotheby Auction (London), 21-30 July 1903, lot 49
J.B. Caldecott Collection, Sotheby Auction (London), 11-13 June 1912, lot 39
V.M. Brand (Chicago, IL) Collection
With Friedberg Capital Coin Co (Long Island City, NY)
RARCOA Auction 15 (Chicago, IL), 24-7 February 1972, lot 1689
With Mayfair Coins (London)
F. Pridmore Collection, Part II, Glendining Auction (London), 18-19 October 1982, lot 446 [bt Spink November 1973], ticket.

Owner’s ticket.

It is believed that two other specimens are known:
1). British Museum E 3883, the Pridmore plate coin (same dies);
2). P.J.E. Stevens Collection (Stevens plate coin), ex Sir John Wheeler (lot 71), V.M. Brand (Spink 50, lot 217), B. Roth Part II (lot 443), H.H. Allan (lot 382) (different rev. die).

On 27 March 1668 Charles II, by letters patent, transferred the island of Bombay from the Crown to the Company. By late 1668 Company officials had requested tools for making coins from London, but it was not until 1671 that its directors agreed that Gerald Aungier (1640-77), president of the Surat mint, would establish a mint on Bombay island. By the autumn of 1672 Aungier was in Bombay and the first coins, anglinas, copperoons and tinnies, were struck in December 1672. These bear the year 7 date, reckoned from February 1665, when Bombay was ceded to the English crown by Portugal. The new coin met with opposition on the mainland, principally because citizens were used to a combination of Portuguese coins and Surat rupees and it was perceived that the latter were of slightly higher alloy and weight. A further objection was the lack of any regal title, which was partly rectified in the second issue of 1674