The Puddester Collection

East India Company, Bombay Presidency, Early coinages: Mughal style, gold Mohur in the name of Muhammad Shah (1131-61h/1719-48), Mumbai, 114[1]h, yr 11 [1729-30], sikka mubarak badshah ghazi muhammad shah [The auspicious coin of the victorious emperor Muhammad Shah], rev. zarb munbai sanah 11 julus maimanat manus [Struck at Mumbai in the 11th year of his reign of tranquil prosperity], 10.95g/8h (Prid. – [not in Sale]; Stevens 2.12; KM. –; F 1545). Test mark on edge, otherwise about extremely fine with some original brilliance, exceptionally rare £15,000-£20,000

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

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Bt in London July 2007.

Two owner’s tickets and envelope.

Following permission granted to the Bombay council of the Company in January 1717 to strike Mughal-style rupees, gold mohurs were occasionally issued bearing similar designs. Perhaps only eight other mohurs in the name of Muhammad Shah are known – namely one of year 8, four of year 11 illustrated on the Stevens website and one each of years 15 (Prid. 2) and 29 (Prid. 3) formerly in the collection of John Barton Caldecott (1861-1947), the principal portion of which was sold by Sotheby’s in London in June 1912, these coins being lots 58 and 59 in that sale, which was catalogued by Caldecott himself. The eighth specimen, offered as lot 323 in the Oswal auction of 9 August 2014 in Bombay, displays no visible regnal year, perhaps deliberately