The Puddester Collection

East India Company, Bengal Presidency, Calcutta Mint: post-1761 issues, silver Trial or Pattern Rupee in the name of ‘Shah ‘Alam II (1173-1221h/1759-1806), 1174h, yr 2 [July-August 1761], unsigned, naming Murshidabad, sikka zad bar haft kishwar saya fazl ilah hami din muhammad shah alam badshah [defender of the religion of Muhammad, Shah ‘Alam emperor, shadow of the divine favour, put his stamp on the seven climes], rev. zarb mubarak murshidabad sanah 2 julus maimanat manus [struck at Murshidabad in the 2nd year of his reign of tranquil prosperity], edge plain, 27mm, 11.61g/6h (Prid. – [not in Sale]; Stevens 2.56, this coin illustrated; Stevens website image 1360, this coin; KM. –). Good very fine and well-struck on a full flan, toned, a very important coin of the highest rarity and believed the only known specimen £4,000-£5,000

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

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Collection

P.J.E. Stevens Collection, Part III, Stephen Album Auction 25 (Santa Rosa, CA), 19-21 May 2016, lot 1240, label.

Owner’s ticket and envelope.

Literature:
Illustrated in Paul Stevens, The Coins of the Bengal Presidency, p.46
Illustrated in Paul Stevens, The Coins of the English East India Company, Presidency Series: A Catalogue and Pricelist, p.17.

It is thought that, following the decision by the Nawab in the summer of 1761 to strike coins at Murshidabad in the name of Shah ‘Alam II with the regnal year 2, the Calcutta Council agreed to strike rupees at their own mint but bearing the mubarak [auspicious] moniker. Within a short space of time it appears that a decision was taken to copy the coins of Murshidabad as closely as possible and, in subsequent years down to 1777, a complex series of pellet privy marks, still yet to be fully understood, is likely to have determined which coins derived from which mints