The Puddester Collection

East India Company, Bombay Presidency, Later coinages: Moghul style, silver Half-Rupee, Surat, 1800-15 issue, in the name of Shah ‘Alam II (1173-1221h/1759-1806), yr 53 [1810-11], sikka mubarak badshah ghazi shah alam [The auspicious coin of the victorious emperor Shah Alam], privy mark 1, rev. zarb surat sanah 53 julus maimanat manus [Struck at Surat in the 53rd year of tranquil prosperity], 5.72g/1h (Prid. – [not in Sale]; Stevens –; cf. KM. 211.1). Very fine with a clear regnal year, exceptionally rare, perhaps no others known of this date
£200-£400

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

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Collection

Owner’s ticket.

Stevens only lists years 44-52 for the half-rupee, but 43-53 for the rupee. Only coins with the frozen regnal year 46 can be definitively attributed to the East India Company; the issuer of coins with other regnal years is still uncertain and could be the local nawabs, the French or the Marathas (see Paul Stevens, The Coinage of the Bombay Presidency, pp. 304-5)