The Puddester Collection (Part I)

East India Company, Bengal Presidency, Farrukhabad Mint: Second phase, silver Rupee in the name of ‘Shah ‘Alam II (1173-1221h/1759-1806), frozen yr 45 [1806-19], sikka zad bar haft kishwar saya faz 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], additional pellet at lower right, rev. zarb farruckabad sanah 45 julus maimanat manus [struck at Farrukhabad in the 45th year of his reign of tranquil prosperity], edge grained right, 11.16g/12h (Prid. 314 [Sale, lot 655]; Stevens 8.105; KM. 69); silver Quarter-Rupee, similar, sikka shah alam badshah [coin of Shah ‘Alam emperor], rosette of pellets above, rev. zarb farruckabad sanah 45 [struck at Farrukhabad in the 45th year], central dot in lower group of pellets, edge grained right, 2.80g/12h (Prid. 316 [Sale, lot 655]; Stevens 8.107; KM. 73) [2]. First good very fine, second about extremely fine and toned, scarce £100-£150

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

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Collection

First bt R.C. Senior (Glastonbury, UK) April 1982
Second F. Pridmore (Taunton, UK) Collection; SNC February 1981 (1271), ticket.

Owner’s tickets.

Farrukhabad was ceded to the Company by the Nawab in June 1802, in return for an annual financial allowance. Its mint was in poor condition, so was rebuilt and coinage of silver and copper continued with until 1806 when Robert Blake senior (†1817), the former disgraced mint master at Patna, took up post and secured for it machinery that had been due to be sent to Madras. Blake, a chemist by profession, owned a significant library about minting and coining processes which was acquired by the government after his death. Between 1807 and 1810 the mint was fully mechanised. A small coinage of copper in 1816 accompanied regular silver issues, but in the wake of the Third Maratha War the Calcutta mint committee recommended closing the mint and moving coin production to Benares, once that facility became capable of producing Farrukhabad rupees. The process took several years, and it was not until April 1824 that the Farrukhabad mint closed and its equipment sent to Saugor