Description
British East India Company, the Bengal Presidency, Gold Quarter Mohur (3.08g, 16.5mm), ‘frozen’ AH 1204 regnal year 19, naming ‘Murshidabad’, struck at Calcutta mint circa 1793-1818 AD in the name of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Obverse: Legend in Persian, naming the emperor and Anno Hegirae year, “sikka shāh ‘ālam bādshāh ghāzī, 1204”. Reverse: Legend as obverse, naming ‘Murshidabad’ and regnal year, “zarb murshīdābād sanah 19”. Stevens-4.7; Prid-64; Friedberg-1539. Certified and graded by NGC as Mint State 61 (includes unique design for the Puddester collection on the encapsulation). A most handsome quarter mohur, a far less common denomination for Calcutta mint’s second milled issues, desirable as such, lustrous when viewed in hand.
Provenance: Robert R. Puddester Collection, Part I, Noonans of Mayfair.
The obverse Persian legend has an English translation of “Coin of Shah ‘Alam the Victorious Emperor, 1204”. The reverse Persian legend has an English translation of “Struck at Murshidabad in the 19th year”.
Although the gold Mohur was the chosen money piece mentioned within the Australian Proclamation document of 1800 by Philip Gidley King, the Governor of New South Wales, the fractionals and higher denominations are accepted as part of the ‘wider series’. Therefore, within Colonial Australia, the quarter Mohur had a theoretical revaluation to 9 Shillings 3 Pence.