Description
British East India Company, the Madras Presidency, Gold ‘star’ Pagoda (3.43g, 11mm), Madras city mint 1740-1806 AD. Obverse: Half-length figure of Vishnu facing forward, cross of beads either side. Reverse: Star in relief surrounded by granulated field which forms a circle (rounded edges around star). Stevens-1.11; Pridmore-9; KM-303. Light flan flaw to reverse, otherwise near perfectly centred for the flan shape with a full figure of Vishnu and nearly all flanking crescent figures, desirable as such, Extremely Fine.
The Pagoda was a standard gold coin of the Indian subcontinent, struck by various dynasties in medieval southern India as well as by several European East India Companies. Specifically, the British East India Company gold Pagoda struck by the Madras Presidency, one of the three administrative sub-divisions, became a major bullion piece of the 18th century, and was struck to a weight of 3.41 grams of 82.3% fineness, and had a face value of between 3.5-3.53 rupees (100 pagodas to 350-353 rupees). Due to its high mintage and widespread use, the Madras pagoda was one of the monetary denominations chosen by Philip Gidley King, the Governor of New South Wales, for the Australian Money Proclamation of 1800 – Australia’s first monetary system. In order to retain coinage within the Australian colonies, each ‘Proclamation coin’ was given a high face value – the Gold Pagoda was revalued to Eight Shillings.