Description
British East India Company, the Bengal Presidency, Silver Rupee (11.65g, 26mm), ‘frozen’ Regnal Year 19, Calcutta mint (named ‘Murshidabad’) circa 1793-1818 AD, struck in the name of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Obverse: Legend in Persian, naming the emperor and Hijri year, transliterated as “sikka zad bar haft kishwar sāya fazl ilāh hāmī dīn Muhammad shāh ‘ālam bādshāh”. Reverse: Legend as obverse, naming the mint as ‘Murshidabad’ and the regnal year, transliterated as “zarb murshīdābād sanah 19 julūs maimanat mānūs”. Edge: Oblique right grain milling. Stevens-4.18. Deeply toned with an overall grey supplemented with darker shades around the periphery, despite an obverse flan flaw and a few adjustment marks the offered piece is quite handsome in hand, Extremely Fine.
The obverse Persian legend is stated in full and has an English translation of “defender of the religion of Muhammad, Shah ‘Alam Emperor, Shadow of the divine favour, put his stamp on the seven climes”. The reverse Persian legend is stated in full and has an English translation of “struck at Murshidabad in the 19th year of his reign of tranquil prosperity”.
The Rupee was the standard silver coin prolifically minted throughout the early-modern history of the Indian sub-continent and can trace its roots back to as early as the Mauryan Empire in the 4th – 3rd century BC as a coin called the “rūpyarūpa”. During the time of the Mughal Empire, the use of the rupee was continued and standardized with other metals, namely the gold mohur and bronze anna – of note, there were fifteen rupees to a gold mohur. Although the offered piece is an Indian coin struck by the British East India Company in their administrative sub-division of the Bengal Presidency, the ‘frozen’ regnal year 19 silver rupee 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 Silver Rupee was revalued to Two Shillings Six Pence. This is approximately 4 pence higher then if the rupee was spent within England.