SOME UNLISTED COINS OF THE BENGAL PRESIDENCY ‘By Pankaj Tandon” In sorting through a group of Bengal Presidency coins recently, 1 came across few that were not listed in Pridmore™ and so it Seemed wonhwhile 10 bring them to the atention of researchers snd collectors, Fig. 1 Murshidabad rupee, 185, RY 11, 11.53 gm, 23 am “The fist cain (ig) is « Murshidabod rupee in the name of Shab ‘Alam TI, carying a crescent mintmark. The unusual aspect of this ‘coin is thatthe Av date on ii 1185, while the regnal Yea is 11! Since the regnal year 11 of Shah Alam Ul spanned alt 1183-84 (coins with RY 11 are known for both these aH dates .. see Pridmore 109-110), thie con must be 2 mule where an old reverse carrying the RY IT date was used along with a current ait 1185 Fig. 2 Banaras rape, ay 1195, RY 17/23 11.27 gm, 24 mm, with leaf sprig mark Fig. 3 Normal Banaras npee ofa 1195 ‘The second coin (fig. 2) is a Banaras rupee dated av 1195. with the frozen RY 17 along with the current RY 23, Prdimare shows ll the mintmarks and other anciiary marks that he identifies as daroga racks on these coins and shows thatthe AY! 1195 coins Inad 8 new davoga mark. A circle replaced the leaf sprig thatthe entire series had featured, dating back to the pre-Brtsh issues of ‘Awadh. The circle is seen clearly inthe normal att 1195 coin (see 15g.3). However, on the sobject coin (fig.2), the circle is not present, Rather, we have the usual leaf sprig in that position, Yarety not noted by Pridmore. Since the leaf sprig was present in "1 wo thank Pol Stevens fr hepf comment nd or ishing me with a table sowing the dite Ssrbaton of # spiniicant howd of Banas rupees (se note 3) EF Prdmore The Coin of he Brith Commonvelt of Nations, Par 4, India, Volune I: East Inia Company Presidency Seis . 1622-1835, onic: Spink & Son, 1975, years before and after Ai 1195, thie coi fills a gap inthe series and suggests that the cecle minamark was a temporary deviation rather than a eal change n the composition ofthe coin design, Tt seems to me there are two possible explanations for the circle mark and its brie life. One possibility is thatthe Company decided 10 change the droga for the issue, but ended up lunsatisfed with his performance and re-employed the droga of the leaf sprig. The otber is suggested by the fact that, as Pridmore notes, the minage of ait 1195 was panicularly large. There were ‘ver 2.2 million rupees minted at Banaras that year. as compared to just under 670,000 in aii 1194 and just over 250,000 in ant 1196, The daroga of the leaf sprig may not have been able to handle the large demand, and so the Company covld have diversified their sources by retaining the daroga of the circle Original docements in London ght be able to resolve this issbe. Fig. 4 Banaras pee, AH 1198, RY 17225, 11.31 gm, 24 mm The third coin (fig, 4) is another Banaras rupee. This one is dted ait 1198, with a RY of 17725, 2 combination unrecorded by Pridmore or KM.% A curious Feature of the Banaras coinage is that, forthe frst several years of issue. there is only one sa date or each regnal year dave. Since the AM year and RY did not coincide exactly One would have expected to AH years foreach RY. a5 s the ease for the Mursidabad coinage (see Pridmore 87- 113), However, forthe Banaras series, Prdore record only one ‘an year for each RY until RY 26. However, for RY 26 and for ‘mest ofthe years afer that, ridmore records coins with 1Wo AIL dates for cach RY. There ae to AH dates Tor each of the reenal years 26,27, 29, 30, and 33-49 (at which point the RY freezes at 449) Regnal years 28,3) and 32 have only one aH date associated with them. Our coin 3 pushes back the stan of this dual-dating to RY 25, The most likely explanation is thatthe valume of coinage hhad. increased. significantly. As mentioned earlier, Pridmore records a mintage of roughly only a quarter milion in RY 24. But in RY 25, the mintage spiked to nearly 1.8 millon, and it femained well over 1 million for the next two years (RY 26 and 27). The larger output may have necessitated prodoction on a ‘wider range of dates, and therefore both ai dates corresponding 10 the regnal year are recorded. The mintage fell o less than 50,000 Jn RY 28, and this would explain the single ax date fo that year Pridmore does not record the levels of mintage for any of the subsequent yeas, but the evidence of the coins suggests that the ‘mintages mist have been low in RYs 31 and 32, but relatively high inal other years” Fig. 5 Banavas rupee, AH 1200, RY 1727, 11.17 gm, 24 mm 2 This date combination doesnot appear iter ina dtedsbaton ble of TH Banaras rupees, resorded by P. Kalkan and indy forishod 10 ipeby Paul Steven. POF course, Hs also posible that coins with the ising date combinations 120451 end 1205/32 might sll be found, which would be orient with argerminiages inthe RYS 31 and 32. ve| : (New dazogs oak Fig.5 Finally, coin 4 is yet another Banaras rupee, a¥ 1200, RY 17/27, that fills « gep in Pridmore's listing ofthe droga marks on the coins ofthis series, Speifcally, for tt 1200, RY 17227, Pidmore has a question mark in the column of illustrations ofthe droga sarks. Perhaps he did noe have access toa coin which was clear enough for the marks to be seen clearly. Coin 4 here shows the ‘daropa marks clearly, and, in particular, indicates the appearance ‘of anew mark (se fig. 6) in place ofthe leaf sprig. The new mark consisted of a central pelle, surounded by four curved pellets. Pridmore’s table (and my own observation) shows thatthe feat sprig teappeared in RY 28, 0 the 5pellt mark was another short lived one ike the citcle mark of RY 23, AN UNRECORDED DOUBLE TOLA GOLD COIN OF NEPAL, By Nicholas Rhodes Fig. 2obverse Fig. 1 obverse Obv: S11 Sri Sr Trailolya V/ra Vierama/ Saha Deval 1796, Rev. $173/ Bhavdnt in central ciccle, Sr Sr Gorakhandtha in petals around, Diam: 26mm We: 2305 g Fig. reverse Fig. 2 reverse (bv: Sw Sr Se Sure/ndra Vikrama/ Saha Devel 1794 Reve Same die a fast. Diam: 26mm WE: 23.00 ¢ In the Hong Kong Coin Auction (Baldwin, Ma, Gilio & Monetarium, Catalogue 42}, on Thursday, 30° August 2007, remarkable Nepalese gold coin was offered as Lot703 (Fig. thove). Fortunately for me, as the ultimate purchaser, the tataloguer, and presumably the previous owner, did ot realise the fall importance ofthis coin, It was eatalogued as a gold coin of King Surendra, of a rare denomination and sn unrecorded date, 1796 Saka (I874 AD). This description was not fully correct, 35 the coin is in the name, not ofthe king, but of his eldest son, the Ceown Prince, Tailokya Vir Vikram Shah. AS such, this is a completely new and unexpected coin. Two coins were isued in the name ofthe young prince in [771 Saka (1849 ap) when he ‘was ahout two years old, but this new piece was isucd cwenty Five years later and does not obviously celebrate any of the events in is life when coins might have been issued in his aame”. In [860 Ab he was marred to the daughter of the Prime Minister, Jang Bahadur Rana, Lalit Kumari, Then, on 8 August 1875 a0, Lalit Kumari gave birth t 2 son, the forure King Prthsi Vir Vikram Shah. Finally Prince Tealokya died suddenly and in mysterious citcumstances on 30 March 1878 ap, three years before his father and before he could ascend the throne. One can only speculate as to why this coin was stuck in 1874 aD. Gne_ possibility is that the coin. was struck while Jang Bahadue was out of the county, and risked politcal intrigue. fn late 1874 aD, Jang Bahadur lft Kathmandu for his second visit to Europe, the frst having been in 1850-51 ap. Unfortunately, on 3 Feb. 1875 aD, while in Bombay, he was thrown from his horse and sustained ches injuries. It was decided to cancel the visit. and the party retumed to Kathmand soon afte. It could be that this coin was struc for Jang Bahadur to presen t VIP's on bis trip to Europe", to celebrate the fact that the Crown Prince was his son- in-law, or it could have been stuck in Kathmandu as part of a complex and unrecorded plot for Trllokya to replace his father on the throne. Prince Tralokya was a well-educated and cultured individual, and is known to have been involved, willingly oF ftherwise, in. some palace intigues after the death of Jang Bahadur in February 1877 x0, but this was too late forthe issue of this coin The new coin is illustrated atthe head of this article, along, ‘witha coin ofthe stme denomination struck in the name of his Father. King Surendra, dated (794 Saka (1872 a0) (Fig. 2 above). ‘The coins are identical in size and fabric, and indeed share the sume reverse die, so they must have been officially struck in the same mint. The different form of the numeral "9" in the date is also found in silver and copper coins of this date, and isto be txpected. One unexpected feature of the new coin is that the ‘oblique mulling slopes in the opposite way from all the known gold coins i the name of King Surendta (see illustration), and it may be that this was a soeret code to distinguish the coins not Struck inthe name of the ruling King In conclusion, this new coin is a most exciting new discovery, but further historical research is necessary before we can be sure a8 to exactly why, and on what occasion, this unique piece was struck GV 938 & 978, pol and silver respectively ofthis tla weight AS thal Nepalese gold coins from hie ped ths place weuld have teen stk for presentation purposes, on some spd oszsin, rather than snarl ene. as ath ging tha the coy kaown eater gold cin in se name of “ailokga was giving by Jang Bahadur to Queen Vitra during his Hist ‘st 10 Europe, and as given by the Queen tothe Bish Museum. Homever a oe gold coms are Keown ith this dat, so Jang Babar tid no sre he Sod coin oe peentaon dug his ip. se seems {fo have doe in peti fori exer vst vo Europe 1° The historical background foc this acl largely taken fom Nepal Under he Rawas by Adan Saver, Sitingoune, UK, 1993, 5 the provenance o hen gives no hint the easoa for its iste tu was teponely consigned for auction By a British con dak, but is ‘ati istry is wot ¥nown