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Brt-1832h. Wt = 11.0g |
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Photo from
Heinz Bons |
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Photo
from Shailen Bhandare (from Ashmolean collection), who wrote: The mint at Delhi was closed for regular coinage soon
after 1819 by orders of the East India Company, without the offer of any
compensation to the Mughal Emperor (referred to as the "King of
Delhi" by the British); however, a small sum of money was sanctioned as
pension for its employees. After this, coins were occasionally produced as 'Nazarana' or
specially struck presentation issues, so that the British Resident could
present these to His Majesty on the occasion of the accession of his
anniversary "to satisfy his feelings" (See Sanjay Garg's
informative paper on the closure of Delhi mint - https://www.academia.edu/.../The_Closure_of_Delhi_Mint_AD...)
This procedure, too came to and end in 1842 when the last of
these presentation coins was struck - dated in the 6th RY of Bahadur Shah II,
alias 'Zafar'. This was the formal end of any coinage being produced at 'Dar
al-Khilafah Shahjahanabad'. (The
mint was briefly revived during the Revolt of 1857 at the instance of Bakht
Khan, the commander-in-chief and Prince Muhammad Khizr Sultan but no
specimens struck at this time survive). |