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The
activity of the Banāras mint can usefully be divided into five periods
for the purpose of this summary. Firstly, from 1775 to 1805 the mint was farmed
to local contractors, and there was little direct involvement of British
officials, although in the early 1790s, the British Resident had nominal
control. The coins produced during this period consisted of gold mohurs,
silver rupees and fractions of both these, and also
crude copper pice. In the early 1800s, complaints from a particular native
official within the mint, concerning malpractices of the most senior native
officials (the darogah and the assay master), meant that the management
controls were reviewed and, in 1803, a European mint/assay master was
appointed, although he did not take effective action until the end of 1804.
This introduced the second phase of mint operations. This second phase fell into the period
c1805 to 1812, when the mint was directly under the control of a European
mint/assay master, although the style of the silver coins produced did not
change significantly. Copper coins were sent from The fourth period began with the
introduction of machinery into the Banāras mint, providing the ability
to produce milled coins, starting in 1815, although the methods used still
included manual production of the blanks. Rupees with the mint name
Banāras continued to be produced, and machine-struck trisuli pice also
began to be manufactured. Farrukhābād rupees were also struck
during this period. The final period, from about 1820
until the mint closed in 1830, saw the introduction of yet more machinery and
the cessation of the issue of the Banāras rupee, leaving the
Farrukhābād rupee as the only precious metal output of the mint.
Throughout the fourth and fifth periods, Banāras continued to produce
copper trisuli pice. |
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The
EIC first acquired Banāras in 1764 when Shāh ‘Ālam II issued a
firman assigning to the Company the Zamindari of Ghazipur, Banāras etc.,
held by Raja Balwant Singh, the Company having undertaken to put Shāh
‘Ālam in possession of the kingdom of Awadh [1]. However,
by article 5 of the Treaty of Allahābād, The first reference found to the
British becoming involved with the mint was in 1766 when it became clear that
a certain Mr Marriott had rented the mint, although he was not allowed to do
so within the rules of the EIC [3]: 73. In August last we
received a letter from Mr Marriott, chief of the factory at Benaris, containing a representation and complaint
against Mr Bolts, the second, in consequence of his having of his own
authority confined a merchant of the city in his house for two days. Mr Bolts
immediately gave in his answer and at the same time set forth many
circumstances in complaint against Mr Marriott and his banian, particularly
for renting the mint and exercising the offices of aumeeny, phousdarry and
cutwall contrary to the orders of the Board. 75.
Messrs Marriott and Bolt having accordingly repaired to Calcutta, were
summoned before the Board and interrogated particularly on the subject of the
charges exhibited against each other; the Board thereupon reconsidering the
whole proceedings unanimously agreed that Mr Marriott was blameable in
renting the mint knowing not only that it was against the orders of the Board
for a servant of the Company to hold any post or employment under the country
government but that it was included in the King’s grant of the Benaris country and therefore that he should bring to the
Company’s credit the money he paid for it to the King together with the
advantages arising on restamping the specie… The
EIC took more permanent possession of Banāras in May 1775, but the mint
does not feature in the records of the regular meetings of the Calcutta
Council, presumably because it continued to be run by native officials and
there was no direct management from |
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Gold
mohur dated RY 18. The earliest date presently known Barlow wrote [5]: The gold coin fluctuates
in its price in the same manner as the copper, the princes of The
component parts of the gold weights are the same as the silver. Gold however
is bought and sold by the tola. Silver, since the time of Chyte Sing, by the
[bhurrce] or its own sicca weight. In the The
weight of the gold mohur at the institution of the mint was 9-4. The present
weight is two chowuls less, or It
contains an alloy of 7 rutees per tola or per gold mohur 5 ruttees 6 chowuls,
that is in one gold mohur weighing 606 chowuls is 560 chowuls of pure
gold & 46 of alloy of ¼ copper and
¾ silver [i.e. 92.4%
gold]. He gave the number of mohurs issued from the mint in each
year from the time the British acquired it [6]. The
data he presented is by RY of Shah ‘Alām II, and the equivalent AD &
AH dates have been added. It is also true that the numbers are given in whole
mohurs, and there is no indication of what, if any, fractions were issued. A
later report (see below) gives the mint output and contains fractions of a
mohur (although the figures have been rounded for simplicity), indicating
that coins of denominations below a single mohur were issued. However, this
must have been a rare occurrence because only one half mohur is known to
exist (see Cat. No. 7.24 ), and no other gold fractions have yet been
discovered.
A
later report gives the numbers of gold coins issued by AD date (the AH &
RY dates have been added) [7]: Output of the
Banāras mint (rounded to the nearest whole unit)
Under European
Superintendence…
Gold
half mohur No
gold coins appear to have been produced after this and, in 1812, a regulation
made it clear that no further gold coins would be produced [8]: …Section XXX,
whereas the gold coin denominated gold mohurs has never obtained an extensive
circulation in the province of Benares, in consequence of silver having been
the general measure of value, and whereas the coinage of gold mohurs has
accordingly been long since discontinued, it is therefore not judged
necessary at present to establish a gold coinage at Benares, and the gold
mohur shall continue to be circulated as heretofore, agreeably to the
established usage of this country… and this is
confirmed in the following statement of January 1812 [9]: …In reference to the small
quantity of gold which has been brought to the Benares mint during twenty
years, His Lordship in Council approves, as suggested by the Board of
Commissioners, that the mint not be open at present for the coinage of gold
bullion. |
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Silver
rupee, AH 1190, RY 17 Barlow’s report (1787) states: In the 17th
year the mint was transferred by the Company to Chyte Sing. The Rajah engaged
to coin rupees of 9m 6r 6ch weight and 18 chowuls fine, and to continue the
die of the 17th sun, in order to put an end to the confusion in
the currency of the country occasioned by the annual alteration of the value
of the coin. All rupees therefore, coined in the Upon
the expulsion of Rajah Chyte Sing in the 23rd year, the mint
remained for a month and a half under charge of Rajah Mahae Narain, after
which it was delivered over to the Resident under whose superintendence it at
present continues… …The
rupee current in the district of Benares may therefore be classified under
the general heads of sunaut & sicca, the former coined under the Moghul
provinces, and the latter since the 17th year of the reign of Shah
Aulum, when the mint was ceded to the Company by the Vizier & then
transferred to Chyte Sing… …A
reference to the records of the mint enabled me to ascertain the number of
rupees coined since the 9th year of Shah Aulum, but no accurate
judgement can be formed of the quantity of any particular species in
circulation previous to the time of Farruckseer. …Near
two lack of rupees are annually melted down for the manufacture of lace and
rich stuffs, for which
As discussed in earlier chapters about the The great influence
which the bankers have acquired over the circulation of the country is
founded on the fluctuation of the current value of the sunaut and sicca
rupees. This value is regulated not only by the quantity of silver contained
in the coin, but also by other adventitious circumstances, which the bankers,
through the medium of their agents residing in every part of the country are
enabled to convert to their own advantages. The
loss and inconvenience resulting to the public from the currency of these
various kinds of rupees, early attracted the notice of Government. The
superintendents of the mint were accordingly directed to continue the same
die (at Calcutta the 19th and at Benares the 17th sun)
it being imagined that in a course of time all the old rupees would be
brought to the mint and be recoined into siccas. This measure, tho’ highly
expedient, was of itself inadequate to the reform of all those abuses which
had introduced themselves into the coin during the later periods of the Mogul
government. In consequence, every part of the community is still subject to
the impositions of the shroffs, whose exorbitant gains may be reckoned
amongst the greatest impediments to the general prosperity of the country. In
order to explain this more fully, it is necessary to mention that in almost
every pergannah or district in the Company’s dominions, a particular species
of rupee is current in which the Zemindars and husbandmen pay their rents to
the farmer appointed by Government. In Gazipore, the revenues are collected
from the ryots in the old debased rupees of the 4th, 5th
& 6th of Aulumgur the second. In some parts of Behar, 10 sun
rupees are current, in others, seven, five, 11 & 12 suns. These rupees,
though sonaats of a very old date, being in constant demand for the
circulation of these particular districts, always sell there for more than
their intrinsic value. This value is in fact put upon them by the bankers,
who by means of their agents buy up these sonaat rupees in different parts of
the country, and send them to the districts where they are current. The ryot
being obliged to pay his rents in the particular species of rupee current in
his pergannah, the banker is enabled to rate it at what value he pleases. If
the farmer has engaged to pay his revenue to Government in siccas, the banker
charges him nearly the actual difference between sunaats and siccas. If in
sunaats, the banker takes the same batta from the Collector for bills on Whenever
one species of rupee is collected from the ryot & another paid into
Government, the aumil’s banker, who has the exchanging of them, will always
contrive to take a considerable advantage for himself. The aumil being
generally in his debt from kists advanced to Government, & ryots for
money to pay the aumil, the whole circulation of the country is in his power.
Such is the excess to which the shroffs have carried this trading in coin,
that if a rupee is bought from a banker and sent to him for sale immediately
after, he will [not] receive it back without demanding a profit between the
sale and purchase. Accordingly in the Nirhnamahs or price currents of the
markets, there are two prices for rupees inserted, the price of purchase
(what the banker will give), and the price of sale (the rate at which he will
sell). So long therefore as the bankers are enabled to make such large
profits on the buying and selling of sunaut rupees, it cannot be expected
that they will ever carry them to the mint, where the quantity of alloy in
the coin, and the duties on the recoinage would subject them to a heavy loss. Not only did the shroffs make profits from currency
exchange, but the fact that the Government however
sustain still greater losses by the currency of a variety of rupees. The
principal of these is in the remitting of the revenue to the Presidency. Barlow gave the number of rupees issued from the mint in each
year from the time the British acquired it (AD & AH dates have been
added) [10]:
A
later report gives the numbers of silver coins issued by AD date (the AH
& RY dates have been added) [11]
Output of the
Banāras Mint (rounded to the nearest whole unit)
In
1791 there seems to have been a crisis in that the amount of bullion brought
to the mint fell considerably and this caused much hardship to the mint
workers. The proposed solution was to reduce the charges on coining and
thereby encourage merchants back to the mint [12]: The mint receipts at
this place have fallen this year so very short of what they have generally amounted
to that I think it my duty to apprize the Board thereof that such orders may
be passed upon the subject as may appear proper. This
diminution in the receipts being of course solely owing to the little
recoinage and still less bullion that has been of late brought to the mint.
This is again attributed by the natives to the difference that has taken
place in the course of exchange and to the merchants finding their profit in
carrying in their money and bullion to Nagpore and other places. However
this may be, I found it necessary in January last to make a considerable
reduction in that part of the Mint Master’s establishment that is paid in
ready money to admit to the receipts of that department at all keeping pace
with the required disbursements. But
this has only proved a partial alleviation of the evil, for most of the
workmen in the mint are paid by a participation in the duties on the coinage,
from the almost entire suspension of which they have with their families
fallen into the greatest distress, in so much that they lately by their
importunity prevailed on Bhewanny Doss (one of the most respectable bankers
of Benares) to propose as the means of inducing the owners of bullion to
bring it for coinage to this mint, and thereby to supply the workmen with
their usual subsistence, that the coinage duties should be wholly given up… …As
however all duties on the coinage at the Calcutta mint are, I believe,
excused, and as more bullion appears by the intimation in the late gazettes,
to be brought to it than can readily be coined, it may perhaps be worthy the
consideration of Government how far the 2 mints at the Presidency and at
Benares should be placed on a footing with regard to the charges of coinage
to individuals. The
proposal to reduce the mint charges for the time being was approved, although
the Resident at Banāras, Mr Duncan, was not exactly sure by what amount
he should reduce them [13]. In
the end it was decided that consideration should be given to putting the
charges at Banāras on the same footing as those at Calcutta, a subject
considered of sufficient import that London should be informed [14]. |
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In
December 1800 a letter arrived in Calcutta from the Collector at Banāras
accompanied by the translation of a submission from a mint employee named
Deriaoo Sing Chowdry, who accused the mint darogah and assay master of fraud [15]: Enclosed I beg to transmit
to you a copy and translate of an arzee presented to me by Deriaoo Sing
Chowdry of the mint and others belonging to that department. On
receipt of this representation I appointed an aumeen to enquire into the
circumstances stated therein, and from his reports to me the greatest
irregularities appear to have been committed by the Mint and Assay Masters,
but I find without melting down some of the rupees it cannot be ascertained
if more than the prescribed quantity of alloy has been mixed with the bullion,
and for this purpose I am humbly of opinion that a scientific man should be
deputed to Benares by Government, or that I may be allowed to send some of
the rupees to Mr Blake, the late mint Master at Patna, for his report on
them. Should
it be thought necessary to appoint an European Gentleman to the charge of the
mint at Benares, I beg leave to suggest the advantage that in my opinion
would ultimately result to Government by having rupees coined here of the
same standard as the Behar sicca rupees… Arzee of Deriaoo Sing
Chowdry of the mint and others You being desirous that
no acts which may be for the disadvantage of Government be practiced in
opposition to orders, on the contrary that in every case their advantage be
considered, and I being an old and grateful servant with a view to their
good, I now lay before you the following representation. That Omba Shunker,
daroghah of the mint at Benares, Govind Doss, assay master, Bunseedhur Coiner
(durab), have collusively peculated and embezzled public money to the amount
of thousands of rupees and still continue such practices… I therefore hope
that you will have the goodness to appoint a trusty aumeen together with your
petitioner for the purpose of regulating the business of Government, and of
enquiring into the abuses which have been committed and your petitioner will
prove the amount of the money embezzled by the daroghah and the assay master
as below stated, to the aumeen who will give a full report upon the case to
you... The Governor General asked for samples of Banāras
rupees to be sent to That the Acting
Magistrate of the City of Benares be directed to send down to the Presidency
specimens (taken indiscriminately) of the coin at present in circulation at
Benares, transmitting three or four of the coins issued in each year for some
years past… Several lots of coins, both silver and gold, were sent to
Calcutta and by February 1801, the assay master was able to report that he
could find no difference between the lots that were supposed to be
adulterated and those that were supposed to be normal [16]. The collector of Banāras
continued to investigate the matter, although he found great difficulty in
getting access to the necessary papers [17] and
the Governor General decided to appoint a committee to review the general
state of both the mints, at Calcutta and Banāras [18]. A
report from the Collector of Banāras stated [19]: …but I am still of
opinion that some regulations ought to be formed for the mint department and
beg leave to take this opportunity of representing that the imperfection in
the construction of the Benares rupee and the coarseness of the workmanship
of its die, greatly facilitate the means of introducing adulterated rupees
into circulation, and it therefore appears necessary that the same
precautions which were adopted at the several mints within the Provinces in
respect to milling etc. the 19 sun rupees, should hereafter take place in
regard to the Benares gold and silver coinage. a further committee was established in Banāras
specifically to investigate the operation of that mint [20]: Resolved that Mr J
Neave, Mr JT Grant and Mr JD Erskine be constituted a committee for the
purpose of corresponding with the committee appointed at Calcutta to report
upon the state of the mints of the Presidency & at Benares & for the
purposes of obtaining and furnishing such information regarding the Benares
mint as the committee at Calcutta may require. In May 1802, the Committee reported their findings [21]: ...It appears from the
Committee’s report and from their correspondence with the Collector, that these
officers have, since the abolition of the Residency, been left without the
superintendence of any European officer of Government, and as this created a
solicitude in us to ascertain the state of the coin struck since that period,
we thought it advisable to procure a specimen of it on a large scale. For
this purpose we procured to be sent down from Benares, sicca rupees 50,000 in
a manner unlikely to lead to any suspicion of the use for which they were
intended, and as these rupees were taken indiscriminately from the
Collector’s treasury, and a sufficient number of each year were selected for
trial, the result of the assay may be considered a fair test of the coinage
of the several years to which the trial refers. The result as reported to us
by the Assay Master will be found in the accompanying paper No 1 and though
it represents the coin from ¼ to ½ per cent below the proper standard, it
does not represent to have been lowered since the superintendence of the late
resident over the mint ceased in 1795, and considering that the native
officers of the mint have since that time been left to themselves, we shall
not have been surprised to have found a greater variation in the value of the
coin. It does not from this specimen appear to us that the state of the coin
is so far in point of standard worse than it ought to be, as to require the
interference of Government to correct what is in actual circulation, but we
deem it of the utmost importance that measures should be taken to prevent its
further debasement, and to keep up the coinage to its proper standard in
future. The
committee discussed the possibility of stopping the production of the
Banāras rupee, as had been suggested by Barlow many years before (see
above & below), but concluded that this would be impractical, and that
consequently the Banāras mint should be kept open: Were the same species of
coin current in Benares, which circulates through Behar and Bengal, we
apprehend that the whole coinage necessary might easily be supplied by the
same mint, at whatever place that mint might be established, but as long as
money of a different standard and value shall be required for Benares, we are
of opinion that it can no where with so much public convenience be coined as
in the district where it is to circulate. We observe in Mr Barlow’s report
above mentioned, a proposition for introducing the same coin into Benares as
circulates through the lower provinces, and for abolishing the circulation of
all other coin, but this not having been then adopted, and a permanent
settlement having since been concluded with the landholders under engagement
for the payment of their revenue in the Benares coin, we apprehend that the
measure recommended by Mr Barlow in 1787, could not with equal facility be
introduced now; and therefore under an idea that Benares rupees such as are
now in circulation, will still be wanted, we recommend that they continue to
be coined at the Benares mint. In
recommending a continuance of the Benares mint as long as a particular
species of coin may be required for that district, we no doubt meet the
wishes of the merchants and bankers of the very flourishing and opulent city
of Benares, who would experience great inconvenience in having to send their
bullion for coinage to a distant province, but besides this a connexion has
always subsisted between the mint and the manufacturers of gold and silver
wire and thread, and the weavers of the rich cloths, and embroideries made at
Benares, on which the prosperity of the trade in those articles appears so
much to depend, that in the event of the abolition of the mint, the
manufacturers might require some similar establishment to supply its place… The
committee offered recommendations as to how the mint should be run in future.
These included the appointment of a European superintendent, and the
continuance of the hammered method of coin production because machinery would
to too expensive. They also suggested that the dies should be produced in …Being of opinion as
above expressed, that the continuance of a mint at Benares is at present
indispensable, we proceed to offer our sentiments on the establishment
necessary for conducting the business of it. For
conducting the business of the mint while the same kind of specie which now
circulates in Benares is coined there, the present establishment of native
officers appears to be fully adequate, though we are of opinion that European
superintendence is necessary over the officers of the mint, and this we think
might be introduced without any additional expense to Government. In the
event of an improved form of coin being introduced by the European process
such as has been introduced in Calcutta, a very different establishment would
be necessary, and instead of Government deriving a profit from the mint as at
present, a heavy expense would unavoidably be incurred although the duties
and fees should continue to be levied at the same rate as at present. We have
endeavoured to estimate what this difference of expense might be, and on
finding that it will be considerable (as will appear in the accompanying
paper No 2) we cannot recommend that it should be incurred for the sole
purpose of obtaining a coinage certainly preferable in point of form and
workmanship, but no wise different in its intrinsic value. In other words we
do not think the difference in appearance between the Calcutta and Benares
coinage is such as to be worth purchasing, at so high an expense, and in
regard to the advantage the Calcutta coin has over the Benares coin in being
less easily counterfeited, and less easily excavated and filled up with lead,
we think the same advantage might be given to the Benares coin by having the
dies cut in Calcutta, and the coin made so much broader and thinner as to
receive the whole impression of the die upon its surface. They
further recommended that the method of paying the mint workmen, from the
duties levied on coinage, should continue. They also suggested that the mint
should be overseen either by the Governor General’s Agent at Banāras, or
by a committee composed of the senior judge, the magistrate and the
Collector: With respect to the
duties levied on the coinage, and the established fees paid to the officers
of the mint, as detailed in the accompanying letter and its enclosures, they
appear to be the same that were authorized by the late Resident, Mr Duncan.
Out of these the expenses of the mint are defrayed, and an annual surplus,
averaging about 10,000 rupees per annum, has been derived by Government.
Although the support of establishment by fees is not a mode that has commonly
been resorted to, yet in the present instance we are not aware of any
important objection of the continuance of this mode, to which the merchants
and bankers at Benares who send bullion to be coined, have so long been accustomed,
provided means be adopted which we think might easily be devised to prevent
any undue exaction of them. For
ensuring the due execution of the duties of the mint, and for guarding
against the issue from thence of coin defective in workmanship or deficient
in weight or standard, it appears to us that the European superintendence
which ceased on the abolition of the Residency, should be restored. This
might be effected without any expense to Government either by vesting the
authority formerly exercised over the officers of the mint by the Resident,
in Your Lordships agent at Benares, or in a permanent committee formed by the
senior judge of the court of appeal, in his capacity of your Lordship’s
agent, the magistrate, and the Collector. A superintendence of this nature,
though sufficient for the purpose proposed, would not we conceive occupy more
time than might easily be spared from the present official avocations of any
one of those officers (and much less so were it to be divided among them
all), since it would only require an occasional visit to the mint for the
purpose chiefly of selecting from the coinage, specimens to be forwarded to
Calcutta for examination into its weight and standard, and a monthly audit of
the mint accounts. The Committee or superintendent might be desired to
ascertain and hereafter report to your Lordships, any alterations necessary
to be made in the duties and fees at present exacted on the coinage, and
likewise on the connexion that subsists between the mint and the manufacturers
of gold and silver articles at Benares, and to propose any modification that
might be found expedient in the latter… The
committee also reported on their investigation of the alleged frauds, and
found no evidence to support them: The charges brought against
the principal officers of the mint at Benares by Durreya Sing, and
communicated to the Board of Revenue by the Collector in his letter of the …
may be comprised under two heads: 1st
embezzlement of part of the duties receivable by Government 2nd debasement
of the coin by the admixture of an undue proportion of alloy The Collector was
directed to institute an enquiry into the truth of these charges, and from an
attentive perusal of his report under date the 5th March, and of
another report from the Acting Collector under date the 21st
April, it appears to us that the several sums specified in the first charge,
were either accounted for by the principal officers of the mint, and claimed
by him by virtue of his sunnud, or not sufficiently established on evidence
to fix any criminality on the persons accused. It must however be observed
that the Acting Collector has acknowledged ‘his inability to prosecute the
enquiry to a decisive result’, owing partly to the intricacy of the accounts
kept at the mint, and the irregularity with which the business of the mint
has of late been conducted, and partly to the disinclination to come forward
shown by those from whom evidence was expected in support of some of the
charges. The
charge of debasing the coin was not proposed to be established by a reference
to any transaction known to have taken place at the mint, but by an
examination of some coin ascribed to the As
part of this investigation, in May 1802, the Calcutta Council duly passed a
resolution on the matter: Benares mint to be kept open
and a Committee composed of the Agent to Governor General, the Magistrate of
the city, and the Collector be formed to control the mint. One
of the attachments shows that various officers of the mint had to pay an
entrance fee for their jobs. The amounts paid are presumably per annum,
although the record is not clear about this: |
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Derrab Dookandar Government 40-0-0 Darogha & Rowenna Assay Master & Wozunkush Tekveeldar 0-3-6 Mushriff 0-3-6 Rs 50 Derrab Assamy 18 and 10
Rupees Government 15-0-0 Darogha & Rowenna 1-4 Assay Master & Wozunkush 1-4 Tehveeldar 0-4 Mushriff 0-4 Rs
18 Government 7-0-0 Darogha & Rowenna 1-4 Assay Master & Wozunkush 1-4 Tehveeldar 0-4 Mushriff 0-4 Rs
10 Gudasgeer Government 100-0-0 Darogha & Rowenna 6-4 Assay Master & Wozunkush 6-4 Tehveeldar 1-4 Mushriff 1-4 Rs
115 Punna Saz Government 20-0-0 Darogha & Rowenna Assay Master & Wozunkush Tehveeldar 0-4-9 Mushriff 0-4-9 Rs
25 Tickleesaz the whole to
Government 12-8 Also
in May of 1802, the mint master of Banāras, Rajah Amba Shunker, died [22], and
the Collector appointed Lolla Rampershand as his temporary replacement [23]. In
June, the mint committee, now in charge of the mint, appointed Sheikh Ally
Ahsun to the position[24]. In October 1803, Dureeao Sing Choudree
renewed his attack on the most senior officers of the mint, stating that the
affair had not been properly investigated and that he could provide proof of
the fraud [25].
This
was sent to the mint committee at Banāras asking them to investigate
further but no records relating to their investigation have been found. It
can only be assumed that at least one result of their investigation was the
appointment of a European as overseer of the mint, because by 1804, Mr Burges
had arrived to fill this role (see later). |
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Barlow reported [26]: …The coinage of pice was
[again] discontinued till the 17th year of Shah Aulum, when
Doorgah Chund Metre obtained permission from Rajah Chyte Sing to re-establish
it. The new pice were 10 maasheh 3 rutees [~11.96g] in weight,
and passed current in the bazar at about 50 or 51 per rupee. In
the 18th year, Kashmiree Mull brought a large quantity of copper from
Calcutta and farmed the coinage of pice and the exclusive privilege of buying
and selling copper in the city of Benares from the Rajah, for 5000 rupees.
The weight of the pice continued at 10-3 and passed in the bazar or market at
about 52 or 53 per rupee. In
the 19th & 20th year the coinage was declared free,
and those who brought copper received pice in return, after paying the
customary duties. For one maund of Kodaleah copper (Benarain weight) 84-6 to
the seer, the merchant received back from the mint 3250 pice each weighing
10-3 after deducting all charges, which amounted to 7-12 per maund… In 1779/80: In the 21st
year a considerable revolution took place in the copper coinage. The Nawab
Vizier issued orders to the officers of the It is not clear exactly what these In the 22nd
year, Rajah Chyte Sing, at the representation of his Mint Master whose
profits were diminished by this discontinuance of the copper coinage, ordered
pice to be coined of the same size and weight as the Allahabad pice, which
contributes greatly to our stock [in] circulation. In
the 23rd & 24th year, after the expulsion of Chyte
Sing, the same weight of 9-2 was continued, and the price of pice continued
to fall till the late famine in the 25th year, when they sold at
93 for a rupee. About this period Mr Hastings arrived at The light-weight pice were banned in 1785/86: In the 27th
year the late Resident, Mr Grant, forbid the currency of the old pice of 9-2 [~10.64g], and ordered that no pice should be issued from the mint under 10
maashees 3 rutees [11.96g], and
that Goorackpore pice weighing from 10 maashees to 10-3, and Benares pice of
10 maashehs 3 rutees, should pass at the same value. The price immediately
rose to 58 [per] rupee. In
the 28th year, when it was supposed that a sufficiency of the new
pice had been coined for the circulation of the city, the Goorackpore pice
were also forbidden, and only the new Benares pice stamped with the tirshool
or trident and weighing from 10 maashehs to 10-3 and the Goorackpore pice
restamped and not under 10 maasheh, were declared current. From the
commencement of this year to the present time, the price of pice has
fluctuated between 56 & 58 per rupee. These regulations have not yet
extended to the interior parts of the country, where the old pice of
different weights are still current… …At present the coinage
of pice is almost at a stand. The Kodaleah copper from which they are made,
now sells for about 56 rupees per maund and the market price of pice is 58
per rupee, so that the dealers in copper would sustain a considerable loss by
sending it to the mint… The fluctuating price of copper caused severe distress to
poorer people, who earned only about four pice per day: …Should the price of
copper fall, or the value of pice rise, the merchants will again bring their
copper to the mint. This fluctuation however in the copper coin is a constant
source of oppression to the poorer part of the community. In order to explain
this it is necessary to mention that the rupee is considered as the measure
of value of all other metals and articles of merchandise. When grain
therefore sells for 50 seer per rupee, and pice pass current in the market at
50 for a rupee, the labourer who receives four pice per day can purchase two
seer of grain with the produce of his days work. But if pice should fall to
75 per rupee, he can only purchase half that quantity. During the late famine
in the year 1783, grain rose to 15 seer for a rupee, and pice (owing to the
deficiency in the weight, and circulation being over stocked) fell to 90, so
that the calamities of the famine were much increased by the diminution of
the value of the copper coin. From
the above account, your Lordship will perceive that the pice, instead of
being a medium of commerce, are more variable in their value than the
articles they are made use of to purchase. The shroffs who trade in the coin
are the only gainers. Government itself often sustains a considerable loss on
such part of its revenues as [are] collected in the pice, but the poor on
whose ease and happiness the prosperity of the country must depend, are the
great and constant sufferers… Barlow gave the number of pice issued from the mint in
each year from the time the British acquired it (the AD & AH dates have
been added) [27]:
A
later report gives the weight of copper coins issued by AD date (the AH &
RY dates have been added) [28]: Output of the Banāras Mint (rounded to the
nearest whole unit)
Copper pice, RY 17 |
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Barlow’s report ended by proposing that a single currency
should be established for the whole of Bengal: From the above account, your
Lordship will perceive that the disorderly state of the coin has proceeded
from four great causes. First the farming of the mint. Second the annual
alteration of the value of the rupees. Third the proportions between the
three metals in coin not being fixed and enforced by Government. And lastly
the receiving engagements from the farmers of the revenues in other species
besides the established currency. I have endeavoured also to shew that it is
for the interest of all orders of the state (the shroffs excepted) that one
uniform currency should be established throughout the country, that there
should be but one species of gold mohur, rupee & pice, and that the
proportionate value of each should be fixed by Government. That the Company
and their subjects have suffered by the debasing of the copper coin. That it
is an advantage of the state that the money should be kept up to its proper
weight & standard, and that the mint should never be looked to as a
source of revenue. The measures I have presumed to recommend for remedying
these evils have been founded on the principles of doing justice to the
public, & which I trust will be a sufficient apology for any errors I may
have committed in treating of a subject of so much intricacy and importance. However,
nothing was done about this recommendation and the production of the
Banāras rupee continued until 1820. |
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The second period of activity of the Banāras mint,
under the British, began with the appointment of a European official to
oversee the mint. Mr Burges appears to have been appointed from I have the honor to
inform you that I gave over charge of the Dinapore pay office to Captain
Palmer about the 6th or 8th of May last and that I
arrived at Benares in the month of August, but as from the date of your favor
of the 13th October 1803, announcing to me the honour that His
Excellency the most Noble the Governor General in Council had conferred upon
me in appointing [me] Assay Master to the mint of Benares, to the present
period, I have not received the smallest intimation in regard to my salary,
or establishment. Will you therefore have the goodness to submit this
circumstance to his Excellency the Most Noble the Governor General in
Council. Allow
me further to request you will do me the favor to solicit for me His
Excellency’s permission to attend the assays at the Calcutta mint for a
little while, before I commence upon the duties of the Benares mint, and as I
am now on the river for the benefit of my health, pray indulge me with His
Excellency’s sentiments at the first convenient opportunity. The Govenor General replied, announcing his salary, but
informing Burges that he would not be allowed to go to The Governor General in Council
on a consideration of the foregoing letter is pleased to fix the salary of
the Assay Master at With
respect to the establishment of the mint mentioned in the foregoing letter,
ordered that the Assay Master be informed that the Governor General in
Council desires that he will enter on a revision of that establishment and
that he will submit his sentiments on the subject to Government thro’ the
Mint Committee at Benares. Ordered
that the Assay Master be at the same time informed that the Governor General
in Council trusts that it will be found practicable to effect a considerable
reduction in the present expense of the establishment. With
respect to the application contained in the foregoing letter from the Assay
Master for leave of absence from his station, ordered that Mr Burgess be
informed that the Governor General in Council deems it essential that he
should take charge of the office to which he has been appointed without loss
of time, and that under these circumstances, the Governor General in Council
is precluded from complying with the Assay Master’s application for
permission to be absent from his station. Mr Burges did not really get going in his new job until
the very end of 1804, as shown by his reply to the above instructions,
dated December 1804 [30]: I have the honor to
inform you that I have this day taken charge of the mint office, and have
received from the darroga and assay master the undermentioned articles. I
have informed Baboo Govindoss, the late assay master, that the commencement
of my authority terminated his, & that his services are no longer
required in the mint department. I have also informed the
darroga that he may remain in the office till the pleasure of the Most Noble
the Governor General in Council is known in regard to him, provided he
conduct himself with the utmost propriety. In another the letter tabled at the same meeting, he
discussed the appalling state of the mint: …Agreeable to your
instructions I will immediately take charge of the mint department of this
city and endeavour to adopt such measures as I conceive are most likely to
meet the intensions and approbation of His Excellency the Most Noble the
Governor General in Council. As
soon as I am able to ascertain the nature of the department and the full
extent of the business connected with it, I will do myself the pleasure of
addressing you on the subject. Permit
me to take advantage of the present opportunity to mention that the house
hitherto employed by the natives for the mint, is not a place where an
European could exist in, in the hot weather, and not accessible to a carriage
at any time or season, and one part of the road to the native mint office is
not even passable for a palenkeen. The streets in general are extremely
narrow, and to add to the inconvenience, the lanes and small passages are all
without drains and very much annoyed by rubbish, filth and nuisances of every
description. Of course, in the hot weather and rains, they must be
proportionably offensive and oppressive, and prejudicial to the health of an
European to be obliged to pass daily through them or to breath for any time
the air of their vicinity. Moreover those passages are so continually
thronged with such an astonishing number of people of all ages and sexes,
that it is very difficult to pass through them during the hours of business
and particularly if there happens to be any ladened carts or cattle in the
way, which causes a general halt from one end of the street to the other, and
sometimes to those immediately connected with it, of course liable to
accidents, and a great and mortifying loss of time. These circumstances
compelled me to secure a house that both the native merchants and myself
could have access to, at least during the dry season, and I consider myself
fortunate in having met with one belonging to a native that I am in hope will
answer the purpose at one hundred rupees per month from the 13th
November. This sum added to the 200 rupees per month I pay for the only house
at [Secrole] that was not occupied on my arrival in August last, makes my
regular disbursements for house rent, in consequence of my new situation, 300
per month, an unavoidable tho’ unforeseen disbursement, and unfortunately as
none are to be had at this station that would answer the purpose on easier
terms (a dwelling house and a public office with a sufficient number of
outhouses to accommodate some hundred workmen of every description, being
indispensable for the duties I am ordered on), I therefore trust that the
measure will meet with the approbation of His Excellency the Most Noble the
Governor General in Council. Mr Burges’ inexperience meant that he needed information
provided to him from someone with knowledge of running a mint [31]: As I have no guide
before me for forming a mint establishment, will you have the goodness to
request the favor of His Excellency’s the Most Noble the Governor General in
Council, directions to the Mint Master in Calcutta to furnish me with a copy
of the establishments of the provincial mints at Dacca and Patna. It likewise
may be of material use to me if his Excellency will also order me a copy of
the instructions that was sent to Mr Blake and Doctor Davidson on their first
taking charge of the provincial mints of Dacca and Patna, with a list of the
English writers and workmen allowed, and the names of the workmen if they
happen to be in the Calcutta mint office, to enable me to find them out in
case I should have occasion for their services. Also a list of the machines,
engines and coining implements they were furnished with, with a list of the
articles they were authorized to indent for, and the form of the indent, with
the name of the person or office on whom the indent is to be made with the
allowance of, or for stationery. As
the mode of assaying gold and silver may materially differ in different mints,
allow me to request an exact statement of the mode that is used in the
Calcutta mint and the means of ascertaining if the lead is of a proper
quality for assaying, and has never been used in that way before, and what
sort of lead the preference should be given to, for I find the lead procured
in this city does not always give the same result, and as the merchants
furnish their own lead, they may play some tricks with it that may be out of
the power of the Assay Master to forsee or to guard against, and if it meets
with the approbation of His Excellency, I would recommend that this mint
should be furnished with lead from Calcutta, but also with every article that
Mr Blake was supplied with at Patna, which if not expended can always be
returned to the public stores, and I understand Mr Blake when his appointment
was annulled, returned to the Calcutta mint office every article that was
sent to him. Of course, I conceive no difficulty or inconvenience can arise
in furnishing this mint with the articles he returned… …This
makes me daily more and more sensible of the advantage of being an eye
witness and master of the general mode of conducting business in the Calcutta
mint, but I am all submission to the pleasure and convenience of Government. I
likewise wish that a coining, milling and laminating machine may be sent up,
as soon as may be convenient, to enable me to ascertain by a course of
experiments and fair trial what advantage may be introduced by the mode at
present used in Calcutta, or continuing the native method of coining with the
hammer only, tho’ the whole figure of the dye is not impressed on the rupees
that are made in any of the native mints. Mr Burges also mentioned a problem encountered with lower
quality coins that looked like Banāras rupees: Allow me to mention in
this place that Rewar Rupees, tho’ of inferior value have to an inexperienced
person very much the aspect of a Benares rupee and are sometimes passed as
such. It may therefore be a matter worthy the consideration of Government to
determine how far they may approve of the milling of Benares rupees of the
present weight and value for the purpose of distinguishing them from the rupees
of Rewar, or any other native mints. The difference of weight will prevent
their ever passing for Calcutta rupees and the appearance of the milled edges
may be changed to any other form that Government may think proper to direct
and perhaps the milling on the Spanish dollars or any other Europe coin may
serve as a guide. In fact, the problem had already been identified because,
in November 1804, the Governor General had sent a letter requesting the
Banāras mint committee to
investigate these rupees of Rewah, which were apparently being passed as
Banāras rupees [32]: …The Governor General in
Council however, desires that you will take this case in your consideration
and that you will submit to Government such information as you may possess
respecting the Rewah rupees. You will in particular be pleased to ascertain
whether the rupees in question (specimens of which are herewith transmitted
to you) are the established currency of the country of Rewah. You are
likewise desired to ascertain whether that coin passes in circulation in the Having previously dismissed the native Assay Master,
Burges next dismissed the incumbent darogah and appointed a new one [33]: Finding that I could not
transact the business of the mint to the advantage of Government with Saik
Ally Ahsun, the old Darroga who declines giving security for his future good
behaviour, or to be answerable for the conduct of any of the officers of the
mint, and showed an unwillingness to meet my wishes on any occasion, and
being apprehensive that his long connexion with the late Assay Master might
induce him to shelter or connive at attempts to introduce similar practices
on some other occasion, I therefore conceive it for the interest of
Government at once to remove him till the pleasure of His Excellency is
known, and in his place and that of the late Assay Master, to appoint a
darroga who would not only give ample security for his own good conduct, but
who would jointly with his security be responsible for the good conduct of
the principle officers of the mint, and, what I consider to be of very
material importance, the new darrowga and his security, engage to be security
for the good conduct of the chowkessy, or head assayer, and to indemnify
Government for any loss by short weight or otherwise, or any excess of alloy
above the allowed standard, a circumstance that is a very great relief to my mind,
new and unexperienced as I feel myself in this department, where practical
knowledge is everything. The
person who I have nominated to the duty of durrowga and superintendent of the
mint is named Lutchmun Doss, a native of this district, by profession a
shroff of some wealth, of opulent connexions and of good repute, and has a
banking house in the city. His elder brother, Rammarain Doss, well known in
the banking line who is also a shroff and of still greater wealth, with a
separate banking house in the city, is his security, and jointly with
Lutchmun Doss, security for the chowkessee or head assayer, and the principal
officers of the mint. In January 1805, he again requested to be allowed to
visit The mint office being
now in a train of business that will admit of a temporary absence in consequence
of a responsible shroff having engaged to be answerable for all short weight
& excess of alloy, as mentioned in my different addresses to the
gentlemen of the Mint Committee, I trust His Excellency the Most Noble the
Governor General in Council will have the goodness to permit me to visit
Calcutta for the purpose of settling some private concerns for the benefit of
my family who embark this season for Europe, and as I have never had an
opportunity of seeing any regular assays, it will be a great satisfaction and
advantage to me if His Excellency will allow me to attend the mint during my
stay in Calcutta. Doctor
Yeld, a gentleman much esteemed and respected at this station has had the
goodness to offer to act for me should His Excellency approve of the measure
and not think it convenient to appoint a gentleman in the civil service to
superintend the mint during my absence. and this time he was allowed to go: The Governor General in
Council having taken the above letters into his consideration, is pleased to
comply with the application of the Assay Master at Benares for leave of
absence from his station for the purpose of attending for a short period of
time the conduct of the business of the mint at the Presidency. The
Governor General in Council is likewise pleased to empower Mr Yeld the
surgeon at In December of 1805, a decision was made to abolish the
post of Mint & Assay Master as it was then constituted, and make the
position merely a part of Mr Yeld’s job [35]: The Vice President in Council, having taken the foregoing extract into
his consideration, is pleased to abolish the office of Mint Master and Assay
Master at Benares (as it is at present constituted) and to determine that the
office of Mint Master and Assay Master at Benares shall in future be held by
the head surgeon attached to the civil station with a salary of 500 Rs per
month. The Vice President in Council is accordingly pleased
to appoint Mr T Yeld to be Mint Master and Assay Master at Ordered that the foregoing resolutions be
communicated to Mr Burges, to Mr Yeld, to the Mint Committee at This came as rather a shock to Mr Burges, who asked to be
allowed to continue to draw his salary until another position was found, but
this was refused [36], although
he was eventually allowed to draw a salary for being out of work and various
of his expenses were paid [37]. Mr
(or Dr) Yeld continued as the mint & assay master at Banāras for
many years. |
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Mr Yeld quickly decided to start experimenting with
improvements to the method of coin production, and in January 1806 he sent a
list of articles that he needed from the Calcutta mint, to Calcutta
Government [38].
These included: Two milling engines and
some ring forms for making the counters uniformly round… …These are intended to
try how far it will be practicable, or expedient, to adopt milling in the The Mint Master at Calcutta was ordered to provide the
articles requested. Yeld also began to investigate various charges that were
made for producing coins from metal brought to the mint. One of these charges
was called “Gurreah Salamee”, and he asked if he could keep the amount
raised, for himself [39]: …On Mr Burges delivering
over charge of the mint to me on his going away on leave of absence, he
informed me that he had directed a perquisite to be held in deposit, under
the head of Gurreeah Salamee, arising from the bit of silver cut from each
crucible melted down and taken for the purpose of assay to ascertain whether
the bullion is equal to standard, previous to its being struck with the
Ballah Pie or stamp of impression. This, though the property of the person
bringing bullion for coinage has from long acknowledged custom been
considered as a private recompense from the merchant to the darogah… Not surprisingly, he was told that the charge should be
discontinued: Ordered that the mint
Committee at Benares be informed that the Governor General in Council is
pleased to direct that the fee heretofore levied on the coinage at Benares be
discontinued immediately on the receipt of the present order, and that the
amount in deposit as stated in the letter from the Mint and Assay Master be
brought to the account of Government. By 1810, investigations into the requirement for the
different mints within the Presidency (now Calcutta, Farrukhābād
and Banāras) raised the question of whether or not the production of the
Banāras rupee should continue [40]. This
eventually led to a change in the design of the Banāras rupee, but not
its abolition, and the old style of silver rupee continued to be produced
until 1812.
Rupee AH 1226, RY 49 The only information found in the
records about the mint output, show an ongoing production of rupees for at
least some years [41]: Under European
Superintendence…
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The Banāras mint continued to produce copper pice,
but in small numbers as shown by the figures given below [42]: Under European
Superintendence…
Yeld began to
investigate the copper coinage soon after he took over as Mint & Assay
Master and this seems to have been his main concern at first [43]: My attention has for
some time been engaged into an enquiry into the currency of this province
with a view to a report on the subject in general, but my investigation
having as yet been more immediately confined to the copper currency, the
evident abuses it admits of and which in daily practice, I deem it my duty to
submit to Government without delay, and have to request you will please to
submit this address to the Honble the Governor General in Council in such
manner as you deem most proper. There
is no regulation for the weight, size, or impression of pice that can be the
least check on any person making them privately without fear of detection, as
the accompanying specimen will clearly evince. A great part of the pice now
in circulation have been made in Oude, the Rewah Raja’s country and other
places out of the district and smuggled into circulation imperceptibly. The
weight of pice when made being in a great measure regulated by the then
current price of copper, their relative value, instead of being afterwards
reckoned by weight according to the present price of copper, is determined by
number, and this is not only influenced by the price current of copper, but
by other circumstances that will be detailed hereafter. The
present copper currency is a source of the greatest hardship and loss to that
class of people least able to bear it. Their poverty obliges them to take their
pay daily, which is always reckoned to them in the common divisions of a
rupee, by annas and this is paid to them according to the current price of
pice, by number. When they carry these pice to the bunyahs for the purchase
of their daily food, they will not receive them according to the value of
them in the anna, but at a rate by which the retail purchaser is imposed on,
never less than one anna in the rupee. But
it is seldom the poor coolie who gets his anna and half, or two annas a day,
is able to afford one article to the amount of one pice. He has therefore to
undergo the further imposition of the budleeah, or money changers, by
reducing his pice to gundahs of cowries, whose established custom is to make
two pice per rupee profit. The bunyahs on this again lay a tax, by receiving
the cowries at a less rate than they have been bought at, generally equalling
the profit they make by receiving pice, so that the poorer class of the
Honble Company’s subjects in this district pay from near seven to upwards of
thirteen per cent dearer, for the necessaries of life, than those who are
able to go into the market with silver. The
rich are also not exempt from the operation of the price of pice on their
daily consumption, since the rate of many things in the greatest demand,
milk, eggs, some kinds of grain, and many other articles are regulated by the
current number of pice in the rupee, but the greatest injury the rich suffer
is at the season of marriages in their families, when if they have not had
the precaution of laying in a stock of pice necessary for the occasion, the
budleeahs and richer bunyahs make their harvest by previously hoarding their
pice and raising the price of them at this season of the year from four to
ten in the rupee. Altho’ the rich by neglect may suffer equally with the
poorer man, yet the poor one is not less exempt if he has a marriage in his
family, as on these occasions they always borrow to the utmost extent they
can get credit for, and the lender never fails to advance in silver, and
receive back in pice, at a season of the year they are cheapest. This
latter being an imposition voluntarily entered into, may not present any very
urgent claims for redress, but the daily sustenance of so numerous a body of
subjects as constitutes the labouring class in this populous province,
demands every amelioration that can be suggested for their relief… Yeld then suggested that the solution to these problems
was the production of a new copper coinage: …Actuated by these
considerations, a zealous discharge of the duties of the office committed to
my charge, and that the relief required may be made a source of profit to
Government, I venture to submit to the attention and consideration of the
Honble the Governor General in Council, specimens of a new copper coinage,
with such remarks as have occurred or have been suggested to me on each kind:
In fixing on these
divisions I have been led to enquire into the bunyahs mode of keeping small
accounts and have adopted their subdivisions of the anna as most likely to be
convenient to them, and relieve those dealing with them. I
at first made but three divisions, from the fear of making the coin too
small. The fourth was made at the suggestion of an intelligent native, who
stated that it would in a great measure [address] all applications to the
budleeahs and that recourse to them only on the lowest division of cowries
would be required. In
fixing on the above rates of weight, I have assumed that the Honble Company
are able to afford copper at forty rupees the factory maund, and have doubled
the expense of making the old pice. This, according to my calculations will
give the expense of a factory maund of new copper pice, fifty five rupees,
and the number made, equal to sixty six rupees, leaving a profit of eleven
rupees, about seventeen per cent. But in the expense of making the old pice,
there being a russoom to Government of one rupee eight annas a maund
reckoned, which on being doubled will add to the profit above stated somewhat
above four rupees eight annas per cent. Should this rate require any
reduction, I would recommend its being made by taking off forty, twenty, ten
and five grains from each respective kind of pice. The specimens sent by Yeld are presumably those
identified by Pridmore (Pr 299-302, Cat. No. 7.175 to 7.178), although only
the double and quarter pice have been found.
Yeld’s pattern double pice Yeld went on to suggest how the coins might be
manufactured, with the blanks being prepared at If the machinery of the
Calcutta mint could be employed in laminating and cutting the durabs, it
would greatly reduce the expense of making the pice, but I would no means
advise the impression being stamped in Calcutta, as the prejudices of the
natives in its being struck at Benares should in my opinion be conceded to,
and the expense would be so little more than it could be done for in Calcutta
as not to be [a] worthy consideration. In
issuing a new coinage it appears to me a serious object to Government to call
in the old at the least expense possible. This has had its consideration with
me in fixing the weight of the new, and on weighing a rupees worth of new
pice, with a rupees worth of old, at the present rate of forty six to the
rupee, the old exceeds the new at an average of three pice. In taking the old
pice, therefore, at the medium rate of the year, of forty eight to the rupee,
a great inducement would be held out to the holders of old pice to exchange
them, and the loss to Government would not be quite two thirds of the expense
of recoinage. I
cannot acquire any authentic data for the quantity that would be required,
and on this head can only give the general result of various opinions of
several intelligent natives asked on it, which is that three lacs of the
different kinds should be prepared to commence with. It
would be as contrary to the liberal sentiments of the British Government in |
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The Calcutta mint Committee examined this proposal, and
having asked for and received information about the price of copper in
Banāras [44],
they recommended a different set of denominations and weights for the new
copper coinage for Banāras [45] (the
“Grams” column has been added):
The ¼ pice on the
proposed reduction of weight we deem too small a coin to be struck in copper. We
have the honor to submit specimens of the proposed coins, for which the dies
appropriated to the copper currency of the lower provinces have been used, no
dies being at present prepared for the The We are decidedly of
opinion that these coins should be struck in the Calcutta mint. The coinage
will afford employment to the establishment here, and render unnecessary any
additional charges at We
recommend that the copper sizel of all pice coined in the The
old copper coins in circulation at Benares should, we think, continue to be
received in payment at the public treasuries in that province, for such
period after the new coinage may be issued as the Mint Committee there may
deem necessary for the accommodation of the inhabitants, and as soon as an
adequate supply of the new coinage may be furnished to the Collector, the old
coins should not be reissued, but be melted down and disposed of by public
sale. The Committee was also anxious to try to control the use
of copper coins produced outside the boundaries of the Presidency: We beg leave to suggest
that individuals throughout the Company’s provinces, may be interdicted from coining
copper currency, and that the coinage of Government only be current. From Mr
Yeld’s letter it appears that the coinage of districts not subject to this
Government has obtained circulation in However, there was one immediate problem with the
production of a new copper coinage, and that was the lack of any copper to
make the coins: PS On enquiry we find
that there is not any sheet copper in store fit for the coinage of pice. We
beg leave therefore to recommend that application may be made to the
Government of Nevertheless, their recommendation was approved [46]: I am directed to
acknowledge the receipt of a letter from you dated the 15th May
last, and to acquaint you that the Honble the Governor General in Council has
been pleased to approve the weight of the double, single and half pice
proposed by you to be coined for the province of Benares, and the rate at
which they are proposed to be issued as stated in Paragraph 6 of your letter.
The Governor General in Council accordingly approves the specimens of the
coins submitted by you with the exception of that part of the inscription
which is in the The
Governor General in Council approves your suggestion for coining the pice at The
Governor General in Council concurs in opinion with you that after the new
copper coinage of Government shall have become current, no other copper coins
ought to be received at the public treasuries. An
application has been made to You
are desired to forward a copy of this letter to the Mint Master at The Calcutta mint master, Forster, was concerned about the
amount of copper that would be required to meet all of the requirements, not
only for Banāras, but at the same time coinages for Bengal and Bihar [47] (see
chapter 6, pp. 261-269). However, by June 1808 he was able to report [48]: …I have now the pleasure
to inform you that I shall be able to remit to the Collector of Benares,
whole pice, four lack, half pice, three lack and twenty thousand, Quarter
pice, three lack and twenty thousand…and request the orders of Government to
inform me what guard is to be sent with the above pice and by whom it is to
be supplyed… and he was instructed to dispatch them without delay: …that the pice which
have been coined for the provinces of Under
the regulations passed by Government on the 29th January last, you
are desired to apply to the officer commanding the corps of and more were sent later in the year [49].
Double pice c1807-1809 On 100 boxes of whole 40 boxes of half pice
each containing 8000, or total 320,000 20 boxes of quarter
ditto each containing 16,000 or total 320,000 Although this extract refers to pice, half pice and
quarter pice, this presumably equates to the double pice, pice and half pice
known to have been issued.
Copper
pice produced in |
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The Banāras mint committee had been asked, sometime
previously, to produce regulations for the operation of the mint there. In
June 1808, they proposed a draft regulation, part of which referred to the
copper coinage [51]: In obedience to the
orders of Government we have the honor to transmit the draft of a regulation
for the conduct of the duties of the mint at Benares… …The
state of the copper coinage, or rather the insufficiency of the quantity to
meet the demand, calls for immediate attention. The distress so universally
experienced falls more particularly on the middling classes and the
manufacturers. The loss they sustain from this cause is the subject of much
complaint and vexation. The
Pisa in currency at Benares, weighing 180 grains, now at the exchange of 44
to the rupee, were a few years back at 60, but, notwithstanding this material
difference, all payment in pisa continue at the same rate as when they were
at the lowest valuation. This has enhanced the price of labour at least 30
per cent, whilst the price of provisions has experienced no alteration to
countenance this rise in the price of labour. The complaints are therefore
well founded. A manufacturer now pays for eleven day labourers, the same hire
for which he formerly procured fifteen. The
grievance admits of no other remedy than by a coinage of copper pisa. This
was proposed by Mr Yeld, but by a reference to the orders of Government
passed on the letter from the Calcutta Mint Committee dated the 15th
June 1807, it is intended that a coinage of copper for the supply of this
province shall be made in the Calcutta mint. The province has not yet derived
any benefit from this intention. The
pise proposed to be introduced is a broad coin, which cannot be made of any
copper of inferior quality to the Europe sheet copper. I do not know what may
have been the price of that sort of copper when it was determined that pise
should be made of it. Its present wholesale market price at Benares is now at
80 rupees the maund, and rising in value. In the retail the price is
considerably higher. Consequently if the Calcutta mint send pisa made of this
copper issued at the valuation proposed by the Committee, of 82½ rupees the
maund, it would not operate to relieve the general distress, because it would
be an object to buy up these pisa for the purpose of again converting them
into sheet copper. The
Calcutta Mint Committee further objected to the coinage at the Benares mint
from its burthening Government with an additional expense, and because the
coin could be much better executed in Calcutta than the specimens sent by Mr
Yeld. In answer to the first objection Government will observe from the
accompanying regulation which is formed on the practice of the mint from its
original institution, that no additional expense would be incurred, and to
the second, it is enough to say that if the community be relieved from the
existing distress, no importance can attach to the beauty of a copper
coinage. The
specimens sent by Mr Yeld were also made of sheet copper, but I know not on
what copper his estimates were calculated, as there is not any sort to be now
procured at the price of 57 rupees per maund. At any rate the pisa to be
coined required sheet copper, and under existing circumstances, I apprehend
that neither Mr Yeld’s plan nor the plan proposed by the Calcutta Mint
Committee can be executed, for it is stated by the Calcutta Mint Committee
that there is no sheet copper in store, nor could any quantity be procured
here, whilst the Acting Collector reports that the quantity of pisa necessary
to be coined for the supply of this province will amount to nine lacks of
rupees. It is therefore to be considered by what other plan the distress of
the community can be relieved. From
the enquiries I have made I am of opinion that the lump and bar copper which
comes from Nepaul, [Bootwul?] and from the westward would answer extremely
well for pisa. It is in fact that which is now in currency. If the beauty of
the coin can be dispensed with, and individuals be allowed to bring this
copper for coinage, the trade would be so considerably encouraged that there
can be little doubt of copper being soon brought in such abundance to the
mint as speedily to bring down the exchange of pisa to its proper level… …But
the pisa to be made from this copper must still continue an misshapen sort of
coin, the metal being too hard and brittle to allow of its being much
flattened. The distress of the community would however be effectually
relieved and that is the material object to which the views of Government will
be directed. The shape size and stamp of the proposed pisa is specified in
the regulation. These
thick sort of pisa are, I think, preferable to the other sort. The objection
of the lower orders to the broad flat coin is not founded [on] idle prejudice. From the resemblance which the large pisa has in its
size to the rupee, it is apprehended that the lonely traveller and pilgrim
may be murdered from the belief that they possess silver. If there be
foundation for this apprehension there remains no hesitation to which of the
two sorts of pisa preference should be given. It
is likewise to be observed that pisa beaten in the way proposed saves all the
heavy loss of sizel, which is calculated by the Mint Committee to be equal to
one third of the quantity of metal coined in Calcutta. This is a material
saving which more than compensates for any deficiency in the beauty of the
coin. It
is in vain to regulate by fixed rules the market price of pice, as their
value does not depend on the relative value of silver, but on other
contingent circumstances not under control. The
pisa from the Calcutta mint issue at 64 for the rupee, but their currency in
the market seldom exceeds 56. It will however be advisable for Government to
give every encouragement towards keeping up the value of pisa, but which must
still be left to find its own level in the market. On these principles the
rules for the copper coinage have been introduced in the regulation now
submitted for consideration. AD
1808 Regulation A regulation for the
future management of the mint at Benares and for the coinage of a new copper
pisa at that mint. Passed by the Governor General in Council There then follow all the rules about the management of
the mint and the coins to be produced: …XXXVII The copper coin
made at the Benares mint shall be of pure copper and denominated pisa and
each pisa shall weigh 240 grains troy or in country weight […]. The pisa are
to be hammered and care is to be taken to make them as round as that process
admits of. The diameter of the pice shall be six eighths of an inch XXXVIII The copper pice
shall be struck on one side with the words Benares mint in the Persian character
and the figure of a fish, being the usual mark on the Benares coin. On the
reverse side in the Naggree character shall be the English year, the word
pisa and the Tirsool or the emblem of Mahdeo. XXXIX Half pice of the
same standard and proportioned size and weight are also to be coined bearing
the same impression as the whole pisa. A smaller division of the pisa than
the half pisa shall not be coined. As can be
seen, they proposed that the old style of dump pice should be continued, but
this was overtaken by the events described above, and anyway, their argument
was rejected by the Calcutta mint committee [52]. |
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Minting the new double, single and half pice, and sending
them to Banāras, was one thing, getting them into circulation proved to
be quite another. The Collector of Banāras wrote in October 1809 [53]: …I am sorry to state the
the united endeavours of the Magistrate and myself to introduce this coin
into circulation in this province have failed. It
is true that all the single pice in store (to the value of about 75,000
rupees) have been issued, but not one I believe has obtained currency here.
They have been remitted to Patna where I understand the shroffs obtain by the
exchange a profit of one anna in the rupee. The
double pice and half pice are not in demand and more than seven or eight
thousand rupees worth have been issued, and I hear they are still in the
hands of the persons who first applied for them, because they are unable to
circulate or dispose of them. I have made many
enquiries of intelligent persons, shroffs and others, as to the best mode of
throwing this copper coin into circulation and it appears to be the general
opinion that until Government shall compel the acceptance and exchange of the
new pice as money, and until a penalty shall be imposed on persons refusing
to take them at the established rates, in payment of purchase etc. the
circulation never will be effected. I
think it would be expedient to declare the pice of the Government coinage to
be the only legal copper money, but that for a certain period (perhaps 6
months) all other descriptions of pice may be given and received at the rates
of the Government pice. Viz double 32 per rupee and single 64 etc, but that
all persons whether buyers or sellers or money changers shall only give,
receive or exchange at that rate, and that after the period above fixed, no
other pice than that of the Government shall be permitted to be circulated as
money. Such a measure will, I conceive, effectually stop the circulation of
the old pice and lead to the introduction of the new, for the persons who
have old pice by them, will rather melt them down and convert them to other
purposes than dispose of or make payments with them at the rate of the
Government coin which would subject them to a loss, for the old pice are now
sold at 24 per rupee. Should this or any other mode be adopted to check the
circulation of the old pice and to force that of the new, it would greatly
facilitate the introduction of the latter to appoint treasury podars at
different parts of the city of Benares and all other large cities in the
province, as money changers to exchange with all persons copper for silver in
any sums large or small.. The Calcutta mint committee seemed to be of the opinion
that the inability to get the coins into circulation was caused mainly by the
shroffs, although they did admit that other causes were possible: …The difficulty of introducing the new copper coinage into circulation
may be ascribed to the following causes operating, each of them
independently, and some of them to a certain degree with united effect: the
new coin not being properly adapted to the purposes of exchange; the old coin
being sufficient to the requisite circulation; and the influence of the
parties interested in preventing the introduction of the new currency. The ready sale of the whole supply of single pice,
while no demand appears to exist for the double and half pice, would make it
probable that coins of the two latter descriptions do not possess the
convenience which the former offers. For altho’ the Collector reports that
these have been purchased not for circulation in Benares, but for exportation
to Patna, we conclude that if the double or single pice had been equally
acceptable as a medium of exchange, the purchase in a view to a profit which
the circulation of them at Patna might afford, would not have been confined
to the single pice. That the old currency is sufficient for the
requisite circulation, or that the shroffs possess the means of supplying
every deficiency in it, appears also evident, for had the embarrassments to
petty disbursements been such as the Mint Committee conceived them to be, it
is scarcely probable that the public should not have found means of availing
themselves of the remedy offered to it. With this power of supplying the demands of the
market so far as still to retain the command of it in their own hands, it is
however very easy for the persons interested in excluding the new currency to
effect their purposes. A combination of the numerous classes who derive a
profit from the fluctuating value of an arbitrary exchange, and whose profit
would be annihilated by the introduction of a currency of established and
defined value, will ever maintain its influence as long as its extortion is
not carried to such lengths as to provoke opposition, and can in its usual
operations be only encountered by the strong arm of the law. We accordingly concur with the Collector that some
legislative provisions are necessary for giving effect to the currency
established by Government. But his propositions seem to go further than would
be admissible consistently with the received principles and general practice.
The baser metals could not we believe be made a legal tender of payment
beyond the fractional part of a rupee, and to compel the receipt of a larger
amount in so inconvenient a shape would not be reconcilable with either
expediency or justice. There appears however, no objection to adopting his
proposition of reserving to Government the prerogative of the copper coinage,
and of making it penal in any private person to manufacture and issue this
instrument of exchange, as well as those formed of the more precious metals,
and for this purpose it would probably be sufficient to enact in the province
of Benares the same provisions as have been established by regulation XLV,
1803, for the copper coinage of the mint at Farruckabad. The proposed limitation of six months for the
discontinuance of the present currency seems to allow a period sufficiently
ample for the security of the public from loss by the measure, particularly
when it is recollected that the old pice, altho’ prohibited as a coin, will
not be left wholly useless on the hands of the possessors, their value being
always procurable in the market as old metal. Should Government be pleased to approve of the
suggestion for restricting the copper circulation to the public coinage, it
might be advisable to confine the future supplies to the single pice which
alone appear to be in request. The actual regulation authorising copper pice for
Banāras was published in December 1809. This decreed that the coins
should be struck in Calcutta of one denomination and specified the
inscription etc. [54]: A. D. 1809 REGULATION X A Regulation
for the establishment of a copper coinage in the province of Benares.–
PASSED by the Vice President in Council, on the 15th December 1809 WHEREAS it is expedient, that fixed and defined rules should be
established for regulating the copper currency of the province of Benares,
the following rules have been enacted by the Vice President in Council, to be
in force in that province from the period of their promulgation. II. The copper coin struck for the province of Benares shall be of
pure copper, and shall be confined to pice of one size only, to be coined at
the Calcutta Mint. III. The pice shall be 19-20th parts of an inch in diameter, and shall
weigh sicca weight eight annas nine pie each, and shall bear the following
inscription, in the Persian and Nagree characters; On one side, in Persian, “The 37th year of the reign of Shah Allum Badshah.” On the Reverse, in both Persian and Nagree, “One Pie Sicca.” IV. The copper coin established by this regulation, shall be
considered to be a legal tender of payment in all money transactions,
whether between government and its subjects, or between individuals in the
province of Benares, for any sum being the fractional part of a rupee, at the
rate of sixty-four pice for one Benares sicca rupee. V. Persons charged with melting, counterfeiting, clipping, filing,
drilling, defacing, or debasing the copper coin, established under this
regulation, will be liable to be prosecuted in the criminal courts, and to be
punished as the law may direct. VI. The copper
pice of all denominations at present in circulation in the province of
Benares, shall be received as heretofore in all public and private
transactions for the period of six months, from and after the promulgation of
this regulation; but after the expiration of that period, no copper coin,
except that established by this regulation, shall be considered as a legal
tender in payment of any proportion of any public or private demand. By 1810, the 1809 regulation meant that the old dump pice
would no longer be acceptable as currency, and since none of the new pice had
got into circulation, there was about to be a serious shortage of copper
coins [55]: Regulation X, 1809, having
restricted the circulation of the old pice now current in the province of
Benares to a period of six months, after the expiration of which none but the
copper coinage of Government can be legally passed, I am directed by the
Board of Commissioners to beg the favour of your submitting to His Excellency
the Vice President in Council the necessity of furnishing the Collector of
Benares with a supply of copper pice equal to at least three lacks of rupees,
to answer the above exigency. and the mint master was instructed to supply the
necessary coins. However, the Calcutta mint committee was not convinced that
these coins were necessary [56]: …We beg leave to observe
that at the suggestion of Mr Yeld, copper coins were struck in the Calcutta
mint to the value of 110,000 rupees in the year 1806/7, and transmitted to
Benares for the purpose of being thrown into circulation… …We
were certainly led to believe from the information received from the late
[Benares] Mint Committee that the utmost distress was experienced in the
province of Benares for want of a sufficient supply of copper currency, but
so far from this being the case it appears from the Board of Commissioners report
that the old currency is either sufficient for the requisite circulation, or
that the shroffs possess the means of supplying every deficiency in it. We
should therefore [regret] exceedingly that we did not possess more accurate
information on this subject at an earlier period. If we had not reason to
suppose that nearly the whole of the copper money coined for the use of
Benares had been exported to Behar, where it passes equally current and at
the same value with the Calcutta pice and consequently answers the purposes
of circulation nearly as well as if an equal amount of Calcutta pice had been
issued.... …We
shall not pretend to say that the shroffs may not make an undue profit from
the traffic which is carried on by them in copper money, and which as the
late Benares Mint Committee observe, may operate in some degree as a hardship
on the public, but it is evident that it cannot be any serious grievance or
the new copper money would have obtained as ready a currency as it has done
in Behar. If
however a supply of copper money were more urgently required for the use of
the province of Benares than appears to be the case, it would be
impracticable to furnish it within the period which has been fixed by
regulation 10 of 1809, as there is no copper in store fit for the coinage of
pice, and we beg leave therefore to suggest that the provisions contained in
that regulation may be postponed until circumstances will admit of the
coinage being carried into effect with less inconvenience to the public
service than it could be at the present moment, even if there were a
sufficient supply of copper in store… The
Calcutta Council agreed that the minting of copper coins for Benares should
cease for the time being: …and to inform you that Government
concur with you in opinion with respect to the expediency of discontinuing
the coinage of copper for supplying the circulation of Benares, and that it
also appears to them expedient that the operation of regulation 10 of 1809,
in that province, should for the present be postponed. The
copper coins produced for this coinage never got into circulation in
Banāras (see pp. 355-361). |
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The Board of
Commissioners for the Ceded and Conquered Provinces produced a report on the
Banāras mint in 1810, although it was not considered by the Calcutta
Council until January 1812. They recommended that the management of the
Banāras mint should be the same as that at Calcutta and
Farrukhābād, and that the rupee should be improved by the
introduction of machinery [57]: …If we considered the mint at Benares what it has hitherto been,
merely as a private accommodation to individuals interested in the local
currency, we should observe that it was scarcely an object for the
interference of Government by legislative provisions. As long as the
superintendence of the Mint Master secures the individuals from any
imposition on the part of the native officers in their levy of fees and in
the charges and wastage of coinage, as long as the check of the Mint Master
over the native assayers and artificers, and the further test of occasional
examination of the coin in the Calcutta Mint, prevents all depreciation of
the weight or standard, we are not aware of anything more being necessary. The present constitution also of the mint appears
the best adapted to the purposes of a mint of mere private accommodation. The
proprietor of the bullion to be coined, or an agent on his part, attends it
thro’ every stage of progress, overlooks each process, and never loses sight
or possession of it. The whole expense of each operation, the loss attending
it, the remuneration to the native officers and to the artificers, the costs
of materials, are all at his charge, and the small duty received by
Government is more than sufficient to defray the only charge to which
Government is liable in the salary of the Mint Master, and the hire of an
ediface for the mint. But as Government have on mature deliberation
determined to recognise this local currency as the legal coin of a valuable
portion of its dominions, the currency thus recognised should be guarded by
similar provisions as the currency of the other parts of its territories, and
the mint in which it is coined can no longer be considered in any other light
than as an appendage of the general sovereignty of the British Government. Thus the Board
of Commissioners started by observing that the Banāras mint had hitherto
been considered as more of a local mint whose objective was largely confined
to providing private individuals with the ability to turn bullion into coins.
Now that the authorities in Calcutta had decided that the Banāras
coinage would form a part of the overall coinage of the Presidency, the Board
felt that better coins and better control of the mint was necessary. Their
letter went on: In this vein of the question, we can by no means concur with the late
Benares Committee, either in retaining the mis-shapen coin now in use, or in establishing
by a legislative recognition, the principle of the native officers and
artisans remunerating themselves by a levy of fees. On the contrary, it
appears to us that Government should now assume itself the entire direction
of this mint and assimilate it in every respect to the mints of Calcutta and
Farruckabad... They
investigated the possibility of making the blanks the same size as those in
the Calcutta and Farrukhābād mints, presumably so that the whole
impression of the die would appear on the coins and suggested that, if a
milled coinage was introduced at Banāras, then the dies should be
provided from Calcutta: …In one of our visits to the Benares mint, we brought away four rupees
as they fell from the stamping die, and we now transmit them in this address
with four other rupees, which by our directions and in our presence were
flattened into the size of the planchets made in the Calcutta and Farruckabad
mints. The only objection which we heard stated were on the part of the
artificers themselves, the quantum of whose remuneration depends on the
celerity of their operations, and who are, of course, averse to the
additional labour of flattening the planchets, and of stamping a deeper
impression from the die. Government will observe from these specimens how
very defective [are] the impressions on the dies now in use. And such will be
the case while the fabrication of the dies is left to the common engravers
who attend the mint. If therefore Government should deem it proper to
authorise the introduction of a milled coin in Benares, it will be expedient
that the dies should be furnished from the Calcutta mint. As the machinery wanted for the improved fabrication
of the coin can only be procured at the Presidency, it will also be requisite
to supply the Mint Master at Benares with two milling presses for the whole
rupee and two for half and quarter rupees, two presses for stamping dies, two
for the concave dies, and three for the collar dies, similar to those used in
the Farruckabad mint, and one spare machine to be applied to either purpose
on emergency… They went on
to propose a new establishment for the mint: …In fixing the establishment which may be necessary for the Benares
mint in the event of Government approving of the suggestion for assuming the
entire direction of it, we have endeavored to limit it as far as on a
comparison of the mint at Farruckabad, appeared practicable with due
attention to the principal object of ensuring a regular discharge of official
duties. The following is the establishment which in such case we should
propose:
The Commissioners
also proposed the following draft regulation, which, inter alia, fixed the weight of the Banāras rupee at 175
grains and specified the fineness: AD
1810 Regulation A
Regulation for the future management of the mint at Benares and for preventing
the debasement of the manufactures in which the precious metals constitute
the principal materials Preamble,
Whereas it has been deemed expedient to continue the mint at Benares, and to
assimilate the internal management of it to the rules already in force in the
mints of Calcutta and Farruckabad, and whereas it is of importance to secure
the purity and prevent the debasement of the precious metals employed in the
various manufactures of the city of Benares, the following rules have
therefore been enacted to be in force from their promulgation Section II,
The silver coin current in the Province of Benares, under the denomination of
the Muchleedar Rupee, shall continue to be the established coin of the
province, and shall be received as such in all public and private
transactions Section III,
The Benares rupee is to continue of the following weight and standard, and
half and quarter rupees are to be coined of the same standard and
proportionate weight Troy weight
grains 175 Touch or pure
silver 168.875 Alloy 6.125 Touch or parts
of pure silver in 100 96.5 Alloy 3.5 Section IV,
The Section V, The
half and quarter rupees shall be proportionately less than the rupee,
according to their respective value, and shall have the same impression as
the rupee Section VI, To
guard as far as possible against the counterfeiting, clipping, drilling,
filing, defacing or debasing the coin, the edges of it shall be milled and
the dies shall be made of the same size as the coin, so that the whole of the
impression may appear on the surface of it. Section VII,
The dies for striking the silver coin at the mint of Benares shall be cut in
the mint at Calcutta, and shall be sent by the Mint Master at Calcutta to the
Mint Master at Benares. When the dies are broken or no longer serviceable,
they shall be returned to the Section VIII,
The immediate conduct of the mint at Section IX,
The Mint and Assay Master and the native officers of the mint, shall be
amenable to the Dewant Adawlat of the city of Benares, and shall be liable to
be sued for damages for any breach of this regulation, or of any other
regulations which may be enacted respecting the coin. Section X, It
shall be the duty of the judge of the Court of Circuit for the district of
Benares, who may hold each monthly jail delivery for the city of Benares, to
visit the mint during such jail delivery and to make such enquiries as he shall
consider necessary to satisfy himself of the manner in which the business of
the mint is conducted, reporting the result of his enquiries to the Governor
General in Council. He shall at the same time take indiscriminately out of
the heaps of coin at the foot of the striking presses, three pieces of each
description of coin which may have been struck off, and transmit them to the
Mint Committee at the Presidency, who shall send the same to the Mint Master
at Calcutta, in order that he may cause the coin to be examined and assayed.
If the specimen of coin so transmitted shall be found to be not of the proper
standard, and if the coin shall be defective in the workmanship, or in any
other respect, the Mint Master shall report the circumstances to the Mint Committee
at the Presidency for the orders of the Governor General in Council. Section XI,
The Mint Master at Calcutta shall cause a private mark to be put upon all the
dies which may be prepared for the mint at Benares, but in such a manner as
not to be distinguishable by the naked eye, or by persons unacquainted with
it. These marks shall be varied as often as the Mint Master at Calcutta shall
judge proper upon new dies being made and he shall keep a register of them in
order that he may be enabled to discover any debased or defective coin which
may be hereafter found in circulation. Section XII,
Persons charged with counterfeiting, clipping, filing, drilling, defacing or
debasing the silver coin of Benares, shall be committed for trial to the
criminal courts and shall be punished as the law may direct. Section XIII,
The Section XIV,
All officers agents, gomastahs or others employed in the collection or
payment of the public revenue, or the rents of individuals, or the provision
of the investment, and all proprietors and farmers of land, dependent
Talookdars, under farmers of ryots, and all persons whatsoever are prohibited
affixing any mark whatever to the silver coin, and all rupees or halves or
quarters of rupees which may be so marked are declared not to be legal tender
of payment in any public or private transactions, and the officers of government
are directed to reject any rupees or halves or quarter of rupees so marked
which may be tendered at the public treasuries in Benares. Section XV,
All Benares rupees which shall not have lost by wear a greater proportion of
the full weight than 6 annas per cent or six sixteenth of a rupee in one
hundred rupees, shall be considered as of standard weight and shall be
received as such in all public and private transactions... These
proposals were accepted by the Calcutta Council in 1812, and the Calcutta mint
master was directed to construct the machinery [58]: …The Governor General in
Council entirely concurs with the Board of Commissioners in the expediency of
placing the mint of …The
Governor General in Council has been pleased to authorize the establishment
recommended by the Board of Commissioners in their letter of 27th
April 1810, for conducting the duties of the Benares mint, with exception to
the wages of the foremen, which for the reasons assigned in the 35th
paragraph of your report, it is considered advisable to fix at sicca rupees
250 per mensum. As
his Lordship in Council approves the introduction of the European machinery
into the The
regulation that had been proposed in 1810 was apparently put into effect from
I am directed by the
Right Honble the Governor General in Council to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of the 22nd ultimo requesting to be informed from what
date the salaries fixed by the orders of Government of the 17th
January last, for the officers of the Benares mint are to commence, and to
acquaint you that the additional allowance is to be granted to Mr Yeld from
the date fixed for Regulation II, 1812, to take effect by 1st May
last, and the salaries of the native officers from the date on which they
ceased to receive the fees formerly allowed to them. This
regulation also put the Banāras mint under the control of the Board of
Commissioners of the Ceded and A
rupee, with a different style of calligraphy, dated AH 1230 RY 49 (1812) may
fit into this period:
Transitional type of rupee By
December 1812, a new foreman for the Banāras mint, Mr James Quin, had
been identified [60] and,
by January 1813, the machinery was ready for shipment from Calcutta to
Banāras [61].
However, when the machines arrived there were not enough of them [62]: I beg leave to state
that there are three presses only forwarded with the present machinery, which
are calculated for the proportionate work the laminating rollers can turn
off. Three more therefore will be required for correcting the Derabs [Duraps?] planchets in the mode in use in the Farruckabad mint for effecting a
coinage of 20,000 rupees per day and a spare one should be at hand to replace
any one damaged or worn out. The
mint committee at …copy of a letter and
its enclosure from the Mint Master forwarding and recommending an application
from the foreman of the mint, Mr DaCosta, to be remunerated for the extra
duty of superintending the execution of two complete sets of machinery for
the mints of Farruckabad and Benares. The
machinery intended for the Farruckabad mint was completed in February 1810,
that for the mint at Benares in January last, and we have great satisfaction
in being able to report that both sets were finished in a manner highly
creditable to Mr DaCosta. It
having been usual to consider work of this kind as extra duty and to
remunerate the foreman of the mint accordingly, and the sum of 6000 rupees
having been granted to Mr Da Costa’s predecessor on completing an extensive
set of machinery for Madras in the year 1806, we beg leave to recommend that
Mr DaCosta may be allowed the sum of 4000 rupees as a compensation for the
extra duty of superintending the construction of the machinery for the mints
at Farruckabad and Benares. By
September 1813, four more machines were ready for Banāras, and these are
described as collar and concave dye
presses [64].
This implies that the manufacturing process involved production of blanks by hand,
followed by striking of the blanks first with a concave die, followed by a
collar die, before the impression was stamped on the coin (see chapter 4, p.
152, also chapter 6, pp. 270-273). More buildings were needed to house
the new machinery and, although this was authorised, the Banāras mint
committee was warned not to enter into
any long term commitment until more information was available about the
renewal of the Company’s charter [65]. In 1814 Mr Quin resigned as foreman of the mint after an
argument with Mr Yeld [66]. He
was replaced by Mr Heatly [67]. |
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By 1816 the new machinery for the Banāras mint was
ready for dispatch from Calcutta [68]: I beg leave to inform
you that the machinery ordered to be prepared for the mint at
Rupee pattern prepared in the Calcutta Mint
Currency rupee with mint name Muhammadabad
Banāras |
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Yeld, the mint
master, now (December 1816) suggested that Farrukhābād rupees
should be struck in the Banāras mint [69]: The silver currency of
Bundlekhund and In
Bundlekhund very little of that coin has got into circulation; in Most
of the revenue in the first and much of the latter, is collected in rupees of
sorts, principally of the kind Sreenuggur in Bundlekhund and different Corah
sun rupees in The
Sreenuggur rupee is coined on the borders of Bundlekhund by an independent
Mahratta chief, in a city, the name of which I cannot call to my
recollection. The Corah suns are
struck in the Gohad country bordering on both. On
the British Government taking possession of these districts, old rupees of
sorts were received in payment of revenue, at rates fixed by careful
valuation of Mr Blake. As
these old rupees got out of circulation, new ones of similar import were
struck of a depreciated value, which on a remittance of them coming to
Benares for recoinage, I was obliged to call the attention of the Board of
Commissioners to, and I believe a revised rate for their receipt in revenue
payments was adopted. A
trade of a most extensive nature (particularly in cotton) is carried on with
these districts by the merchants of Mirzapore and Merchants
importing bullion to It
appears to me that much if not the whole of this might be obviated, by
authorizing the new Furruckabad rupee being coined at Benares, for such
merchants of that place and Mirzapore as may wish to have the bullion they
import from the eastwards coined therein, and also the coinage of such rupees
of sorts as may be sent to Benares, according to the instruction of the
superintendent of resourses, and either returned to Bundlekhund, or sent to
Allahabad for the payment of the troops. The
advantage of this would be seignorage duties of the probably greater part of
the bullion which is now carried from Benares into the Mahratta country, and
introducing into the districts of Bundlecund and Allahabad generally, the
legal currency established by Government for the receipt of their revenue and
payment of their troops, with a positive saving of the expense of recoinage
of that part now brought into the mint in rupees of sorts, and a facility
would also be given to the great trade carried on to those parts, which would
greatly convenience the merchants of Benares and Mirzapore, and by its
encouragement increase considerably the revenue of the customs of those
places. The
currency of Goruckpore and Azimghur (and I believe agreements for the payment
of revenue) is in A
very large trade in cloth, sugar and salt petre is carried on in these
districts by the By
the bullion employed in this anomalous currency of a coin not struck by the
sovereign state, the seignorage and duties are totally lost to it, and its
subjects paying its revenues as well as the merchants dealing with it, liable
to great disadvantages, which it appears to me there are two modes of
obviating. One by obtaining the consent of the Nawab Vizier for striking a
Lucknow rupee at the Benares mint, and giving him credit for the supplies of
the duties above the expense of the coinage. The other by declaring the new
Furruckabad rupee the legal currency and allowing it to be coined at the
Benares mint… The Governor General agreed in principal, but wanted to
collect the views of the local authorities of the various districts. These
views were summarized by the Board of Commissioners, who did not support the
proposal to produce the Farrukhābād rupee at Banāras [70]: On receipt of the orders
of Government under date the 10th January 1817, transmitting to us
the copies of a letter from the Mint and Assay Master at Benares, and of a
letter written to him in reply, we called on the Collectors of Allahabad,
Bundlecund and Goruckpore and on the Mint Master at Furruckabad for their
sentiments on the expediency of adopting Mr Yeld’s proposition relative to
the coinage of Furruckabad rupees at the Benares mint, and for giving
currency in the three first mentioned districts to the Benares copper pice. We
now do ourselves the honor to submit copies of the replies which we have
received from those officers and we beg leave to observe that from the explanations
given by the Collectors of the three districts in question, it does not
appear that the proposed measure of coining Furruckabad rupees at the Benares
mint would be attended with any advantage to the public service or be
productive of any convenience to the commercial classes… Despite this,
In 1817 a regulation for the circulation of Farrukhābād rupees
produced in Calcutta and Banāras, as well as Farrukhābād, was
issued [71]: Regulation XXVI, 1817, Authorizing the
Circulation of Farruckabad Rupees coined in either of the Mints of Calcutta,
Farruckabad or Benares or at any other mint, Established by Orders of the
Governor General in Council Whereas it may from time
to time be found expedient to coin rupees of the weight and standard of the
Farruckabad rupee at the mints of Calcutta or Benares, it has been deemed
advisable to rescind so much of section 2 of regulation 45 of 1803, as tends
to limit the coinage of Farruckabad rupees to the mint of Farruckabad, and to
direct that the following enactment be henceforward in force: The
silver coin denominated the Farruckabad rupee and of the weight and standard
prescribed by section 2 of Regn 3 1806, struck at the mints of Calcutta,
Farruckabad or Benares or at any other mint established by order of the
Governor General in Council is hereby declared to be the established and
legal silver coin in the ceded and conquered provinces. Exactly
when Banāras began production of the Farrukhābād rupee is not clear,
but probably not until 1819. |
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In July 1819, the Calcutta mint committee gave consideration
to the silver coinage in the expanded territories of the Bengal Presidency.
Their recommendations included the following about Banāras [72]: …The considerations
which we have now the honor to submit, combined with those already urged in
our letter of 1st The abolition of the Benaras rupee 2nd
The limitation of the currency of the Upper Provinces to a rupee of the value
of the present Farruckabad rupee… …5th
The coinage of the new Farruckabad rupee at the Benaras mint and consequent
improvement and extension of that establishment. Should these arrangements
meet with the approbation of Government, we conceive it would be found
advantageous to give them as early effect as possible, as the difference of
standard at present existing and the distant situation to which bullion is
necessarily sent to be coined into Farruckabad rupees, entail much
inconvenience and expense on the remittance of treasure to the Upper
Provinces on public account…. …6th The substitution of the new Farruckabad
rupee for the currencies of the newly acquired territory… The
output of the Banāras mint was given in a letter from the Calcutta mint
committee in 1819 [73],
which was later updated [74].
Banāras was certainly coining Farrukhābād
rupees by 1819 because a large amount of bullion was sent there for that
purpose [75]: In conformity with the
suggestion of the Accountant General, the Governor General in Council
resolves that the Mint Master at Calcutta be instructed to effect a
remittance of bullion to the extent of 30 lacs of rupees to the mints of
Benaras and Farruckabad in the proportions proposed by the Accountant General
(10 lacs to Banaras, 22 lacs to Farruckabad), the whole to be coined into the
currency of the last mentioned mint… And
soon afterwards the coinage of the Banāras rupee was stopped [76]: ...In conformity with
the suggestion of the Mint Committee the Governor General in Council resolves 1.
That the coinage of the Benaras rupee be discontinued. 2.
That the Farruckabad rupee be declared the legal currency of the 3.
That the standard of the Farruckabad rupee be assimilated to that of the
present 4.
That the Government will receive Farruckabad rupees at par with the present
Benaras rupees in payment of the land revenue and in liquidation of all other
public demands and will pay them at the same valuation within the Province of
Benaras… …8.
That the mint at Benaras be constituted on an efficient footing in regard to
establishment and machinery, particularly that a regular Assay Master be
attached to it and that the manufacture be conducted in the manner followed
in the Calcutta mint, with such alteration as more recent improvements may
suggest. 9.
That the Mint Master at Benaras be called upon to furnish a full report in
the manner in which he now conducts the various operations of coinage and to
state especially what alterations in regard to the building and machinery
will be required for the purpose above indicated, and with the further object
of rendering the powers of the Benaras mint adequate in their ordinary
operation to the entire coinage of the Western Provinces, and capable of
meeting the occasional emergencies of the public service. 10.
That the Farruckabad mint be continued only during such time as may be found
requisite for effecting the arrangements necessary to the full efficiency of
the Benaras mint. The Farruckabad rupee of the new standard to be in the mean
time coined at both mints with such separate private marks (not discoverable
by the naked eye) as may serve to distinguish the coinage of the several
mints… The
new Farrukhābād rupee issued from all the mints of the Presidency
was to be [77]:
and
secret marks were added for each mint (marks shown on pp. 296, 396 & 461)
[78]: …It is understood that
the dies recently sent by the Mint Master at Calcutta to the Benaras mint
(being the same that Mr Saunders had himself used) have a distinct private
mark from that borne by the dies in use at the Farruckabad mint. You
will be pleased to instruct Mr Saunders to be careful to preserve the same
distinction in all dies, which he may hereafter furnish to the Mint Masters
at Benaras or Farruckabad respectively, distinguishing also by different
marks those which he may himself eventually hereafter use, or which he may
have occasion to send to the mint at Saugor or elsewhere. |
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In 1819, James Prinsep was appointed Assistant
Assay Master at Calcutta. This allowed Mr Wilson, the Assay Master, to be
transferred to Banāras to act as Assay Master [79] and
he was duly sent there in October 1819 [80]. This
was all summarised in a report to London in October 1819 [81]: …In
addition to the above measures, which had reference chiefly to the mint
immediately under their superintendance, the Committee you will perceive,
suggested the expediency of abolishing the mint establishments in the Western
Provinces, and rendering the Calcutta sicca rupee the general currency of the
territories subordinate to this Presidency. The last measure, involving an
important change in the value of the currencies of Benares and the whole of
the Western Provinces, we deemed it advisable, before passing any final
orders on the subject of it, to consult the Board of Commissioners, and the
agent to the Governor General at Benares... …In the reports subsequently received
from the Board of Commissioners and the Agent to the Governor General at
Benares, a decided opinion was expressed against the expediency of altering
the currency of the Western Provinces, and on a reconsideration of the
subject, with reference to those reports, and to the further information
before them, the Mint Committee at the Presidency concurred in the expediency
of at least postponing the adoption of the measure to the full extent
contemplated. They renewed however the expression of their opinion that it
was equally unnecessary and inexpedient to maintain a separate coinage for
the province of Benares, and proposed that the Farruckabad rupees assimilated
in respect to standard with the Calcutta rupee, should be declared the legal
currency of that province, and of the provinces to the west and north. With
this suggestion, which involved of course the discontinuance of the coinage
of the Benares rupees, the Committee united a proposition for abolishing the
mint establishment of Farruckabad and for conducting the coinage of the
Western Provinces at Benares, the establishment of that city to be proportionally
improved and extended. Being entirely satisfied of the
expediency of the measures suggested by the Committee, we have resolved to
adopt them, and have accordingly instructed the Committee to prepare a draft
of a regulation for giving them effect. We are fully sensible of the
advantages which would attend the complete assimilation of all the currency
of We have not therefore without
considerable reluctance relinquished the object of reducing the coinage of
this Presidency to one standard of value, but the attainment of it is
undoubtedly opposed by formidable obstacles… …Your Under the above resolution the
operations of the …Concurring with the Committee in
opinion, we resolved that Mr Wilson should be directed to proceed to Benares
with all convenient expedition and have judged it proper to assign to him an
extra allowance of rupees 400 per mensum to cover the extra charges to which
he will be subjected by his deputation to Benares… |
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By
1811, the mint master at Banāras was proposing that copper coins might
be produced in the Banāras mint to meet the needs of local individuals [82]: We do ourselves the
honor of laying before your Excellency in Council, copies of a correspondence
which has taken place with the Mint Master at Benares relative to
applications which he had received from individuals for coining the copper in
the Benares mint into pice of the currency established by regulation X 1809. As
it appears that no pice of this description have been yet thrown into
circulation, and that none are likely to be soon received from the
Presidency, and as the Mint Master’s explanation would give us to conclude
that the public might be accomodated by the proposed measure without
entailing any risk or expense on Government, who would on the contrary derive
a duty on the coinage, we are not aware of any objection to its adoption. but
in the same meeting, the We have the honor to
acknowledge Mr Secretary Rickett’s letter dated the 19th July
last, transmitting in original a letter from the Board of Commissioners in
the Ceded and Conquered Provinces, under date the 28th June 1811,
forwarding a recommendation by the Mint Master at Benares that he may be
allowed to comply with any applications made to him by individuals for
coining their copper into pice of the currency established by Regulation X of
1809… …It
is very justly observed by the Board of Commissioners in the letter to
Government of the 20th October 1809, either that the old currency was
sufficient for the requisite circulation of Benares, or that the shroffs
possessed the means of supplying every deficiency in it, since if the
embarrassments to petty disbursements were such as had been represented it
was naturally to be expected that they would have availed themselves of the
remedy afforded them. But admitting that the supply of copper money thro’
foreign channels should have ceased since the promulgation of Regulation 13
of 1809, the quantity of English Copper for which applications have been made
to the Mint Master to have coined in the Benares mint is too insignificant to
be of any essential use. [There]
are at present copper coins to the value of 45,006 [Rs] in the Benares
treasury, of which it appears from the accompanying copy of a letter from the
Collector to the Accountant General that 16,247½ consists of Moodhooshahi
pice which have been called in in consequence of the above regulation. From
the enclosed muster, Your Excellency in Council will perceive that these pice
are not worthy of the name of coin, being merely dubs of copper. We beg leave
to recommend that the Collector of Benares may be directed to remit the whole
of the Mudhooshahee pice to the Calcutta mint for coinage and to save
expense, we are of opinion that the Collector might be instructed to
communicate with the Commercial Resident or Opium Agent, for the purpose of
having them sent on one of his boats. The
remainder of the pice in the Benares treasury consist of half pice struck in
the Calcutta mint amounting in tale to 3,681,088 or at 128 pice to a rupee,
Bs Rs [28,602] and as these half pice are of the
proportions of the coin authorized to be struck by Regulation 13 of 1809, and
as Government has incurred a considerable expense in their fabrication, we
conceive that they ought to be issued in preference to encouraging a new
coinage in the Benares Mint and no doubt if any inconvenience is really
experienced for want of a sufficiency of copper, they will be applied for to
the Collector. If the Collector however, be not authorized to issue these
half pice in consequence of section 2, Regulation 10, 1809, enacting that the
pice shall be of one size only weighing sicca weight 8 annas and 9 pie each,
and 19/20th of an inch in diameter, we beg leave to observe that
this difficulty may be easily removed by a regulation of Government, and we
presume the large quantity of pice at present in the Collectors treasury,
will appear to Your Excellency in Council to be a sufficient reason for
making them a legal currency. The
mint committee were keen to point out
that under the 1809 regulation, copper coins were to be produced in the We beg leave further to
observe that by the Regulation above cited, it is expressly declared that the
copper coins struck for the province of Benares shall be coined in the
Calcutta mint, and as the Mint Master at this Presidency, we have the
satisfaction to observe, has at length overcome the difficulties which were
formerly experienced from the copper not being of a determinate thickness,
and by melting and laminating it will be enabled to make any quantity of pice
that may be requested in future, we can supply any quantity of copper money
which may be wanted for the currency of Benares, should the Board of
Commissioners be of opinion that the coin will obtain circulation and not be
exported as was formerly the case, or be left upon the hands of Government... Mr
Yeld, the Banāras mint master, did not accept the Calcutta mint
committee ’s rather sceptical comments, and rebuffed their criticisms [83].
Firstly: …On the second paragraph
of that report, which seems to me to imply that my representation of the
distress of the lower classes of the community for want of an adequate copper
currency at that period was not correct, the subsequent part of the report
furnishes this conclusion: that however great the want of an adequate copper
currency in the Benares province, there was so much greater a want in Behar
as to render it profitable to the shroffs to export the new pice intended for
Benares. In
venturing to again notice the great want of a copper coinage in the Province
of Benares, and the impositions and hardship the lower classes of the
community are at present subjected to by the monopoly and combination of the
shroffs and money changers, I with confidence appeal to all the European Gentlemen
who have resided a twelve month in any of its districts, whether in the
service or out of it, for a confirmation of my former statements on that
head. Next
he discussed why the coins had not got into circulation successfully: On the endeavours of the
Collector to introduce the new coin into circulation proving ineffectual, I
beg leave to observe that his instructions were confined to the payment of
claims upon the treasury to such as might be desirous of payment in that
coin, or distributing it to persons wishing to exchange silver into the new
coin. He accordingly issued an advertizement to that purport as per enclosure
No1. The shroffs seeing no restriction to its exportation, soon discovered
its value in Behar, and numerous applications were accordingly made for the
exchange for silver for the single pice in the first instance, not for
currency in Thirdly,
Yeld went on: On the third paragraph
of the report I have to remark that proper as was the Accountant General’s
intentions in granting bills payable in pice, on the supposition that by this
means they would pass into circulation, these bills tho’ unknown to him, were
sought principally by the Behar merchants, for the express purpose on their
part, of exportation, which led the Collector to make the subject known to
the Accountant General, and to apply to the Board of Commissioners on the
necessity of addressing Government on the subject of prohibiting the
exportation of the new copper currency intended for the Province of Benares.
No prohibition took place, and the following paragraph from the Accountant
General’s letter, to the Collector, dated the 9th of May 1810,
gives his subsequent opinion on the subject: “With respect to the observation
contained in the last paragraph of your letter, I beg leave to observe that
it was only in consequence of the difficulty which you experienced in
bringing the new pice into circulation that I granted those drafts payable in
pice, and altho’ I had no conception at the time that they were required for
the remittances of Behar, yet as it appears that they circulate in Behar at
the same rate as the Calcutta pice and that the Board of Commissioners are of
opinion that there is either a sufficiency of old pice in circulation, or
that the shroffs possess the means of supplying any deficiency, I think that
it is not to be regretted that they have been exported by the shroffs”. And
he wasn’t finished yet: In the fourth paragraph
of the report on the opinion of the Board of commissioners “either that the
old currency was sufficient for the requisite circulation of Benares, or that
the shroffs possessed the means of supplying every deficiency in it, since if
the embarrassments to petty disbursements were such as had been represented,
it was naturally to be expected that they would have availed themselves of
the remedy afforded them”. I take the liberty of observing that as long as
the shroffs and money-changers have command of the monopoly, and the
community are obliged to resort to them for pice without fixed rates of
exchange, it does not appear to me possible to obtain any remedy to the
embarrassments to petty disbursements, as the interest of the shroffs and
money-changers, is at direct variance with the introduction of the new
coinage, and until this interest shall be done away by legislative
regulations, the inference of the Board of Commissioners, before cited, does
not appear to me exactly consonant to the circumstances of the case. On the
concluding sentence of that paragraph, that the quantity of English copper
for which application had been made to be coined into the present currency
was too insignificant to be of any essential use, I have to state that this
was only employed in the first instance to put the question on, and I have no
doubt, had the permission been granted, a very large quantity of copper would
before this time, have been converted into pice. Lastly,
he added: On the subsequent points
of disquisition contained in the report of the Committee at There
can be no doubt that a copper currency struck for the Benares Province, which
is equally current in the lower provinces with the appropriate copper coin of
those provinces, can never yet get into circulation in the Benares Province
without some legislative prohibition to its exportation, until the lower
provinces are completely stocked, and also a regulation for its rate of
exchange within the Benares Province, and either prohibiting the old pice as
a legal payment, or that they shall be so, of the present weight, at the same
tale with the new pice. The
issue of a new coinage confined to the Collector’s treasury, must render its
progress into the general use of the community very slow indeed. It appears
to me therefore necessary that some more general means should be resorted to,
and none better suggest themselves to me, than by the Collector placing such
amounts of pice as he may deem proper with his aumulah, in all parts of the
province to be exchanged for silver at fixed rates. Besides the facility this
would afford the community at large, of getting the new pice, it would at
once break the monopoly and combination of the shroffs and money changers. Its
issue at the mint appears to me also to be advisable. The
extensive country below Benares to be supplied with such an addition to its
copper currency from the Calcutta mint as shall stock its markets, must from
its present well-known scarcity in the lower provinces, render it a very
considerable period before the efforts of the Calcutta mint can be at all
turned to the supply required for the province of Benares, and as Government
have thought it proper to concede to the prejudices of the people of this province,
the continuance of a mint for their silver and gold coinage, and being
convinced the influence their opinion on this head would have in introducing
a copper coinage into general circulation, I am led to hope Government will
on reconsidering this part of the subject accelerate the introduction of a
new copper coinage into this province, by allowing such copper as may be
brought by individuals to be coined in the Benares mint, and that Government
will also concede the stamping in the Benares mint as recommended in my
letter of the 9th July 1806, such as may be laminated and cut into
planchets in the Calcutta mint. For if laminated and cut into planchets in
the The
Collector of Banāras was also in favour of pice being produced at the
Banāras mint. In addition he pointed out that he still had the half pice
from the 1806 coinage, as well as the pice called ‘Mudhooshahee pice’ in his treasury [84]: In reply to your letter
of the 14th July last I request you will acquaint the Board that
the quantity of half pice of Calcutta coinage stated in the account
transmitted to the Accountant General under date the 16th
September 1811 is still in the treasury undisposed of. No applications have
been made, or are likely to be made, for this description of coin. In
like manner, the pice under the denomination of Mudhooshahee pice, called in
from the pergannah of Gurwarah are still lying in the treasury, no orders
having been received as to the disposal or appropriation of them. It
is universally acknowledged throughout the province of Benares that a copper
currency of a fixed weight, standard and value is particularly wanted, and
that at present all classes of the community are subject to great imposition
and extortions from the shroffs and money changers in the exchange of silver
for pice. [Just] at the present time the rates of exchange of pice in the
bazar are from 23 to 23½ tacas per rupee (nearly 9 takas less in value than
the double pice of Government coinage which would be sold at 32 per rupee). I
humbly conceive the evil might be obviated in great measure by allowing the
Mint Master at I
am of opinion (and I believe it also the opinion of the Mint Master who is
better qualified to speak on the subject) that it would be much easier to
maintain a copper currency of The
Board of Commissioners sent the Mudhooshahee pice to Calcutta and proposed
that the half pice should be sent to Bihar [85]: …We have instructed the
Collector in conformity to the suggestion of the Mint Committee at the
Presidency in their address to Government of the 11th October 1811
to concert measures with the Commercial Resident for the transportation of
the whole of the Madhooshahee pice now in store, to the Calcutta mint in one
of his boats. As
the Collector states that half pice still in store are not likely to be
disposed of for circulation in the province of Benares, we beg leave to
recommend that the Accountant General be instructed to endeavour to dispose
of them for exportation into Behar in the same manner as the whole pice were
disposed of on a former occasion. Altho’
we are not of opinion that any such prejudices exist as are alluded to by the
Collector and Mint Master in regard to a local coinage, we take the liberty
of suggesting that if the Calcutta mint should not be at liberty from its
other operations, to furnish a sufficient and early supply of such pice as
are likely to circulate in the province of Benares, the introduction of a
copper coinage at the Benares mint, similarly to what is already authorized
at the Farruckabad mint, might be experienced. The half pice
were duly dispatched to Bihar [86]. |
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The
discussion about the production of copper coins continued. By 1813, the
Calcutta mint committee were still
unconvinced that a new copper coinage should be produced in the Banāras
mint [87]: … In our letters to Your
Lordship in Council dated the 30th March 1810 and 11th
October 1811, we expressed our doubts as to the reality of the distress said
to be experienced by the lower classes of the community in Benares from a
deficiency of copper currency in that province, since it had been found
impracticable to give circulation to 110,000 rupees worth of pice which had
been coined and remitted to Benares for the express purpose of supplying that
alledged deficiency. The
Mint Master at Benares, however, in his report to the Board of Commissioners,
now referred to us again, urges the great want of a copper currency and the
Collector concurs in his opinion that coin struck in the Benares mint would
be most likely to find circulation in that province. We
are suprized to find that both the Collector and the Mint Master still
persist in attaching so much importance to a local coinage on account of the
prejudices of the people, after the opinion formerly expressed and again
repeated by the Board of Commissioners that no such prejudices exist and more
especially as the Mint Master himself has shown that the endeavours of the
Collector to introduce the new pice into circulation proved ineffectual from
other causes. In
the 8th paragraph of Mr Yeld’s letter he observes that there can
be no doubt that a copper currency struck for the Benares province which is
equally current in the Lower provinces with the appropriate currency of those
provinces can never get into circulation in the Benares province without some
legislative prohibition to its exportation, until the Lower provinces are
completely stocked. Now this cause we conceive sufficiently accounts for the
copper pice coined in the Calcutta mint not obtaining circulation at Benares,
without attributing it to the prejudices of the natives in favour of a local
currency. If
a balance is due from one province to another the debtor will of course adopt
that mode of remittance which is most advantageous, and whilst there is a
call for remittances to Behar, and pice are in demand there, it may be
expected that the Benares merchants will continue to export copper coins
whether they are struck in the Benares or the Calcutta mint, if they equally
pass in circulation, and under these circumstances we concur the remedy
proposed by Mr Yeld of preparing the coin in the Calcutta mint, and stamping
it at Benares would not have the slightest effect in checking their
exportation. However,
they did not want to stand in the way of progress: In offering these remarks
we are far, however, from dissuading Your Lordship in Council from
authorizing a copper coinage to be executed in the A
complete set of machinery has been lately sent to the Previous
however to authorizing a copper coinage to be undertaken in the Benares mint,
we are of opinion that the sentiments of the Board of Commissioners and of
the local officers should be requested, as to the alteration which may be
advisable to make in the weight and inscription of the Benares pice, so as to
answer the purposes of a local currency and prevent their passing current in
the Lower provinces, for which purpose it may be necessary to raise their
value, or in other words to reduce their weight more than at present below
the weight (as per margin) of the pice coined for the Lower provinces, and as
it will be necessary to issue another proclamation rescinding regulation X of
1809 and clause III regulation 12 of 1810, we would beg leave also to suggest
that the Board of Commissioners may be requested to submit the draft of a
regulation for the copper coinage of Benares in which the several provisions
contained in regulation 45 of 1803 respecting the copper coinage of the upper
provinces may be introduced as well as any other which may appear to that
Board to be advisable for securing the objects intended… and
the Board of Commissioners was asked to put this into effect and produce a
copper coinage in Banāras. Meanwhile,
in May 1813, the Magistrate at Banāras wrote to Calcutta to complain
about the shroffs exacting an unwarranted batta on the trisuli pice [88]: Since the coin
denominated tirsoolee pice was originally established as the copper currency
of the city of But
the labouring class of people suffer most. They receive their daily wages in
copper pice, and as the money price of labour is the same as it was before
the shroffs made this innovation, the labourer, if he happens to be paid in
pice containing a defect in the tirsool, loses 11 per cent of his earnings.
The retail shop keepers, who deal chiefly with the labouring poor, are paid
for their articles in pice, and are compelled to demand them from their
customers at the rate which is required by the shroffs to whom they exchange
them for rupees. This innovation accordingly presses most heavily upon those
who, on account of their indigence, are the least capable of supporting it. It
has also introduced an uncertainty in the current value of the copper coin
which serves as a cover to exaction. For instance, the agents for the
Collector for the retail sale of stamp paper are paid for this commodity in
pice, but being required to remit the amount periodically to the public treasury
in rupees, they must dispose of their copper to the shroffs, and consequently
indemnify themselves for the loss of 11 per cent to which they are liable, by
raising the price of the paper to the purchasers. This, by leaving so much to
the discretion of the agents opens the way of course, to unlimited abuse, for
which there can be no effectual remedy without removing at once the evil in
which it has originated… …I
recommend that Government authorize me to issue a proclamation declaring all
tirsoolee pice, whether retaining the mark of the tirsool or not, to be
current as heretofore at the same value and received at an equal rate in
discharge of all public and private demands as the established copper
currency of the place… In
1814, the Banāras mint master had reviewed the proposal of the Board of
Commissioners for a new copper coinage and made the following remarks [89]: …A very smart bilious
attack has prevented me being able to give attention to anything since my
receipt of your Board’s letter until this day. I
now beg leave to submit to you that the IV section of your projected
regulation appears to me the only part that any suggestion can be added to.
It is therein proposed that the impression of the copper coin shall be the
same as the rupee. The old copper pice had a different one, which I think the
prejudices of the people would prefer and of which I furnished your Board
with an exact copy divested of all but the Rajah’s ensigns in the specimens
of pice forwarded with my letter of the 4th November 1813… and the Board agreed with his views …We beg to explain that
we are not aware of any objection to the impression proposed by Mr Yeld and
approved by the Board of Commissioners, and that it was in compliance only
with the tenor of their draft of the regulation, that the Mint Committee
drafted the section which it is now proposed to modify. We therefore take the
liberty of submitting the following modification of it: IV
The form and size of the copper coin established by the foregoing section,
shall correspond with those prescribed by section XII, Regulation 2, 1812 for
the This
discussion presumably represents the production of the copper pattern that
Pridmore attributed to 1813:
Copper
pattern pice of 1813 The
new copper coin required copper of a different thickness and this was
requested from Calcutta in July 1814 [90]: The copper coinage of
Benares having undergone some modifications by which the copper normally
required for that mint is now no longer adapted to the dimensions of the
coin, and as that mint is not in possession of the means to reduce it to the
proper thickness, it will be necessary to substitute other copper to that now
under consignment to Benares, and you will accordingly stop its transmission
or send in its place sheet copper of the thickness of the Calcutta pice In 1815 there was a further proposal to alter the copper
coins of Banāras but this was opposed by the Magistrate there [91]: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of a letter from you dated the 14th of October
last with its enclosures, desiring me to report how far the regulations in
force regarding the copper coinage in the mint at Benares have answered the
purpose intended by them, and whether in my opinion any material advantage
would be derived from adopting the alterations proposed in the draft of the
regulation submitted by the Mint Committee. The
proposed alterations are as follows: 1st with respect to the
established weight of the coin. 2nd as to its form size and
impression. In regards to the first point, there is in fact no real
difference between the weight of the coin in question and that which is
proposed by the Committee in their projected regulation. On examining a
number of pice formerly coined at As
to the form, size and impression of the coin, the Committee appear to have
suggested the alteration under the supposed existance of a prejudice in the
minds of the people of this province in favour of certain devices, alledged
to be the distinction of the Rajah. No such prejudices in fact exist. The
form, size and impression prescribed by section 3, regulation 10, 1809, is
just as acceptable to them as any other, and the pice ordered to be struck in
conformity to it in the Benares mint, would have been long ago in exclusive
circulation had the Mint Master been able to furnish an adequate supply. The
endeavour to introduce the pice bearing this impression, which was formerly
sent up from Calcutta, did not fail in consequence of any prejudice against
the form, size or inscription of the coin, but from the causes pointed out in
the 9th paragraph of my letter to you dated the 21st
April last, in short, from omitting to make the coin a local currency.
Section 3 regulation 7, 1814, having supplied this ommision by superadding to
the established impression, the figure of a tirsool, every object of the
proposed alteration is at once provided, for the coin cannot circulate in any
other province and the prejudices of the people, if any were ever entertained
by them, are completely obviated. For
these reasons alone I should be of opinion that to alter the form, size and
impression already established, is entirely unnecessary. But there is another
circumstance which renders such an alteration altogether impracticable. Under
the promises held out by the orders of Government dated the 29th
April last, the merchants of this place brought to the mint a quantity of
copper amounting to twelve or fifteen hundred maunds, of which part has been
coined in conformity to the provisions of Regulation 7, 1814, and delivered
to them. To alter therefore in any material degree the nature of those
provisions would be attended with the very objectionable effect of exposing
the merchants to a certain and severe loss and of diminishing, at the same
time, the public confidence in the consistency of Government. The
established form, size and impression of the coin, ought therefore I think on
no account to be altered. The weight is already, as above stated, almost in
exact conformity to what the Committee propose. If however it should be
considered desirable to enact a rule fixing unquestionably the latter point,
a regulation such as I shall take the liberty to subjoin, would be sufficient
for this purpose. |
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The first copper coins were not issued until 1815 because
the entry in the records quoted above goes on: Although it has not yet
been within the power of the Mint Master to furnish the district with a
supply of the new coinage sufficient to allow of introducing it, yet the
knowledge it is upon the point of being introduced keeps the rate of the old
pice within reasonable bounds, and prevents the shroffs from attempting any
sort of imposition. The introduction of the new coin is so eagerly desired
and so much benefit do the public expect from it, that it is to be regretted
the general wish on this head has so long been disappointed. In justice
however to Mr Yeld, I deem it necessary to state that the silver coinage on
account of Government and individuals has for some months past pressed so
heavily upon him and so great has been the difficulty of procuring hands
capable of working at the coppers, that no blame is imputable to him for the
disappointment. He now says that the machinery sent from
The
first machine-made copper pice of Banāras There then follows a proposed regulation about the weight
of the copper coin, rescinding that part of Regulation X 1809, which made the
weight eight annas, nine pie each, and issuing a new order that they shall
weigh 100 grains each. The Calcutta Council agreed with this
proposal and the new coinage continued at such a rate that more machines were
requested from Calcutta [92]: I have the honor to
state to your board that the demand for the new pice increases on me beyond
what the presses can possibly be equal to throw off. When the new dies arrive
and the silver coinage, as bullion may come in, is to be regulated and
stamped by them, it appears to me that for the next three or four years (if
not permanently) there will be full employ for eleven presses worked as hard
as they can daily, and I therefore beg leave to submit to your consideration
your Board’s ordering four more presses from Calcutta to be permanently
fixed, and two in addition to replace any one that may get out of order, that
no delay or inconvenience may be experienced in that case... At the end of
1816, Yeld suggested that
the circulation of the Banāras copper coins should be extended to other
provinces [93]: …The want of a new
copper currency in the zillahs of Bundlekhund and Allahabad, as also in that
of Goruckpore, is not less felt than was long the case in the zillahs proper
of Benares, and as these zillahs now form a part of the judicial division of
the court of Appeal and circuit of Benares, I beg leave to suggest the
regulation establishing the Benares copper currency being extended to those
zillahs, as one of the greatest blessings and favors the British Government
can bestow on the lowest order and the poorest classes of their subjects in
them. On
my way down to the Presidency I saw (what I had long before heard was the
case) that the This
demand for an additional copper currency in Behar, with the nature of the
trade between Behar and Benares making the extension of the currency of the
Benares new pice a great convenience to both districts, and being of opinion
the Benares mint is fully equal to furnishing the supply required, I venture
to submit to the consideration of Your Lordship, whether a regulation making
Benares pice (which are of exactly the same intrinsic value with those of
Bengal) an equally legal tender with the Benares pice for the fractional
parts of a rupee in the whole province of Behar, would not prove of great
advantage by increasing the consumption of Government copper at highly
profitable rate, and also become a great convenience to their subjects in
those districts. and
this proposal was accepted. Consequently, In 1817, pice issued from the mints
of Calcutta, Farrukhābād and Banāras were all declared legal
tender anywhere within the Presidency [94] and
the Banāras mint continued to issue these trisuli pice until the mint
was closed in 1830. Regulation XXV 1817 A regulation for fixing
the weight of the pice struck at the …V. The pice struck at
the mints of Benares and Farruckabad agreeably to the provisions of Regn 10 1809,
Regn 7 1814 and Regn 21 1816, shall also be considered as circulating equally
with the pice of Calcutta coinage throughout the above mentioned provinces
and shall in like manner be received as a legal tender in payment of the
fractional parts of a rupee of the local currency at the rate of 64 pice for
each rupee. |
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In 1820, the Banāras mint committee made a detailed report on the operation of
the Banāras mint, and included recommendations of how they should be
improved [95]: Receipt of Bullion Bullion,
when brought to the mint of Benares for coinage into Benares rupees, on individual
account, is usually standard fineness, the merchants of the city preferring
to refine the various sorts of inferior silver, which they import from
Calcutta as dollars etc, by means of the bazar refiners, to incurring the
high rates of refining charge levied at the mint, as fixed by the table of
rates attached to Regulation 2 of 1812, under which the business of the
Benares mint is conducted. The silver thus refined is brought to
the mint in the form of Takas or thick cakes, generally weighing something
less than 2000 When the bullion brought to the mint
is the property of the Company, it is regularly assayed, and mixed for
coinage, or refined according to its quality, and the use to which it may be
applicable in the course of its conversion into Benares rupees Refining The
silver bullion brought to The expense of the process of refining
is three annas per cent, for which consideration the refiner furnishes all
the materials except lead. The produce of the refined bullion is whatever the
merchant can realize, as he makes no agreement with the refiner for any fixed
wastage, but employs his own people to superintend the operation throughout,
to the final working up of the nearah. It has been stated to us by
respectable native authority, that the ordinary average return to individuals
is about 216 Benares rupees 6 annas, for 100 dollars, but it may be doubted
whether this information is perfectly accurate, for as 100 dollars of full
weight and standard are equal to Benares rupees 220-2-10, it may be presumed
that the difference between this amount and that above stated exceeds the
wastage that actually occurs together with the ordinary deficiencies of
standard and weight. The cost of refining bullion on the
Company’s account, is the same as the above, or 3 annas per cent on dollars
silver, or in like proportion according to the inferiority of the silver. The
outturn is expected to be as near as possible to the amount of standard metal
which the bullion contains, subject to the necessary deduction for wastage
and loss in the course of the refining process, a deduction which is allowed
for, upon Spanish dollars, at the rate of one per cent. The nearah remains in
the mint where it is worked upon public account. It yields in general a
produce of 1 anna or 1½ anna per cent, and consequently reduces the aggregate
amount of cost and loss upon refining dollar silver, to about one rupee one
anna six pies per cent, giving a net produce in refined silver of Benares
standard of between 217 and 218 Benares sicca weight per 100 dollars. Melting When
the bullion has been made standard, and has assumed its customary form of
thick cakes, it has to be cleaned from the lead or dross adhering to it and
to be cut into pieces suitable to its subsequent fusion, and from which, when
considered necessary, the interior angles are cut off for assay. The charge
for these operations is 10 rupees the lac or one anna seven pies per cent.
The silver is then melted in open fires, made upon the ground, in a hole in
which rests an uncovered shallow earthen crucible or cup, in which and over
it, the metal and charcoal are piled. The fire is then excited by means of
the common native bellows, and the metal in fusion collected in the crucible
is poured out into small earthen moulds, which form it into such ungots as
are best adapted to the fabrication of blanks by the hand. The process of
fusion, we understand, is analagous to the method of melting dollars for
refinage, as practised in the Calcutta mint, and the moulds are similar to
those in use there for casting the rough assay or muster ingots. The cost of
melting and including labour and materials, is one anna six pice per cent, being
in fact a contract to that effect with the melters, who, although they work
in the mint, form no part of either its fixed or fluctuating establishment.
The loss of silver in melting is allowed for at the rate of four annas six
pie per cent. Should it exceed that limit, the difference is made good from
the melting charge, and when the return is completed within that extent, the
melters are allowed to carry away with them the rest of the nearah. The
meltings are effected in open sheds, and are equal with the present
accomodations, to the daily fusion of about 40,000 sicca weight of silver. Making the Blanks Upon
the metal being cast into ingots, one ingot from each crucible is selected by
the assorter of specimens, and carried to the assay office where it is
submitted to the necessary examination. Upon its being reported Benares
standard, the whole melting is delivered to the Durabs, who beat out the
ingots, and with the chisel, hammer & tongs, form from them the blanks or
planchets of the proper size and weight. The labour and cost of this part of
the coinage amount to four annas six pie per cent besides which half an anna
is allowed to the durabs in the first instance, to meet the waste of metal in
the repeated annealings, which it must undergo, and half an anna more upon
the settlement of their accounts to cover the loss occasioned by the small
chips and dust which disappear in the progress of adjustment. The planchets
when received from the durabs are weighed singly by regular examiners and the
deficient ones returned to them, and finally each durab brings as much of his
days work as has been so checked, to the Mint Master for his examination and
approval, both as to workmanship and weight, several pieces being taken
indisciminately from each parcel and compared with the standard weight, and
the whole being carefully inspected. The durabs with the exception of the two
head men, are not upon the fixed establishment of the mint, but are engaged
as required. With the present accomodation for them, about 30,000 blanks per
diem may be prepared. Milling etc The
want of uniformity and unfinished execution, which are defects inseparable
from the above described method of fabricating the planchets, render it
necessary to submit them to some preparatory manipulation to fit them for
being milled and stamped. In order to bring their edges to a
uniform thickness, they are struck with a blank concave die, in the same kind
of press that is used for striking the impression. As this however is apt to
add to the roughness of the edges, it is next necessary to strike them in a
collar die, to give a smooth surface to the rim, and produce a more exact
uniformity of circumference. After this the blanks are milled in a machine
made at the Calcutta mint, after the model of that in use there, and worked
in the same manner. Stamping The
last observation applies equally to this process. As now effected in the Delivery Upon
the final conversion of the bullion into coin, which on a quantity not
exceeding 30,000 sicca weight, is usually effected in about seven or eight
days, the rupees are remitted forthwith to the Collector’s Treasury, and when
it is private property the remittance is usually accompanied by the
proprietor or his agent, who, being furnished with a certificate of his being
entitled to the amount, then receives it, almost always in the very specie
into which his bullion has been coined. Mint Establishment & Expenses The
native establishment of the
In
addition to these are to be accounted the workmen of the Assay Office, and
sundry artificers as smiths and carpenters who have always been included
amongst the mint contingencies, the Mint Master’s salary, house rent, and
such charges as are truly contingent. The amount of these added to the cost
and charges of coinage appear, from an account laid before us by the Mint
Master, and which we understand is already in possession of the Mint
Committee at the Presidency, to have made the expenses of the Benares mint,
something more than 1½ per cent upon the coinage of five years or from 1813
to 1818 inclusive. Buildings etc The
Having described the way the mint
operated, the Committee went on to discuss how it could be modernised: Remarks It
is evident from the description above submitted, that the mint of The committee went on to suggest many
possible improvements, one of the main ones being the introduction of
machines to rollout the silver and then cutout the blanks. This would require
the erection of new buildings: …
In the mean time in addition to the alteration we have generally suggested in
the bullion office, and the employment of two head melters, we beg leave to
recommend that the following new establishment for the assay office be
forthwith sanctioned, and that a die cutter be added to that of the mint.
The Calcutta Council agreed with these
proposals [96]. Mr Wilson, who was a member of the
committee that advanced the above proposals, considered, by August 1820, that
he had completed his work at Banāras, and, in September, James Prinsep
was appointed the new Assay Master. Wilson handed over to him in November
1820 and returned to Calcutta [97].
Prinsep was to remain Assay Master at Banāras until the mint closed in
1830. |
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Work now started on improving the
Banāras mint. A few years previously, a proposal to produce
Farrukhābād rupees at a new mint in Dehlī had led to new
machinery being shipped there. However, the mint never started production and
eventually some of the machinery was moved from Dehlī to Farrukhābād
(see chapter 8, p. 372). Banāras now sent a letter to
Farrukhābād asking if any of this machinery was still available [98]: Government have resolved
to put the Benares mint on a more efficient footing by introducing the same
machinery as is now employed at Calcutta, I am directed by the committee for
superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to request that the
Board of Commissioners will have the goodness to ascertain from the Mint
Master at Farruckabad whether any part of the apparatus recently received
from Delhi can be spared for the use of the Benares mint. Laminating mills
are at present the most urgently required. However, the Dehli machinery was found to be totally
useless [99]
and it was determined that new equipment would have to be manufactured
including [100]: 4 sets of laminating
machinery with a large proportion of spare rollers 300 iron melting pots to
contain 200 sicca weight each 25 sets of ingot moulds,
12 in a set 6 sets of tongs for
using melting pots 2 machines for straightening
the straps 2 adjusting tables
fitted up complete for musters A supply of files for
adjusting 60,000 blanks per day 2 load stones for
cleaning the filings 2 large shears for
cutting sizel The Calcutta mint committee suggested that they could
send the machinery that they had built for Saugor, to Banāras, since the
building for the mint at Saugor was not then ready [101].
This was agreed [102]. The necessary improvements to the
Banāras mint were estimated to cost 31,689 rupees, but the existing site
of the Banāras mint was not considered suitable for the new ways of
working [103].
It was therefore agreed that a new site should be found, and a complete new
mint constructed [104]. In
May 1821, the Governor General gave his agreement [105]: His Lordship in Council
entirely concurs with your Committee in regard to the expediency of constructing
a new mint at Benares, as proposed by you, and the officiating barrack master
will be instructed to submit through the regular channel a detailed estimate
of the expense to be incurred in erecting the several buildings. His
Lordship in Council approves your proposal for the purchase of the premises
belonging to Mr Hasleby for the sum of sonaut rupees 2,250, and the Honble
Company’s attorney will be instructed immediately to prepare the necessary
deeds for the conveyance of the property to Government. The Mint Master and
Mr Hasleby will of course furnish Mr Poe with all papers and information
required by him. With
respect to the compensation to be assigned to the Mint Master on account of
the buildings constructed by him on the present mint premises, His Lordship
in Council agrees with you in thinking it proper to appoint a committee to
determine the amount, and has accordingly been pleased to determine that the
Collector, the Judge & Magistrate, and the Barrack Master shall be
associated for that purpose… …The
Governor General in Council is disposed to think that the present mint
premises when vacated by the mint officers, might be advantageously
appropriated to the use of the College. But before passing any final orders
on that subject, His Lordship in Council would wish to learn distinctly the
sentiments of the college committee, in regard to expediency, or necessity,
of affording the accomodation to that institution, and to ascertain the
probable rent to be obtained by letting the premises to an individual. The cost of constructing the buildings was initially
estimated at 21,831-10-7 rupees [106], but
by 1823 the building was still not complete and additional expenditure
(11,615 rupees) had to be approved [107].
Work was slow and a certain frustration with the delays began to creep in.
Captain Lucas had just taken over responsibility for the building and wrote
to Yeld in January 1823 [108]: …I regret it is not in
my power to fix any period as the probable time of its completion. The
buildings (including the houses and offices for the Mint and Assay Master) is
so extensive, the materials required so numerous, and the regular supply of
these dependent on so many contingencies, that judging from the progress made
in the short period (not 3 months) I have had charge, I fear to hold out any
hopes to the Committee of any early completion of the whole. In
reply to the 2nd paragraph, I have to acquaint you that the centre
buildings, viz the laminating mills, the stamping and adjusting sides, with
those for the treasury and native offices have been commenced on, and had I
been desired to devote my attention and the materials to those alone, might
have been finished, I imagine, by this time, as I trust they now will in the
space of 3 months. These however form but a small part of the extensive range
of buildings the plan exhibits. No
answer has been received from the Superintendent to the application and
estimate for verandahs alluded to in the concluding para of your letter, but
I will again bring the subject to his notice. By October 1823, completion was promised in November [109]: I beg to acquaint you
that I have inspected the new mint now building at Benares. It is in very
considerable forwardness and the whole of the working part will, I conceive,
be finished in all, November next. The
building appears strong and substantial but I would recommend that the whole
be plastered, or at least the whole front of the building and verandah facing
the interior of the square, which is stated to have as yet been sanctioned
only for the laminating, stamping and adjusting offices. The additional
expense of plastering the whole of the outside will amount to about sicca
rupees 1000, and without this the buildings certainly will have rather an
unfinished appearance when completed. There
appear to have been sundry omissions in the estimate of doors, drains,
flooring etc. I have directed the Barrack Master to concert with the Mint and
Assay Master to make statement of these, which shall have the same hereafter
to forward to you. The Mint and Assay
Master are now receiving charge of the dwelling houses intended for their
accomodation which they have undertaken to complete agreeably to your letter
of the 7th July last And by April 1824 all the equipment had been removed from
the old mint building, which was to be rented out [110]: I beg leave to state to
you for the information of the Calcutta Mint Committee that I have removed
all the articles of coinage etc from the old to the new mints, and that I am
filling up the holes in the floors of the old mint, occasioned by the removal
of the timbers of the presses etc, [so] that I shall be ready to deliver the
premises on the 1st proximo to any person appointed to receive
charge of them. I
have for some months repeatedly made known that these premises were for hire
for the term of Government’s lease for anyone to rent them The machinery that was installed in the new mint came not
only from that built for Saugor, but also from the mint at
Farrukhābād [111] and also
new machinery built at Calcutta [112]: I am directed by the
committee for superintending the affairs of the mint at this Presidency to
inform you that two sets of laminating machinery for your mint have been put
in hand in the Calcutta mint and two other mills have been ordered to be sent
from that of Farruckabad. A set of ingot moulds is likewise in the course of
preparation in the Should
any other articals (sic) be required you will apprise the committee and also
inform them at a convenient opportunity of the period when it is expected the
new Benares mint will be ready for the acception of those now in course of
fabrication. The
Mint Committee have lately received a letter from the Assay Master of the Two particularly interesting points to note from the above
extract are, firstly, about the die production continuing to be undertaken in
In October 1825, Yeld sent a letter to
the board of revenue explaining why some rupees appeared to be below the
official weight. In the letter he describes some aspects of the operation of
the mint [113] On the coin being
carried from the stamping presses, it undergoes the following examination.
The first an inspection of every rupee by the eye to reject such as are not
struck even and well. The second is by weighing each to see that none of
light weight pass. They are then packed into bags which in most cases a
handful or two are looked over by myself, and lastly they are carried into
the assay room for Mr Prinsep’s taking out such as he may wish for a further
assay. The issue of them in this state I did hope would have prevented the
passing of any defective ones that might be taken up from the presses. The
laminating rollers, there in numbers, have not yet been put into operation on
the silver coinage and I trust the reasons for it will prove full
satisfactory. The
copper last sent up was so very thick that without being considerably
laminated it could not have been coined. According to the orders of
Government the three sets of rollers have therefore been fully employed in
this work but in consequence of the intimation I have received of twenty lacs
of bullion being near at hand from Lucknow, I last week gave instructions for
their use in the copper coinage to cease on Saturday and everything to be in
readiness for their employment on the silver when it comes. I have also
ordered the durabs anvils [and] hammers to be put in the best order so that I
may work the bullion as quickly as possible, and I trust by the greatest
personal attention to every process that it goes through, I may venture to
assure the Board that nothing (that lies in my power) defective shall pass
into circulation, and that the greatest possible care shall be taken of the
beauty and perfection of the coinage of this mint. In the same letter, Yeld also revealed a very human side
of himself: I hope I shall be
excused saying a few words on not having ceased the employment of the durabs
independent of the occasion stated for the use of the laminating rollers. I
could not but feel the hardship of dismissing, all at once, a numerous class
of workmen who have been under my eye almost daily for twenty years, and many
of whom have double that time in the employment of the mint. On removing into
the new mint I retained only the old hands until the laminating machinery
should be ready, and when ready, finding full employment for it otherwise, I
confess, I wanted the heart to turn the old durabs adrift with the only
resource in their power that of going as hammermen to blacksmiths, in which
such a number could have hardly got employment. This however whenever the
copper now in store is worked up, must be done and I beg to state that two
more sets of laminating machinery will be necessary to keep up anything like
an efficient silver coinage equal to the general demand of this mint. |
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Since 1812, the Banāras mint had been under the control
of the Board of Commissioners of the Ceded and Conquered provinces. In June
1826 a new committee was established to oversee the mint [114]: …That the Governor General’s
agent at Benares, the Magistrate and the Collector be constituted a committee
to superintend the affairs of the mint, and to discharge with such other
duties as may appear necessary, the functions now belonging to the Board of
Revenue and the Magistrate. That
the Assay Master be secretary to the committee That
the Committee be particularly required to examine and verify the mint balance
from time to time and see that the above resolutions are strictly complied
with. The
committee will also consider whether any and what further precautions can,
without inconvenience to the public service, be taken for the security of the
balance not immediately in course of coinage… The new committee undertook a long and detailed review of
the operation of the Benares mint and found that the laminating machines, in
particular, gave cause for concern [115]: …It was anticipated in
the report so often alluded to, that four laminating rollers would be capable
of performing all the business of the There
can be no doubt whatever of the superiority of the blanks prepared by rolling
and punching, but to render laminating machinery effective, it should be
constructed in the most perfect way and should have the constant supervision
of an able engineer, the other important occupations of the Mint Master
preventing him bestowing sufficient attention upon such objects. While
on this subject we may take the opportunity of stating that the room now
occupied by the durabs is totally unfit for such purpose. 300 men are closely
huddled together in a dark godown without the least means of ventilation and
the atmosphere impregnated as it is with the fumes of numerous charcoal
fires, is not fit to be breathed… …The
milling of the The Calcutta mint committee could not understand why
Banāras was having a problem [116]: …We are rather at a loss
to understand the inefficiency of the laminating machinery of the The
use of collar milling in the Benares mint we have reason to consider as
inexpedient on account of the delay it causes in the striking of the coin,
but more especially in the great expenditure of dies which it occasions. The
use of dies with circular necks was attempted in the Calcutta mint subsequent
to the suggestion of the Assay Master of the Benares mint adverted to by the
Committee, and it was found that both in tempering the dies and stamping the
coins, so many cracked that it was absolutely necessary to relinquish the
practice… |
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In 1827 the Magistrate at Banāras reported that
there was a shortage of copper coins which were needed, particularly because
the marriage season was upon them [117]: …This being the season
during which the native marriages are chiefly celebrated, such an immense
demand is created for copper coin that a regular traffic takes place in pice.
The inducement of profit held out is so great that the shroffs purchase up in
anticipation the whole of the pice procurable and establish a retail price
differing from that authorized by the regulations. Hitherto it has always
been the custom for a shop to be established in the choke on the part of the
mint, at the request of the magistrate, to counterbalance and counteract the
effects of the monopoly. Until this year this method has answered every
purpose, but at present, from some cause which I know not, there is no copper
pice to be had at the mint or treasury, and the greatest possible
inconvenience exists, so much so indeed, as not to admit of supply for the
daily allowance of prisoners. I
am led to believe that a profit arises from the purchasing of pice for the
sake of the copper, which is employed to an immense extent in the making of
the common household utensils of the natives. These causes united, and the
more extraordinary one of no copper coin being procurable from the mint and
treasury, appear at present to be without relief since the Mint Master does
not seem likely to render any material […] and perhaps Government may have
larger supplies of copper coin ready for circulation in some of the
treasuries, which cannot be disposed of, in which case if it could be
transported to the Benares treasury, a considerable benefit would be
conferred on the community… A statement of the amount of copper coin produced was
sent to the Banāras mint committee [118]:
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Discussion of
the closure of the Banāras mint started in 1829 and included discussion
of Mr Yeld’s retirement [119]: …We presume that the
long services of Mr Yeld will be thought to entitle him to the liberal consideration
of Government, and with respect to his salary therefore, we do not estimate
any reduction. The services of Mr Prinsep will be highly valuable in the If
the Benares mint be abolished, it will be necessary to coin Farruckabad
rupees in Calcutta for individuals taking or sending such currency up the
country, and it will also be requisite to guard against any disappointment or
unusual delay in finishing such rupees [from] bullion delivered for the
purpose of being coined into them, or serious inconvenience may result to the
merchants and bankers in the upper provinces and much dissatisfaction will be
consequently excited. The Governor General endorsed the
proposal to close the Banāras mint in April 1829 [120]: …to inform you that His
Lordship in Council has, in pursuance of your recommendation resolved to
discontinue the coinage of money at the At
least six months notice should be given, and the Committee is asked to submit
what changes would be necessary in the regulations to effect such a change and a draft notice of the closure was prepared in May [121]: It having been resolved
to abolish the Before the mint closed, 1000 maunds of copper had been
dispatched for use at Banāras. Princep, who was now in charge of the
mint, suggested that the shipment should be stopped but it was decided that
it should go ahead and be coined at Banāras [122].
This was the final output of the mint there and was completed in January 1830
[123]. It
is also clear from Prinsep’s letter that the dies for the copper coins were
prepared at Banāras, and not sent from …The charge of die
cutting has been augmented as I attempted by employing more engravers and of
a superior class, to improve this hitherto defective branch of the
fabrication of pice… This shows that dies for copper were produced locally.
Once the production of pice was completed the mint was closed [124]: …As the operations of
the Benares mint have now terminated, the Committee desire me to suggest the
expediency of the establishment being discontinued and the machinery,
apparatus and other property of the Benares be disposed of… The mint buildings were mainly put to other public
services and the machinery was broken up, except for the dies, which were
sent to the Saugor mint [125]. The output of silver from the Banāras mint for the
previous 15 years was stated (values have been rounded to the nearest rupee) [126]:
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Most
date combinations (AH/RY) of rupees are not too difficult to find. The graph
below shows the distribution of dates found in a hoard of more than 757 coins
with clear dates. The logarithmic scale allows the portrayal of the fact that
the later dates, and particularly 1229/49, are much more common than earlier
dates. This might be expected of a late hoard, but is indicative of the
availability of the coins for the collector. Number of rupees by catalogue number
in a single hoard. N.B. logarithmic scale Rupees – Frequency
Distribution by Date Date
Distribution of Banāras rupees from a sample of 771 coins studied (data provide by P.
Kulkarni)
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References