Prinsep’s Contract Coinage
See Wodak E, (1958), SNC vol LXVI, pp.
36-39 & 61-63. For a similar discussion of this subject,
not discovered until after I wrote this!
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Index |
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Summary |
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In
1780, an entrepreneur named John Prinsep discovered copper mines in |
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Detailed Discussion |
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Copper Mining and the Proposal for a Copper Coinage In
many parts of Bengal, in the 1780s, most small-value transactions were
conducted with cowrie shells, mainly imported from the Maldive islands, and
only a relatively small amount of copper coin was in circulation, and then
only in certain locations. On I think it my duty to
inform the Honble Board that I have discovered some veins of copper ore the
quality of which appears particularly calculated by its fineness and
malleability for the purpose of coinage. I
therefore most humbly hope you will be pleased to grant me the exclusive
right of working mines in the districts where this ore has been met with on
paying the zamindar, or other, a sum equivalent to the rents which the lands
now yield to their possessor, and engaging with Government to deliver the
whole produce of pure copper in coin at the rate of fifty two sicca rupees
the maund of eighty sicca weight, of such dimensions and impression as the
Honble Board shall be pleased to direct. Prinsep’s
partner, Cunningham, stated that Prinsep had discovered these mines following
his recognition of lumps of copper ore (copperas) that he spotted in the
Calcutta bazaar and then traced back to their source at Rohtas and Monghyr [2]: In tracing some Bengal
made copperas, met with in the common Bazar at Calcutta, to the place where
it was made, Mr John Prinsep discovered some viens of copper ore, both at
Rotas Gur, not far from Patna, and at Monghyr. On
…The Board having fully
and maturely considered Mr Prinsep’s proposals are of opinion that, as it
opens the prospect of a new and valuable article of commerce and revenue to
the Company and further tends greatly to facilitate the introduction and use
of a copper coin, which has long been an object of this Board, it merits
their encouragement and acceptance. But as it may possibly affect the imports
of copper from England, the Board are of opinion that the grant ought to be
made with such a reservation of the pleasure of the Court of Directors as may
enable them to prevent its becoming hurtful to the Company The
conditions attached to this were as follows: That Mr Prinsep shall
engage and be bound to satisfy the Zamindar, Talookdar or other proprietor of
the districts in which the mines mentioned in his proposal are situated, for
his interest or property in the collections upon such lands as shall be necessary
for working the mines, by annual payments of a full ascertained equivalent
for the same, to be adjusted upon the present bundabast by the Collector of
the districts and that the Board shall not undertake either for themselves or
the East India Company to answer or make good any claim whatever, which the
Zamindar, Talookdar or other proprietor of the ground in question may make on
Mr Prinsep for the value or property of the same. That
Mr Prinsep shall engage to deliver to the Provincial Chief and Council of
Patna for the use of the Honble Company, all the copper worked and produced
from the mines, or so much of it as shall be required, refined to the purity
of the best Japan copper, and coined into pice or coins of ten annas sicca
weight, and in such form and with such impression as the Governor General and
Council shall direct, for which he shall be paid in ready money from the
treasury there for each delivery at the rate of 52 sicca rupees for each
pucca maund or for each maund of eighty sicca weight to the seer in weight or
for five thousand one hundred twenty pice in tale. That
Mr Prinsep shall further engage to transport to Patna all the copper
manufactured by him exceeding the demand for coinage, and produce the same to
the Collector of the Government customs there who shall levy a duty upon it
of fourteen sicca rupees for every pucca maund, after which the contractor
shall be permitted and be allowed Dustucks or necessary passports for the
same. That
Mr Prinsep shall engage on pain of forfeiting the grants, that he will not
pass in coinage, nor sell or dispose of in any way, nor suffer to be past in
coinage, used or disposed of, any copper of whatever kind, until it shall
have been delivered at Patna in one or other of the two modes above
prescribed. That
if the coins delivered by Mr Prinsep shall prove on trial to be inferior to
the best And
lastly that the grant shall be made for the first term of three years from
the first day of Bysaak or ninth of April next, and for the further
conditional term of twenty seven years subject to the following exceptions
and conditions… One
important point to note from the extract above is that the initial term of
the contract was for three years, from Another important observation is that
the contract stated that the copper coinage would be composed of ‘pice or
coins of ten annas sicca weight’. However, by September 1780 the requirement
for one denomination had been increased to four denominations: Madosie,
Falus, Neem Falus and Pau Falus (or half, quarter, eighth & sixteenth
anna) [4]: I have made an estimate
of the expense and wastage in striking coin of the following sizes and
proportions of each agreeable to the instructions given me Viz Mado Sie of 20 anas sicca weight [i.e.20 sixteenths of a rupee weight] Faloos of 10 ditto Neem faloos of 5 ditto By
…It is hoped the Honble
Court of Directors will signify their approbation (if it shall appear to
merrit it) of the plan adopted by the Governor General & Supreme Council
& by the first conveyance confirm the arrangements already entered into
with Mr Prinsep, the nature of which, Mr Cunningham, his partner in business
is furnished with, as well as specimens of the coin which had been approved
of by the Supreme Council before he came away from Calcutta on the 13th
December 1780. All
four denominations were of the same design and differed only in size and
weight (see Cat. No. 3.13-3.29). By
Prinsep’s
copper coins In
addition to this problem and although Prinsep had discovered and was working
the copper mines, it had become clear to him that there would not be enough
copper from these mines alone, to produce the coinage. Another issue that was
obviously worrying Prinsep was that mining copper in In virtue of your grant
of the mines in Monghyer and Rotas for the purpose of supplying these
provinces with a copper coinage under the [control] of Government, I have
opened three very promising veins of ore under and near the hills of Rotas
Gurr, from whence in time I have a fair prospect of supplying a considerable
quantity of that metal. But as the process of working it is extremely tedious
and the many difficulties I lay under in collecting proper people and
materials, will render it impossible to furnish more than two thousand maunds
per annum for the four years next to come, a quantity very insufficient even
for replacing the currency now circulating in Behar alone, much less for
establishing a sufficient and fixed copper coin so greatly wanted throughout
your dominions, and as many inconveniences must arise from a scanty or
partial circulation without calling in the old pice. For
these reasons I must humbly beg leave to suggest a mode whereby the public
convenience seems happily to coincide with the advantage to the Honble
Company both in its revenue and commercial departments. From
the best information I have been able to obtain, there cannot be less than
from twenty five thousand to thirty five thousand maunds of copper pice now
current and which must be replaced, and these whole pice or taccas, double
pice. These
therefore when called in demand the same weight of the same sized coin but as
it is intended to accommodate the public with half and quarter pices, the
amount of the latter which you shall judge necessary must be added. As must
also, I imagine, a quantity at least equal to both, which will be most
readily accepted by those districts where pice have not been lately used, and
by the Metropolis itself. This
view of the object opens so sure and important a source of revenue for
Government, and beneficial an increase of the imports from Great Britain,
that the interest of any individual, if it did clash can never be suffered to
interfere. I hope in the present case, and by the following expedient to
avoid any circumstance. The
Company’s imports to There
cannot be a doubt of circulating this quantity in pice for many years to
come… …If I receive an equal
quantity of the Company’s copper in the four ensuing years, to that of the
four last past, at the medium price of the latter deducting the discount, and
by melting it down with my own bring the whole to your prescribed standard, I
shall be able to furnish it coined within a reasonable time afterwards, at
the rate of sixty sicca rupees the maund of 80 sicca weight to the seer,
which if issued to the public at the intended rate brings in a net revenue to
Government of sicca rupees ten lack forty eight thousand five hundred and
twenty. If
my deductions are drawn from just premises, the Board may safely apply for
double this annual quantity of copper, which I shall be able to coin at the
same rates, without attending to the indents of the Commercial Department or
lessening their demand. On the contrary the visible call for this metal in
coin will naturally raise the price of what can be spared annually for sale,
and that delivered me before it is coined as much as for the four years past. The
rising price of the other kinds of copper likewise, which I take to be a
natural consequence of this measure, offers an expedient for calling in the
old pice at an easy rate to Government, and without any hardship upon the
subject, by receiving it in payment of revenues and at such price as shall
only subject the Company to the charge of melting it again into its pristine
form of battery copper and reselling it upon the spot where delivered in. It
seems not at all improbable, that this metal may rise again above the price
at which it now passes as money, and then an order prohibiting its continuing
lawful tender, except to Government, and that at a few rupees less that the
busar rates, would throw it into the tradesmen’s use without any charge at
all. I
shall be most happy if these [rights] prove in any respect of use to the
publick and am ready with the greatest submission and respect to obey any
orders you shall be pleased to give for contributing to that salutary purpose The
Board replied in October 1780 agreeing to Prinsep’s proposal [9]: The Honble the Governor
General and Council having received a letter which you have addressed under
date the 1st ultimo have directed me to inform you in reply to it
that agreeing generally to the proposals submitted to them therein, they have
desired the Board of Trade to comply with all indents that you may make until
the 9th April 1784 for sheet and Japan copper imported here on
account of the Company from Europe at the medium price at which the same has
been sold at for these four last years deducting the discount. The
quantity of sheet and Japan copper which you so receive is to be mixed and
melted down with the quantity procured from the mines granted you in Monghyr
and Rotas and the whole brought to the standard prescribed in the Board’s
orders and resolutions of the 4th of April last. They agree to pay
you for the coin so composed at the rate of sixty sicca rupees to the maund
of 80 sicca weight to the seer, but in all other instances and respects you
are subject to the same conditions as those stipulated in the resolution
above quoted. On
You were informed by our
letter addressed to you from the Revenue Department, of proposals made to us
by Mr John Prinsep for working mines of copper, and for the manufacture of
that metal, as well as of our acceptance of his offer under certain restrictions
and limitations explained to you in an annexed copy of our resolutions. The
subject falling more properly within the lines of business in this
department, we have transferred our proceedings in it from our revenue to our
public consultations, with an exception of our letter from Mr Prinsep
purposely considered in our secret records, and now continue to transmit you
an account of such further resolution as we have passed relative to a copper
coinage. Mr
Prinsep having proposed to us an augmentation of the copper coinage by a
mixture of a certain proportion of sheet and Japan copper composing part of
the imports from Europe, with the copper produced from the mines at Rohtas
and Monghyr; having also suggested, for reasons given, that the quantity of
copper to be obtained from these mines only would be very insufficient even
for replacing the currency now circulating in Behar, much less for
establishing a copper coin so much wanted throughout the provinces; and
evincing to us that an important source of revenue to Government might be
opened by such an augmentation, we agreed to his proposals, for an account of
which we beg leave to refer you to our secret consultations of the 18th
of September. We must at the same time beg leave to observe to you that it
does not appear to us very probable that the original design is likely to
answer to any degree, but we believe that in its improved state it will be
attended with much public utility. What sum it may add to the general
currency will be a proportional saving in the specie which would otherwise be
lost to the province in exchange for Cowries, and it will assist the disposal
of a capital article of your imports. It
being a question of what mode of payment should be made by Mr Prinsep for the
copper supplied to him by the Board of Trade, enquiry was made of the Board
of Trade on this subject and they acquainted us with their intention to debit
us for the amount of copper delivered to Mr Prinsep and to receive from him
such payment as he might tender on this account bringing the same to our
credit. We
have authorised the establishment of mints for the copper coinage at Pulta
and At
the request of Mr Prinsep we transmit you 40 specimens of the new copper coin
of the sizes inscription and standard ordered by us that they may receive a
Tower Assay, and we send at the same time one of the standards cast by the
Mint Master in consequence of our orders. From
this letter, and many of the other entries in the records cited herein, it is
clear that Prinsep was given permission to establish mints at Pulta, which
may have been near Rohtas, although Pridmore states that it was at Fulta, SSW
of Calcutta (possibly copying Wodak [11]), and Patna. Pulta was undoubtedly
the main mint and it is not clear if the mint in In September 1781, Mr Cunningham,
Prinsep’s partner, arranged to see the Chairman of the East India Company in
London with the intention of convincing him of the value of the copper mining
and production of a copper coinage, that they were planning [13]: Encouraged by the polite
reception I met with from you when I had the honor of attending you in the
India House, and by the assurances of Mr Shakespear of your willingness to
attend to any business I might wish to lay before you previous to my
publickly addressing the Honble Court, I flatter myself you will pardon the
liberty I take in preparing this to leave at your house in case I should not
be so fortunate as to find you at home, and the nature and importance of the
concerns of my partners & self are engaged in with the Honble Company
will likewise I hope plead my excuse for requesting the favour of an
appointment to a conference with you. Having
learnt that the captains this year are allowed to carry out copper to India,
and the long detention of the homeward bound ships having prevented you from
knowing that mines of that valuable metal are discovered in Bengal, I think
it a duty incumbent on me as a partner of Mr Prinsep’s, come home to transact
the business of our house with the Honble Court themselves (before the next
fleet sails) to acquaint them of this important discovery, as well as with
the establishment of a copper coinage thro’ the three provinces. The enclosed
paper will give you some insight into the nature of it, and I shall be happy
to have the honor of your advice about it as well as to point out to you how
far the Company are engaged in it… Meanwhile,
in Bengal, the coinage was starting: On A small quantity of the
new copper money being now ready, I purpose with the Boards permission to
make an immediate dispatch of it to the treasury, and therefore am to request
the proper orders may be given for its acceptance, and for payment of the
amount at the contract rate with such charges as may be levied at the custom
house in consequence of some late regulations in that department to which I
can be no way considered as liable, under my engagements with the Honble
Company. And
orders were issued to the necessary departments to be ready for the new
coins: Resolved that the
sub-treasurer be directed to receive from Mr Prinsep from time to time such
new copper coin as may be tendered by him at the treasury paying him for the
same at the rate stipulated in Mr Prinsep’s contract with the Honble Company. Ordered that directions
be given to the commissioner of the customs to pass the new copper coin to be
sent by Mr Prinsep from Pultah on account of the Company free of all duties. Wodak
gives an extract from a Contemporary newspaper, Hickey’s Bengal Gazette, We are informed that a
copper coinage is now on the carpet…it will be of greatest utility to the
public and will abolish the trade of cowries, which for a long time has
formed so extensive a field for deception and fraud. A greviance (sic) the
poor has long groan’d under… By
Resolved that the
following proclamation be translated into the Persian, Bengal & Armenian
languages and made public throughout the provinces. Advertisement The Honble the Governor
General and Council having thought proper to establish a copper coinage, and
copper coins by their order having been struck of the denomination, value,
weight and with the inscriptions described in the annexed table, they hereby
authorise them to be circulated throughout the provinces under their
Government at the rate of eighty siccas rupees for the maund of eighty sicca
weight, at which rate they will be issued from the treasuries and other
public offices. And as it is their intention to make the circulation of the
copper coin general throughout all the districts, they hereby order and
direct all Collectors of the revenues and other persons entrusted with the
receipt of public money to receive the same when tendered in the proportion
of ten rupees in every thousand to be weighed when paid in sums exceeding
half a maund in weight, and to be issued again in like manner and at the
above rate in all public payments. And in order to establish it as a
necessary division of a sicca rupee, and a convenient medium between silver
and cowries in the purchase of the common necessaries of life, the Governor
General and Council direct that the copper coin be received and paid
according to the relative value fixed in the annexed table of copper to
cowries without any discount or batta whatever, which however is not to
influence or affect the bazar price of cowries. Table
showing the Denominations, Value, Weight, as also the Inscriptions of the
Copper Coin struck by Order of the Honble the Governor General and Council,
the Circulation of which they hereby authorise throughout the Provinces under
this Government
N.B. anna can be used to mean 1/16th
, e.g. 1/16th sicca
(rupee) weighs 0.7275g. 20 annas sicca
= 14.55g Cunningham’s
approach to the Board in London (see above) obviously was not very effective
because in January 1782, the Board in London wrote to Calcutta telling them
that they should have allowed Prinsep neither the right to mine the copper,
nor to produce a copper coinage [17]: As your proceedings relative
to copper mines and coinage are but lately received we shall not by the
present conveyance, enter upon that minute investigation of the subject which
its importance deserves; but we do not hesitate a moment to declare that the
contracts entered into with Mr Prinsep are highly prejudicial to our
interests. If
it were proper under any circumstances to open mines in Bengal it must be on
account of the Company alone, as the authority necessary for that purpose and
the consequences must be too important to render it prudent to invest in any
individual or number of individuals with such authority. In
regards to coinage by an individual it is also utterly improper. The Company
are, and ought to be, accountable, so far as can be the case, for the purity
and propriety of the coin of We
observe in the original agreement with Mr Prinsep a power of annuling or
suspending the same at the expiration of three years is reserved to us. We
therefore direct that you forthwith give him notice of our determination in
no event to continue the contract beyond the term of three years, and require
Mr Prinsep immediately to surrender the grants or contracts for mining and
coinage; and we do hereby positively direct that from the receipt of this
letter no individual, whatever, shall be suffered to open or work any copper
mine or interfere in any manner with the copper coinage. Of
course, it took a considerable time for letters to be transferred from London
to Calcutta or vice-versa, so even by April 1782, Calcutta was unaware of
London’s antipathy to the scheme and sent another letter reporting on the
progress made [18]: You have been informed
of the agreement which had been entered into with Mr John Prinsep for coining
and establishing a copper currency throughout these provinces. The coin was
received accordingly from his mint and issued in all payments made from thence
in proportion of one per cent; but difficulties occurring in circulating it
by this mode, we gave orders not to receive any more from the mint than could
be actually passed without coercion or constraint. Mr Prinsep having worked
up a large quantity, complained us of the hardship of being obliged to
maintain his establishment of a mint, which had been formed at a considerable
expense, and of being left with a great property in copper coin which
remained dead upon his hands without any return, and offered, at the same
time, to effect the circulation of it himself, upon commission of it should
be left entirely to him; as the plan which he proposed to us was the most
likely to succeed and as the attainment of the revenue expected from this
object depended entirely on its being carried into effect we agreed to his
proposal, and have allowed him an increase in his commission, equal to 8
rupees per maund, so that the Company are now to pay Mr Prinsep sixty-eight
rupees for every maund of copper currency which he shall circulate at eighty
rupees, under the present checks and regulations established over the mint,
he accounting quarterly to Government for the difference between the two
rates. but
some time after this, Calcutta wrote to London that they had informed Mr
Prinsep of London’s decision to cancel the contract [19]: We have notified Mr
Prinsep your pleasure concerning the resumption of the grant made to him for
working the copper mines in the district of Rotas, also for the abolition of
his contract for a copper coinage, and required the surrender of the deeds
from him. It
was not to be as easy as that. In October 1783 Calcutta informed London that
the three year period during which they could cancel the contract, had
elapsed. Prinsep, however, was willing to negotiate a settlement [20]: We had the honor to
inform you, by the Surprize, of the notification given to Mr Prinsep of your
orders, and requiring his surrender of the grant which he possessed of copper
mines in Rotas and of the copper mint. For his reply we beg leave to refer
you to our records. It appears that the term during which the Company
retained the right of annulling his grant was elapsed, and that the deed was
consequently irrevocable; he was nevertheless willing to submit his situation
to the consideration and justice of the Board, and begged to be allowed to
coin the balance of his copper on hand, and to be granted orders to the
Chiefs of Patna and Bogglipore to receive his coin, lying in balance at those
places, for the Company’s account. We complied with this last request but
forbid his stamping any more coin, and ordered him to deliver up his dyes to
the Sub Treasurer. And to prevent his suffering a loss by any copper which he
might have remaining uncoined we allowed him to return it as he received it
into the Company’s stores. In
December 1784, the Calcutta Board summarised the efforts they had made to get
out of the contract [21]: On receipt of your
orders of The
indemnity claimed by Mr Prinsep amounted to so large a sum that however
inclined we might be to reward his merit we did not deem ourselves authorized
to comply with his demands, and upon declaring a resolution of ultimately
trying his claims in Chancery we resolved to take the advice of our Advocate
General, and being frustrated with his opinion we again demanded the
surrender of the grant etc. etc, but Mr Prinsep representing in the
strongest terms the ruin that would
inevitably be his fate without some compensation for merely the losses which
he sustained. Estimating them, by accounts delivered in upon honor which he
offered to vouch by the most solemn affidavit, at current rupees
165,389-13-6, and praying at the same time that he might be allowed to prove
them before any persons we would appoint to arbitrate his demands, we
considered his proposal so fair and equitable that upon his agreeing to
restrict the amount to the above sum we consented to refer them to the
decision of Messrs Croftes, Alexander and Paxton, as men of judgement and
abilities equal to the task, and characters superior to the power of
influence or impartiality. This
matter has in consequence been referred to these gentlemen whose award is to
be delivered in on the 31st of this month, and shall be notified
to you by the first ship that sails after that period. One
interesting point in the above extract and in some of the earlier extracts,
is the reference to the means by which the authorities had tried to get the
copper coins into circulation by establishing the practice of giving 1% of
payments (presumably from the treasury) in copper money. In January 1785, they were finally able
to inform London that the matter had been settled [22]: In our letter by the
Surprize, paragraph 71, you were advised of us having referred to arbitration
Mr Princep’s claims to an indemnification of losses sustained in working the
mines of Rotas and Monghyr, and establishing his mint for copper coinage as a
compensation for the surrender of his grant in conformity to your orders.
Messrs Croftes, Alexander and Paxton, the gentlemen chosen by us and approved
by Mr Prinsep to adjust this affair, delivered in their award on the day
fixed (the 31st December last), and Mr Prinsep in compliance
therewith gave up his grant and all the instruments for coinage. The grant
has been cancelled in due form and an order on the Treasury was issued to Mr
Prinsep for the indemnity awarded, viz., current rupees 165,389, the full amount
to which he had been required to restrict his demand on our acquiescing in
the reference he solicited. In our consultations noted in the margin the
several papers alluded to on this subject are recorded, together with Mr
Prinsep’s final release under the approbation of the Advocate General. This
series of interactions between As
part of the agreement to stop the coinage, Prinsep was to hand over all the
equipment of his mint(s) and this equipment is itemised in the records (see Appendix
at the end of this chapter) [23]. One of the items included was: A Tower Mint flatting
press for flatting the blank pieces of gold and silver compleat with 3 extra
boxes and bolts Whether
this entry means that the machinery was actually imported from England, or
merely built to plans emanating from there, is not clear. A later extract
implies that the workmen employed by Prinsep actually built the equipment
(see below), in which case he had probably obtained plans from which they
could construct the machines. In any case, although Prinsep was
contracted to produce copper coins, this activity seems to have led him to
consider the silver and gold coinage as well, and this was confirmed by his
next actions. In January 1785, the Calcutta mint
master, Mr James Paxton, resigned [24].
Like the entrepreneur he was, Prinsep seized on this as an opportunity
to convince the Calcutta Board of his latest idea, to produce a new silver
and gold coinage for I am proposed in compliance
with the award given the 31st ultimo to surrender the tools and
implements of the Pultah mint and in order to demonstrate that the expense of
labor, invention and money laid out upon it has not been uselessly employed,
I hope to be excused the liberty of presenting the Honble Board, two complete
setts of gold, silver and copper coin of the Bengal standard and impression,
but which I hope will appear to have been executed in a manner superior to
any money of the Moghul Empire. These proofs have been struck with the tools
of the Pultah mint, which wants very little, being complete. The
plea of professional knowledge and experience must ever, I apprehend,
continue to introduce men of particular qualifications to several departments
of this Government, out of the common line of service. It has been hitherto
urged with effect in too many instances to need enumerating particular ones. I
wish to be allowed this plea in my present application to your Honble Board,
for the temporary succession to your Mint Master when he shall resign. I have
already urged it in an address to the Honble Court of Directors, which is now
before them for deliberation and […] rather press the point at this period,
because a report prevails of Mr Paxton’s intending shortly to proceed to
Europe, your acquiescence would afford me the honor of completing a work
which I cannot doubt you will consider of very great importance to your
Government, a perfect coinage. …I
am ready to give up any claim to salary or emolument until I shall be
confirmed from home, or you shall be convinced of the utility of the
undertaking and its amply repaying the Company in time what has been expended
upon it. I
shall esteem it a favor if you will be pleased to direct a copy of this
address a number in your next packet, and a sett of the coins to be
dispatched by an early ship to the Honble the Court of Directors. I
ought to observe that besides those accompanying this letter, only four other
impressions are taken, a sett for each member of Government and one for
myself. The dyes are carefully locked up and will be delivered with the
implements when required. As
requested, the gold and silver patterns were sent to London, but Prinsep’s
offer to become the temporary mint master was rejected and Paxton was
replaced in February by Mr Herbert Harris [26]. Harris went up to Pulta in April to
arrange transfer of the equipment to In obedience to your
commands signified to me by your secretary, I proceeded up to Pultah for the
purpose of receiving the copper coinage machines from Mr Princep, but was
obliged to postpone taking charge of them until I could return to bring them
away, as the locking them up in a confined room might greatly injure the
finer parts of them. I
have now the honor to inclose for your inspection a set of silver coins that
were struck with these machines, and humbly submit to your consideration the
making use of them in the 1st,
the advantage of having a beautiful milled coin that cannot be counterfeited
by the natives. The present one is so very imperfect that it requires but
little art or ingenuity to imitate it, as is heavily experienced from the
number of bad rupees in circulation. 2nd,
it will effectually prevent the farmers and others employed in the
collections from taking a batta on the rupees of different years, which is
frequently practiced, and also exactions under pretence of the money being
base. 3rd,
The great benefit that will accrue to the army, merchants and indeed every
native and individual in these provinces from being able to receive and pay
their own money without an intermediate agent or shroff. 4th,
the expenses of the mint may be reduced to the establishment of 1773, and all
the little petty frauds now practiced by the workmen effectually prevented. To
carry this new coinage into execution, nothing more will be necessary than an
order of Government for their being received at the rate and value of other
siccas, and they will be brought so imperceptibly into use that the shroffs,
who are the only interested people to promote an opposition, will, I am
almost certain, be ready to forward the circulation of them. As
the divisions of the rupee in halves, quarters and two annas pieces, take a
considerable time and labour in making, I humbly conceive a difference in the
fineness should be made in proportion to the expense of the coinage, and if
they were struck rather larger than the samples now delivered, they would be
still of greater utility. The
Board asked the Committee of Revenue to consider the proposals: Ordered that the Mint
Master do cause the Pulta mint, and every material and instrument of coinage
at that place, to be removed to the Presidency, and that the Committee of
Revenue be desired to give their opinions on the advantage and use of
establishing this coinage in the manner proposed. But
the Committee of Revenue was not certain about the use of the patterns for
the coinage [28]: We have been honored
with your commands of the 20th ultimo, through your secretary,
requiring our opinion on the advantages which may attend the general use of
certain coins as recommended by the Mint Master, and of the propriety of any
difference of fineness being allowed on the smaller coins. On
a supposition that it is intended to make the new coin equal in fineness and
in weight to the sicca rupee already in circulation (which however is not
stated in the Mint Master’s description of it) it is no doubt well calculated
to prevent some of the prevailing abuses and to correct some of the defects
of the present currency. It would equally check the frauds now practiced at
the mint and the greater evil to which the existing coinage is open, of being
easily debased and counterfeited. Neither are we aware, in counterbalance to
these advantages of Mr Harris’ plan, of any peculiar objections that might be
urged against its adoption. We do not, indeed, understand how the
introduction of this new coin will, as is said by the Mint Master, be
effectual to prevent the farmers and others employed in the collections, from
taking as heretofore a batta on the rupees of different years since the
impression which it bears both in respect of the date and otherwise, is we
observe, in nothing different from that of the old rupee, and consequently
will afford the same plea and opportunity for continuing the exaction of
batta. We are equally at a loss to pronounce upon the expediency of
diminishing the fineness of the smaller coins, in proportion to the greater
difficulty and expense of making them. It is not that the reasoning of Mr
Harris may not be solid and conclusive, but we are not enough masters of this
intricate and abstruse subject, to speak with any confidence of the effects
of this measure. We trust we shall meet the indulgence of the Honble Board in
submitting the question to their superior judgement. This
was passed on to the mint master, asking for more information: Ordered that a copy of
this letter and the committee’s letter of 10th March last, be sent
to the Mint Master, with a request that he will give a fuller explanation,
and particularly that he will report to the Board how the introduction of the
new coin will prevent the farmers and others from taking as heretofore, a
batta on the rupee of different years, and estimate the expense that would be
incurred by the adoption of his plan. It
was not until April 1786 that Harris finally got around to explaining his
views of the silver patterns that he had acquired at Pulta [29]: I have been honored with
your commands under date 24th ultimo. It is with concern that I
have not sufficiently expressed my meaning respecting the proposed coin when
I assert “it will in future prevent the farmers and others from taking a
batta on the rupees of different years and also exactions under pretence of
the money being base”. The
meaning I intended to convey respects the proposed coin not the old, for the
sample of the sicca I had the honor to lay before you was marked with the
English year 1784. The preserving the date in English for each succeeding
year would always determine the wear of the specie and by making no
alteration in the Bengal year the natives would have no plea to demand a
batta. The
records remain silent on why this proposal for a new machine-made silver
coinage was rejected. It may be, however, that this sowed the seed that
eventually developed into the new coinage (see next chapter), but this does
not appear to have been openly acknowledged. Since Harris was instrumental in
producing the new coinage from 1790 onwards, he, at least, must have been
influenced by these coins of Prinsep. Given the fact that these pattern
coins of Prinsep were dated 1784, Pridmore’s assumption that these were the
coins he numbers as Pr. 346-350 in his Bengal catalogue seems correct [30],
since they have the date 1784 on the edge. Only the silver coins are known
and they consist of a double rupee (23.5g), a single rupee (11.66g), a half,
a quarter (2.99g) and an eighth. They have the usual obverse & reverse
inscription and the two larger denominations have an edge that reads: UNITED
* EAST *
Prinsep’s
pattern silver coins. Rupee (3.2) & quarter rupee (3.4) (actual size) In
the meantime, Prinsep had kept paying the workmen at Pulta to maintain the
equipment, and when asked why he had done this he replied in November 1785 [31]:
In reply to your
requisition of the 20th ultimo for information by what authority I
disbursed the sum of sicca rupees 2587.1.6 to the workmen of the late Pultah
mint, I have the honor to inform the Board that this establishment was
originally fixed during the working of the copper coinage and is composed of
people completely masters of the business. When
the late Mint Master [presumably
Paxton] came hither to receive the
tools and implements he found them so numerous and bulky that he [could] not
find room for them in the [taraxal]. He therefore proposed bearing them under
locks at Pultah till the Board should determine whether or not to adopt this
mode of coinage. I
remarked that if left without proper and constant attention to their being
kept clean many of the nicer and more expensive tools must be inevitably
spoiled in a short time. And
moreover that when they should be worked it would be absolutely necessary the
people who had constructed them should be taken into employ as they alone
understood the business and could put many of the tools together again after
they were dismounted for removal to Fort William. That they were all under
covenants to me but if the native workmen were once suffered to disperse or
take service in Calcutta that it would be difficult to collect them again
even at higher wages. I
proposed therefore to retain them all at the Company’s expense until the
issue of your determination and as the Mint Master could not of himself
warrant or make the monthly disbursements without an order for so doing, I
agreed to pay it myself trusting to his statement of the circumstances at a
proper time to the Board for my reimbursement. The
new Mint Master was informed of and approved these measures. To him I beg
leave to refer the Honble Board and I hope there will appear no impropriety
in my once again enclosing the bill, which I submit entirely to your
pleasure. Because
the expenditure had not been authorised, the Board refused to pay Prinsep’s
bill, despite both mint masters having agreed to his proposal to keep on the
establishment. The In answer to your letter
of the 20th ultimo acquainting me that the Honble the Governor
General and Council desire to be informed whether the Pultah establishment is
absolutely necessary for keeping clean and in proper order the machines and
implements for coinage, I should say they might be kept clean at a less
expense but as I considered the object of keeping this establishment was the
having persons who had been used to work with them and who on their removal
to Calcutta would be able to put them up again and supply any parts that may
have been hurt or damaged on the removal, I made no objection to the
establishment when Mr Prinsep informed me of it, and was glad to find I
should be able to get the people who had been so long employed and whose
knowledge of the business would render easy the introduction of the proposed
new coinage. The
Board replied to this: Ordered that the Mint Master
be called upon to report the lowest possible establishment necessary for
keeping such parts of the tools and implements for coinage as are wanted
clean and in constant repair and that he be informed that the remainder
should be sent to the arsenal to be kept clean by the people employed there. The
mint master informed the Calcutta Board of the number of people that he
needed to look after the machinery, and was told that he could keep this
number from the original establishment of Prinsep’s mint [32]: I have this instant
received your letter of the 3rd and beg you will acquaint the
Honble the Governor General and Council that the pay of the foreman and his
apprentice amounting to sicca rupees 220 per month would be sufficient for
keeping the tools and implements for coinage in order, as all the underpeople
that are necessary could be supplied from the mint, and I have not the least
doubt but that the yearly amount of wages paid to this person, who has been
bred up in the Tower, will be saved in the refining business when any
quantity of either gold or silver is sent in on the Company’s account. Thus,
by 1786, Prinsep had not only constructed the first mechanised mint in There are several copper patterns known at present. The first is dated
1194 and shows the mint name Murshidabad (see Cat. No. 3.6). This was
presumably an early pattern, shown to the Calcutta Council and rejected in
favour of the eventual currency type. There is then a series of patterns
dated 1195, ranging in denomination from half annas to sixteenth annas with
various differences visible, including one with an experimental edge (see
Cat. Nos. 3.7 to 3.12). Pridmore states [33]: There are a large number of die
varieties and two distinct issues. First series struck on large thin flans,
second series on small thick flans.
This appears to have been due to different size cutting tools used in
preparing the blanks. It is not intentional. All denominations occur in the
two styles. The proofs are perfectly
round and beautifully struck. They appear to have been specimens submitted by
Prinsep to Government in November 1780. A
study of a group of these coins reveals a continuous range of diameters, and
it is unlikely that Pridmore was correct in his belief that there were two
distinct issues, one with a large diameter and one with a smaller diameter.
The bar chart below, showing the diameters of the half anna (25 coins),
illustrates this. There are some large and some small coins but these appear
to be at the extremes of the distribution curve:
Appendix – Prinsep’s machinery at his Pultah mint
subsequently handed over to the EIC Sheer Room 5
Gaughes and steel scribers for marking the sheets of copper into slips 4
pairs of extra large sheers with strong wood frames and stands compleat, for
cutting the sheet copper into slips A
pair of smaller ditto with wood frame and stand Mill Room A
large cutting and flatting machine for cutting the sheet copper into slips
and flatting it to its proper thickness compleat with four extra cutting
tools and two extra brass cogwheels for ditto, and screw wrenches A
small flatting mill for flatting the slips to their proper size with screw
wrenches, keys etc compleat Cutting Room 4
boards with 12 steel scribers and 12 rulers for marking the diameters of the
pice on the slips of copper as guide to the cutting machine A
single cutting machine for cutting the blank pice compleat with 6 extra dabs
and bolsters A
double cutting machine for cutting out the blank pice compleat with 12 extra
dabs and bolsters, 2 standing trays, 2 troughs to the blank, 2 stools &
wrenches etc A
double horizontal machine for cutting the pau faloos pice compleat with 12
extra dabs and bolsters, tray stools etc An
extra strong double cutting machine for cutting the blank madoosie pice
compleat with 12 extra cutting arbors and bolsters, trays, stools, wrenches
etc A
double cutting machine compleat with 12 extra dabs and bolsters, tray, tools,
etc A
Tower Mint cutting press compleat with extra dabs and bolsters A
Tower Mint flatting press for flatting the blank pieces of gold and silver
compleat with 3 extra boxes and bolts A
table with seals, weights compleat for weighing out the blanks to the
softners to clean them A
pair of small scales for weighing of single pice A
pair of ditto for ditto in seers A
pair of larger with a triangle compleat 4
large wooden trays for carrying pice in 2
extra flywheels and crank handles for the cutting machines Softners Rooms 2
Furnaces for anealing the pice compleat with the following articles: 2 iron
peels, 4 pairs of large tongs, 20 square iron pairs for holding the pice, 2
rakes, 2 pokers 3
troughs for holding the liquid for cleaning the pice with 2 large and 8 small
tubs for [putting] the pice in 2
barrels mounted on strong stands with iron [spindell gudgeons] and handles
compleat with draining tubs A
pair of scales for weighing back the pice to the stamp room 2
long store chests to keep pice in, with good lock and keys 28
iron moulds for cutting the slips of copper Stamping Room 19
stamping presses compleat for striking the impression on the money with 2
hammers and 3 pairs of new dyes each, hammer, wrenches and every tool for
setting the dyes A
hammer mill for stamping the pice with dyes compleat A
Tower fashioned press with wooden body compleat with dyes for striking pice Treasure Room 1
store chest with strong lock and key for containing the finished money 3
open store chests 1
pair of scales with triangle compleat with 10 ledden weights w.g 38 [Sr] 15
[cht] Filing Room A
large turning lathe compleat for turning iron, brass, steel etc 24
steel turning tools with wood handles for iron turning 24
ditto ditto with ditto for brass turning A
strong collar and mandrell laith compleat with 12 steel turning tools for
turning iron 12
ditto ditto for turning brass 6
ditto ditto for turning wood 4
brass checks 1 iron ditto 6 wood ditto for
ditto A
wheel and frame compleat for turning both laiths 2
small pulleys, iron and copper with screws compleat 1
wood ditto with iron screws 6
wood ditto plain A
small grindstone with a wheel draught and table compleat, for grinding the
turning tools A
small foot laith for turning wood compleat with 12 turning tools A
Bengally laith for turning wood compleat A
small portable forge compleat with bellows, stake, 2 hammers, 2 pairs of
tongs, 1 rake and shovel 9
vices with benches compleat 2
small stakes A
pair of strong iron stocks with 20 pairs of dies and 24 taps, steel with tap
wrenches, screw keys compleat 6
large steel boarers for boaring the cutting machine 4
small ditto for making the cutting machine 2
braces for ditto 4
screw plates with taps compleat for cutting small screws, saws and frames,
sawing iron 12
hammers of different sorts 2
hand vices 8
old rubber files A
drill bow breast plate and 12 drills compleat 2
oil stoves [and] wood lamp 100
files of different sorts with wooden handles compleat 200
new files of different sorts 3
pair of compasses and a pair callibies [calipers?] Smiths Shop 5
forges with anvils, sledge and hand hammers, iron tongs, shovels, rakes,
chizels, set hammers, punches, coal troughs and water tubs compleat 1
large forge with large bellows, anvil and crane compleat, for forging large
iron work. 1
large brick iron and 2 small stakes 1
beam drill with 2 braces 12
steel drills for drilling large holes in iron compleat with a vise and bench 2
strong vises for bending hot iron 1
grindstone and trough compleat 12
files with handles 6
hand chizels and 6 punches Moulds Wooden
moulds of several machines in the Pultah mint Wooden
[suket] and pigs of cast iron for the anvils of the stamping presses A
bell and wood stand to let the people go from work [Callasey
chaprass] Pass
ticket brass Tools used for the
Bengally method of Coining 150
hammers for forging the pice 9
pairs of tongs for holding the copper to be cut 500
small chizels for cutting the copper 10
gauges for flatting the blank pieces 25
pairs of tongs for heating the blank pieces in the fire 10
small pinchers for holding blanks to hammer round the edge 4
moulds for cutting pice in 67
pairs of small scales with wooden boxes 1
large box for holding the above tools Carpenters Tools A
large saw 1
frame ditto 1
dovetail ditto 1
Bengally ditto 1
iron cramp for framing woodwork 4
large augurs 1
adze 1
round A[dze?] 1
Bengally ditto 1
large hatchet 1
small ditto 6
drills and stocks for wood 3
board firmers and 2 large gauges new 4
[Newmort] chizels 4
ditto firmer and 3 small gauges new 3
small firmers new 5
large leather bits 4
smaller ditto 6
new centre bits of sorts 4
large gauges and handles 6
mortice chizels of sorts 3
large ditto 2
large firmers with handles 6
small ditto of sorts 5
rasps of sorts with handles 7
files with handles 4
old plains 2
pairs of compasses 4
wood squares 1
pair of pinchers 3
hammers of sorts A list of mint tools
lost on board the ships Duke of Athol & Kingston and replaced in ship
Earl Cornwallis A
cutting press compleat with extra dabs and bolsters A
flatting press compleat with 3 extra boxes and bolts 2
flatting mills compleat with spindells gundgions etc 2
large bodies in cast iron of 2 fly presses unfinished 2
chests of extra files 500 [Wt] of dye steel |
References