Fawcett Sir C.
(1936). The English Factories in India Vol. 1 (The Western Presidency).
Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 30. 1671
…The
Company in their dispatch of 22nd February gave directions for the
establishment of a mint at Bombay for the coinage of gold or silver (4 L.B.
428, 429); but this was a matter for deliberation, and action in it was
naturally deferred by Aungier (Sur. Let. 7 Nov., O.C.
3594, f.17)
Fawcett Sir C.
(1936). The English Factories in India Vol. 1 (The Western Presidency).
Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 52-53. 1672
The
Company had given orders in February 1671 for the coinage of money of their own
at Bombay (4 L.B. 428, 429), but no steps to carry them out were taken before Aungier’s arrival [7th June 1672]. The Company’s
ships had brought out no gold, but some silver and copper, and with this Aungier and his Council decided to make a start (Bom. Let. 28 Sept., 106 Sur. 133, 136). In November John
Child was appointed overseer of ‘the Mint which is to be erected in the East
India House for coining pice and buserooks
until a convenient room in the fort can be fitted for the coining silver’ (Bom. Con. 13 Nov, 2 Misc. 145. A buzerook
was the Portuguese bazarucco (Yule, 121). It was of
low value; thus in 1671 sixteen went to one pice (E.F., 1668-9, 52n.), and in
1710, according to Burnell (112, 113), fourteen went
to a pice). The Surat factory’s extreme need of money
made Aungier send it the silver except ‘just soe much as should begin the mint’ (O.C. 3722, ff. 35, 36).
A consultation of 29th November fixed the names of the coins as
follows:
The gold coin Carolina
The silver coin Anglina
The copper coin Coperoon
The tin coin Tinny (2 Misc. 146, also Num
Chron, 4th series, vol
vi (could be 1906))
Silver
copper and tin coins were struck accordingly by the end of December, and
specimens were sent to the Company in the ships leaving Swally
in January 1673 (O.C. 3722, f. 38; Bom. Let. 1 Jan
1673, 106 Sur. 54)
Fawcett Sir C.
(1936). The English Factories in India Vol. 1 (The Western Presidency).
Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 75-76. 1673
…Of
this amount Rs. 20,000 were remitted in December
[1673?], but there was a difficulty about sending the balance in tin for
minting, as desired by Aungier. The amount required
was not available and the price of tin had risen.
The
mint, in fact, was a source of profit from its copper and tin coinage, which
supplied a distinct want and gave satisfaction to the inhabitants and their neighbours (Bom. Let. To Co. 23
Oct., 6 Bom. 224, 225; O.C. 3799, f. 3; O.C. 3910, f.
18 (JBBRAS., Aug. 1931, 39). As in previous years there was often a scarcity of
pice on the island, and in March the Council imposed a 5 per cent duty on all
pice exported (Sur. Con. 8 Feb., 3 Sur. 8; Bom. Con.
7 March, 1 Bom. 26.). But ‘tinnys’
were also in demand and were indeed more profitable (Bom.
Let. To Co. 23 Oct., 6 Bom. 225). By the end of
November all the tin on the island had been minted, but fortunately in December
the Company’s ships brought out a good supply (Bom.
Con. 26 Nov. & 6 Dec., 1 Bom 114 & (next
sec.) 1). The mint thus continued to operate for the coining of copper and tin
under the superintendence of Richard Adams, but the silver ingots formerly
reserved for the mint were disposed of, as there was ‘no conveniency’
yet for this expansion of its work (Bom. Con. 22 Jan
& 4 Feb., 1 Bom. 16, 21). Steps were also taken
against the coin-clipping that was prevalent (Bom.
Con. 1 & 10 Dec., 1 Bom. 116 & (next sec) 3.
Fawcett Sir C.
(1936). The English Factories in India Vol. 1 (The Western Presidency).
Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 108-109. 1674
…and
as false rupees had been discovered, a proclamation was issued, strictly
forbidding the importation of any false coin or the counterfeiting of the
Company’s coin on pain of death (Bom. Con. 24 July, 1
Bom. 65, 66).
The
mint continued to coin copper pice and thus supply the island with small
change, but tin was not available during the year for the coinage of tinnys (Bom. Let. To Co. 16 Dec.,
7 Bom. 11, 12). The pice passed not only in Sivaji’s territory, but also in the Portuguese country ( Bom. Let. 23 Dec., 7 Bom. 27).
The minting of gold and silver remained in suspense, and Aungier
expressed disappointment at the Company’s sending ‘no positive directions’ to start
it ( Bom let. 16 Dec., 7 Bom.
11). He wished to alter the inscription on the coinage, as the Prtuguese disliked their containg
no reference to the King or Queen of England and had hindered their circulation
for trade and the purchase of provisions. He proposed that one side of the coin
should bear the Company’s arms and title, and the other should have two ‘C’s,
representing the two first letters of their Majesties’ names, with a crown and
cross over them. He also suggested that the Angelinas
should be renamed Ingresses [English], as the latter was ‘more common with all
sorts of people’ (Bom. Con. 12 June, 1 Bom. 49, 50)). He further suggested a new coin of the same
fineness and weight as a Surat rupee, with Persian
inscriptions on it, which he considered would increase its currency in other
parts. He felt doubts. However, whether the Moghul Emperor would not object to
this and consulted the Surat Council on the point. It
expressed the opinion that the Company has just as much right to borrow Persian
for this purpose as the Emperor, and that, as his coinage would not be
counterfeited, he would have no good cause for taking offence (Bom. Con. 17 July, 1 Bom. 64, 65;
Sw. con. 6 Aug., 3 Sur. 28). It suggested however that the proposed inscription
of ‘Charles II, King of England’ might subject the Company to a writ of praemunire, as being too close a resemblance to King’s
coin. Aungier shared this doubt and, in accordance
with the Surat Council’s advice, referred his
proposal to the Company for orders (Sur. Let. 12 Aug., 87 Sur. 190; Bom. Let. 22 Aug., 6 Bom. 173; Bom. Con. 28 Sept., 1 Bom 97;Bom.
Let. To Co. 16 Dec., 7 Bom. 11)
Fawcett Sir C.
(1936). The English Factories in India Vol. 1 (The Western Presidency).
Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 129. 1675
…A mint house had been built and the coinage of
copper and tin continued (Sur. Let. to Co. 17 Jan., O.C.4163, f. 3); Bom. Cons. 24th May,2 Bom.
75; Bom. Let. 18 Jan, 7 Bom.
54). Aungier estimated the profits from the mint at Xs. 10,000 a year, but this probably depended largely on
getting a good supply of Japanese copper from the Company (Aungier’s
instrns., O.C. 4115, f. 3; Bom.
Let. 18 Jan. & 20 March, 7 Bom. 54, 105)…
Fawcett Sir C.
(1936). The English Factories in India Vol. 1 (The Western Presidency).
Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 139. 1675
…On the arrival of the Unicorn, four chests of
silver, worth Rs 40,000, were taken off her, but the
bullion could not at once be converted into money and further bills for Rs 6,000 had to be drawn on Surat.
Gifferd explained that they were so indebted to the Modi [House-Steward] that, without his help, he could not
supply provisions for the island, and they were in great straights for money to
pay the soldiers (Bom. Let. 16& 17 Nov., 7 Bom. 162, 163; Sw. let. 25 Nov., 88 Sur. 120).Aungier asked him to avaoid
drawing any more bills, in view of the need for husbanding resources at Surat and of the arrival of a stock of silver (Sw. let. 26
Nov., 88 Sur. 127). Financial exigencies thus forced the Council, with the
approval of Aungier, to coin the bullion into rupees.
A stamp made by the Modi in the previous year was
first of all used for this (Bom. Let. 14 Oct & 4
Nov., 7 Bom. 152, 158; Sw. let. 25 Oct., 88 Sur.
120); but at the end of the year Giffard submitted
two other patterns, saying he proposed to use one with PAX A DEO on it, pending
the orders of the Surat Council, for the purpose of
coining Rs 2,000 for the next garrison pay-day (Bom. Let. 31 Dec., 7 Bom. 4.)…
Fawcett Sir C.
(1936). The English Factories in India Vol. 1 (The Western Presidency).
Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 160-161. 1676
As to the mint, Aungier
approved one of the patterns proposed for the new silver, tin, and copper
coinage (Sur, let. 8 Feb., 89 Sur. 17, 18 (For. 84)), but its
out-turn suffered from want of good coiners. In January the treasury was ‘bare
of money, being not able to coin as fast as we have occasion for it’ (Bom. Let. 22 Sept. & 1 Nov., 7 Bom.
60, 65; Sw. let. 12 Oct., 89 Sur. 66 (For.104). In September the chief coiner
had run away, ‘having stolen another man’s wife’, and those left were
inefficient and ‘most tedious’, while the Surat
Council was unable to send another coiner at once (Bom.
Let. 22 Sept. &1 Nov., 7 Bom. 60, 65; Sw. let. 12
Oct., 89 Sur. 66 (For. 104). The supply of metal for coinage was supplemented
when the Company’s five ships arrived in August, by ingots of silver worth Rs. 30,000 and 329 plates of Barbary copper (Bom. Let. 21 Aug., 7 Bom. 55; Sur
let. 21 Aug. &8 Sep., 89 Sur. 57 (For. 100), 62, 63); but there was a loss
of one-third in melting the latter down for coining pice, and their use was
discontinued pending the expected arrival of Japan copper bars that were more
suitable for the purpose (Bom. Let. 21 Aug., 7 Bom. 55;O.C.4258, f21, &4263, f. 8 (For. 122).
Fawcett Sir C.
(1936). The English Factories in India Vol. 1 (The Western Presidency).
Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 180-181. 1677
…The fall in the value of buzerooks
affected the revenues, as the tobacco and cooly rents
were payable in that specie (Bom let 11 Nov, 8 Bom 66). Another disadvantage was that ther
lightness hampered their currency outside Bombay, and new ones, 10 per cent
heavier, had to be coined to replace them; whereupon the Portuguese prohibited
their passing in their country, though the coins were twice as good as theirs
in weight and fineness (Bom con 11 Jul, 2 Bom 8; Sw let 21 Jan 1678, 89 Sur
28). The copperoons, however, went off the island as
fast as they were coined, being current also in Sivaji’s
dominions; and the Japanese copper sent by the Company proved useful and
profitable (Sur let to Co 10 March, O.C. 4270, f 2; Bom
let to Co 19 March, O.C. 4272, f.2.). As much tin as possible was coined, but
probably not in great quantities. Thus the mint in September had enough of it
left over from its previous supplies to serve till the end of March 1678, so
none was taken from the ships, though this had been authorized by the Surat Council (Sw let 11 Sept, 89
Sur 58; Bom let 21 Sep, 8 Bom
53; Sw let 21 Jan 1678, 89 Sur 28). The coinage of
silver rupees was also restricted and none were minted after the 25th
March (Sw let 21 Jan 1678, 89 Sur 28, where the
Council sats’this year we coined no silver’. Under
the old style calender the new year began on 25
March). The main reason for this was that the value of silver had risen so much
that it did not pay to turn it into rupees, and the bullion sent out could be
more advantageously sold in the Surat bazaar and thus
used towards defraying the Company’s debt. Consequently James and Chamberlain
disapproved of a proposal by the Bombay Council to mint all the silver that the
ships brought out (Bom let 17 July & 21 sep, 8 Bom 44, 45 (For. 134), 53;
Sur con 30 July, 4 Sur 74; Sur let 31 July, 89 Sur 51; Sw
let 21 Jan 1678, 89 Sur 28). There was also a controversy as to the purity of
the Bombay rupees that had been minted earlier in the year. Aungier
said they were coarser and lighter than the former ones, and on this account
the Surat shroffs
depreciated them. Petit disputed this, saying the coins were at any rate better
than the Surat rupees and suggesting ‘roguery’ on the
part of the shroffs to debase the value of Bombay
money; but the Surat Council stuck to their view and
thought there was ‘some abuse put on [the Bombay Council] by the coiners’,
which should be checked. As a matter of fact, Petit did discover a fraud in the
coining of silver, though of a different kind. This was that the coiners misapprpriated the dross left in refining the metal to the
alloy of Surat rupees, by which he calculated they
made 6 to 7 Rs a thousand (Sw. let. 21 Jan. 1678, 89
Sur. 28).The difficulty of getting a good chief coiner remained till August,
when one, Govidji Madhavji,
was obtained from Surat. He promised to coin rupees
and buzerooks cheaper than had been done before, but
desired protection from the malice of the old coiners on the island (Bom. Let.17 July, 8 Bom. 49 (For.
134); Sur. Let. 31 July &7 Aug., 89 Sur. 51, 54). In October, John Jessop,
who had been promoted to a factors post, was put in charge of the mint (Bom. Con. 19 Oct., 2 Bom. 12, 13;
desp. 7 March, 5 L.B. 406).
King Charles II’s charter of 5th October
1676, authorizing the Company to coin rupees, pices,
and buzerooks at Bombay, was referred to in the
dispatches of 7th March, but the sending of detailed directions and
of stamps for the coinage was deferred till 1678. Meanwhile the Bombay Council
was told to go on coining as before (5 L.B. 410). No coins were therefore
issued under the new charter during 1677 and ( as already stated) rupees of the
old pattern were coined, if at all, during the first three months of the year.
Fawcett Sir C.
(1954). The English Factories in India Vol. III (Bombay, Surat
and Malabar Coast). Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 17-19. 1678
The mint seems to have made a poor contribution to
these revenues and to have coined only tin and copper during the year. In
January, old buzerroks that had been called in after
the issue of a new set were ordered to be melted into blocks of tin for
disposal to merchants (Bom. Con. 10 Jan., 2 Bom. 21). The records contain no other references to these
coins, and most of the mintage was probably in copper. In January the mint got
625 chests of bar copper from the Advice (Bom. Let.
5, 8 & 22 Jan., 8 Bom. 1, 2, 4), but Rolt ordered all the plate copper in hand to be sent to Surat and allowed none of the copper in the Company’s
frigate Tywan, which arrived early in February, to be
landed (Sw. let. 26 Jan., 89 Sur. 41, 42; Bom. Let. 4
Feb., 8 Bom. 10). The Bombay Council said they were
certain the mint would soon be in want of more copper, to the detriment of the
Company, which made considerable gain by coining it; but they had to wait till
the arrival of the Company’s ships in August for a fresh supply. They were then
limited to taking only as much as would just suffice to meet the requirements
of the mint till the arrival of the China ships (Bom.
Let. 4 Feb., 8 Bom. 10; Bom.
Con. 17 Aug., 2 Bom. 27; Sur. Let. 6 July, 89 Sur.
111). The Surat council also objected, as already
mentioned (p. 11), to their having landed other copper for sale. In November, Oxinden reported that they had only a small quantity left
and asked for orders as to the amount to be taken from the China ships (Bom. Let. 17 Nov., 8 Bom. 54).
The coinage of silver was still more restricted and did not become possible
till the end of October (p. 11). The Company had sent out by the ships ‘several
stamps for coining’, including some dies for making milled rupees of a
‘handsome’ appearance. It also sent John Morris, an employee in the London
mint, and two newly appointed factors, George Cook and Samuel Annesley, who had been instructed how to use them (Desp. 15 March, 5 L.B. 549, 551). The two latter went with
four writers from Surat to Bombay on the Sampson in
October, but Cooke arrived so desperately ill that he was not expected to
survive (Sur. Let. 18 Oct., 89 Sur. 143; Bom. Let. 19
Nov., 8 Bom. 51. Cooke recovered and became Deputy
Governor of Bombay in 1690). In spite, however, of all these precautions, no
milled rupees seem to have been properly struck during the year for reasons
given in the following report of Oxinden to the
Company:
We have received the coining engine and stamps etc.,
thereunto belonging and have made tryall thereof, but
to our admiration [surprise] and sorrow cannot with all our skill and
experiments make a clear impression therewith – the words proving blurred and
imperfect, as well as the royal arms All possible industry hath been used to
find the reason for its deficiency without the desired effect. John Morrice to our great griefe
deceased within a week after his landing, being a person addicted to drink
strong drink… had it pleased God to have spared him, he would have sett all things in their right postures but Annesley or Cooke know little thereof, so that we almost
despair of bringing the coine to its due perfection.
We suppose the fault to lie in the stamps, which in our opinion are to shallow cutt, of which you may
[be] pleased to send us some more deeply engraved and then we will try what is
to be done. (Bom. Let. To Co., 8 Bom.
69. He made a similar report to the Surat Council Bom. Let. 4 Dec., 8 Bom 59).
He accordingly asked for some that were more deeply
engraved.
The mint therefore had a bad year and it can scarcely
have been as profitable as in Aungier’s time. In
November the Surat Council called for a report as to
the benefit, if any, derived by the Company from it, but Oxinden
merely referred them to the accounts (Sur. Let. 11 Nov., 89 Sur. 162; Bom. Let. 4 Dec., 8 Bom. 60).
This annoyed Rolt but the sequel belongs to the next
year.
Part of the profit came from a charge of a lari per maund on all coinage
minted for private persons, which had been instituted by Petit, when he was
Deputy Governor. The Surat Council, however, in
December, disapproved of the mint being employed by anyone but the Company and
forbade private coinage till further orders (Sur. Let. 17 Dec., 19 Bom. 2, 3; Bom. Let. 13 Dec. 1678
&6 Jan. 1679, 8 Bom. 60 & (next section) 4. A
lari was worth about 6d.). Rolt
also talked about putting the mint ‘under better regulation‘ after the homeward
ships had left, a project in which Oxinden and his
Council said they would gladly assist so as to increase its profit (Sur, let.
17 Dec., 19 Bom. 2; Bom. Let.
6 Jan. 1679, 8 Bom. 2). Meanwhile Oxinden
was considering a proposal to reduce the cost of the mint by paying less for
the minters’ workmanship, ‘at which they seem much dissatisfied’ (Bom. Let. 4 & 30 Dec., 8 Bom.
59, 60 & (next section) 1).
Some abuses were also detected and suppressed. It was
found impossible to punish ‘the chief imposter’ in the fraud that Petit had
discovered in 1677, as the latter’s failure to make a prompt investigation and
‘the noise that was raised of it abroad’ enabled him to ‘run off the island’;
but Oxinden expressed his intention to call the rest
to account (PS. To Sur. Let. 5 Feb., 89 Sur. 45; Bom.
Let. 21 Feb., 8 Bom. 15, 16). Rolt
also received information that Jessop, the mint Superintendent was making a
surreptitious profit out of the 6 laris a maund allowed the workmen for their labour,
and called for a thorough scrutiny into the matter. Oxinden
replied that the half a lari he received was not an
exaction, but given voluntarily (Sur. Let. 11 Nov., 89 Sur. 162; Bom. Let. 4 Dec., 8 Bom. 59). Rolt, very properly, was not satisfied with this answer,
and called for a further and thorough investigation. As a result of this,
Jessop and Makan Kisanji,
who had got a similar commission from the chief minter, Govindset,
were rodered to pay up what they had received in this
way as well as in respect of another abuse, by which they made a profit of 8 laris a maund on broken copper
supplied to the mint (sur. Let. 17 Dec., 19 Bom. 3; Bom. Let. 30 Dec. 1678 & 6 Jan. 1679, 8 Bom. 1,4. The amount of 275 laris
was subsequently recovered from each of them ( Bom.
Let. 7 & 19 Feb., 8 Bom. 9, 11). Makan was a resident of Surat who
was said to have ‘wound himself in [to the mint] like a snake’, and whose
commission was apparently a bribe in return for his supposed influence with the
Surat Council (Sur. Let. 10 March, 8 Bom. 14, 15).
Fawcett Sir C.
(1954). The English Factories in India Vol. III (Bombay, Surat
and Malabar Coast). Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 26-27. 1679
The question of improving the mint had been raised in
the previous year (p. 19) and in February the Surat
Council settled revised regulations for its administration. These laid down
that there should be only one mint and that its employees should’ work jointly
in one place without distinction or division’. The proposed reduction of the
rate at which the minters were paid (p. 19) was approved. Minting for private
persons, which the Council had suspended (p. 19), was allowed, but the charge
for it was raised from one lari to one rupee a maund. Cooke was appointed to take charge of the mint in
place of Jessop, who had taken an illicit commission from the coiners as a
bribe for overlooking their misappropriation of 92 pounds of broken pieces of
copper, worth Xs 300, which they sold to their
profit. Such fragments were to be remelted and minted
in future (Bom. Let. 6 Jan., 8 Bom.
4; Sur. Con. 1 Feb., 4 Sur. 11; Sur. Let. 4 Feb., 19 Bom.
8, 9). Oxinden and his Council said the orders would
be observed, but expressed the view that the charge of one rupee a maund for private minting was too high and would result in
stopping this source of revenue. The Surat Council,
however, disagreed and confirmed their order on the point (Bom.
Let. 19 Feb., 8 Bom. 11; Sur. Let. 27 Feb., 19 Bom. 14). A protest by the minters that coining fragments
of copper into pice would entail double the ordinary labour
was ineffectual. The mint had plenty of copper available, as the Council took
367 chests of it from the Advice, which arrived from Amoy on 20th
January. The coining of tin into buzerooks was
specially recommended by the Company on account of tin being a home-production,
but it is doubtful whether much was done during the year, as in August the
Council reported that they had a quantity of it on hand, which they proposed to
send to Surat for sale (Desp.28 Feb., 6 L.B. 56; Bom. Let. 11 Aug., 8 Bom. 26). No
coinage of silver is mentioned; and the mint stopped working during the
troubles that ensued towards the end of the year (Bom
let. 7 Dec., 8 Bom. 80)