The
Transitional Mints of the Deccan
|
Summary |
|
As the
British extended their control of India during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, a number of areas that had active mints
fell under their management. Some of these mints were kept in operation for a number of years after they were taken over by the
British. Bhandare has used the term ‘transitional’ to describe mints of this
type [1], and
that convention has been used here, although the term ‘provincial’ is
sometimes used in the records. There are a number of
examples of this happening on the western side of India, where various
territories came under the control of the Bombay Presidency in the first half
of the nineteenth century. Pridmore has recorded the coins of some of these
mints (e.g. those of Sūrat), but, for some reason, he chose to
ignore others, even quite major mints such as Poona and Ahmedabad. Some
publications [2]
give listings of coins from these mints with headings such as ‘EIC’, but provide no supporting documentary evidence for the
attributions and these are sometimes incorrect. A study of the records stored
in the India Office Library has therefore been undertaken to fill some of
this gap. Inland from Bombay was the area known
as the Deccan, with the mints of Poona, Nasik/Chandore and Aḥmadnagar,
which were all acquired in 1817/1818. To the north lay the mints of
Sūrat, Aḥmadābād and Broach
and to the south were the mints of the “Southern Maratha Country”, Bagalkot
and Belgaum-Shahpur. Bankot, though not strictly a ‘transitional’ mint, is
included here because it behaved as a local mint. Bhakkar, in Sind, is also covered
in this chapter. The records are not completely clear about the operations of
these mints, but what archival evidence does exist can be combined with
knowledge of the coins themselves to produce a much clearer picture. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Circulatory context |
|
One important consideration in a
discussion of the transitional and local mints is the fact that the coins
issued from the mints that came under British control, together with those
that remained under the control of native rulers, circulated together with
many older types of coin in any one area. Local money-changers
or shroffs found a niche for themselves in exchanging one type of coin for
another at a rate that allowed them a profit. This rate of exchange is
referred to in the records as the “bazar” rate. Once the British had gained
control of the different regions, they instructed their local officials to
collect examples of all the coins circulating in these regions and send them
to Bombay for assay. The assay master at Bombay published two tables, one in
1817 [3]
(covering the Northern districts) and another in 1821 [4]
(covering the whole Presidency), establishing an official exchange rate
between all of the different coins in circulation,
allowing the local officials to accept the coins in payment of taxes. As the
grip of the British tightened on the territories in their possession, the
number of different coins that were acceptable in payment of taxes was
gradually reduced and hence the coinage gradually became more standard. However,
standardisation throughout the Bombay Presidency could not be achieved until
the mint at Bombay had acquired the capability of meeting the demand of the
entire Presidency and it could not do this until a new steam-driven mint was
introduced at the beginning of the 1830s. Even then, the coins of the
neighbouring states crossed into British controlled areas and continued to be
used by the local population. The old (pre-steam) mint at Bombay could not
meet the demand for the whole Presidency and this provides the explanation
for the existence of the transitional mints. They were essential in providing
sufficient currency until about 1834/35, because the Bombay mint could not
satisfy the demand, although many of the transitional mints were closed
before then. Coins in circulation in
the Bombay Presidency in 1820 are shown in the appendix at the end of this
section [5]. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Aḥmad Shāh I, sovereign of
the independent state of Gujarāt, founded the city of Aḥmadābād
in AD 1411 and it became the capital. Akbar annexed Gujarāt in 1572/3
and from then on Aḥmadābād was an important mint town of the
Moghuls, the majority of the emperors having coins
struck there. Moghul rule continued
until the end of the reign of Aḥmad Shāh Bahādur. The city was
then taken by the Marathas who, in 1755, were
ejected by a Moghul army under Momin Khān, who restored the rule of the
emperor, at least nominally. In 1757 Momin Khān surrendered Aḥmadābād
to the Marathas, an event that ended all Moghul connection with the place.
Between 1757 and 1817 the city was either in the hands of the Marathas or
held on lease by the Gaikwars of Baroda. In 1817 an agreement was struck
between the Gaikwar and the British to hand over Aḥmadābād to
the latter. This was duly implemented and the
British took over the city including the mint [6]. However, the British had
been established in the city for many years before 1817. A Company of 32
Englishmen, led by Mr Aldworth had arrived at Aḥmadābād in
1613 and a house had been bought and a factory established in 1614 [7], but
they had not obtained any right to coin money. They were obliged, therefore,
to have their bullion coined at the local mint and several references exist
in the records concerning the problems that this caused (e.g.
the cost) [8]. After the British took control of the
city in 1817, the Collector, Mr. Dunlop, found the mint closed and the supply
of circulating medium so low as seriously to impede trade[9]. This is confirmed in a letter from Dunlop
to Government in which he proposed to abolish a nominal currency called “Aunt” (sometimes spelt Ant) and in which he explained the
background to the problem. He stated that in 1780/81 the mint had been closed
and sicca rupees had become scarce, so the merchants resorted to transfers in
each other’s books as a method of mutual payment. This was referred to as “dealing in aunt”. In 1805/06 this had
been prohibited and this prohibition had continued all the time that sicca
rupees were available. However, the mint had been closed again (no date
given) and dealing in “aunt” had
restarted and still continued in 1818 when Dunlop
wrote the letter [10]. Dunlop appears to have re-opened the mint in December
1817 [11]: In reference to your letter
of 20th February approving of my proceedings with respect to the Sicca mint
at this place, I have the honor to transmit for information of Government an
abstract statement of the sums coined, and showing also
the amount of profit, which has been brought to the credit of Government. The
system reported in my letter of 28th December was continued until the end of
February, when the receipt of your letter above referred to, directing me not
to seek a higher rate of profit than might be sufficient to cover all
expenses, determined me to fix the same rate of mint charges as that taken at
the mint in Bombay, namely three per cent, which is considerably cheaper than
the natives have been accustomed to get their bullion coined, so that the
small advantage which accrues to Government on this rate, did not appear more
than sufficient to cover incidental expenses, or more than should reasonably
be paid for coin to secure it from being melted up for common purposes. The
amounts allowed both for wastage or melting and forming the coins were found
by experience to be too large and have been accordingly reduced, but the
contractors for smelting, I have reason to believe, have gone rather too far,
and that some small increase to the present allowance will be requisite, the
bullion now melted at 3 rupees per thousand less than the rate formerly
reported to Government. Every
savings of this description is immediately carried to the credit of
Government, and the whole profit is up to the end of June amounting to Rupees
31421.1.82, and the mint continues to be supplied with bullion, so that there
does not appear any prospect of the working being stopped. It
seems only requisite for me to notice the large amount of profit which
appears during the first months, the Mint had not been worked before for a
considerable time, siccas had consequently obtained an artificial value, from
their scarcity, and bullion sold from this cause at a very low price, as
compared with sicca rupees. Several
other causes concurred to produce the same effect. Dollars have been imported
freely for inland speculations, which were all abruptly stopped by the war,
so that there was a great competition at that time to have them coined, as
the only means of saving the interest, or disposing of their commodity. Under
the circumstances of trouble and responsibility to which the coinage of
upwards of twelve lacs and a half of rupees, has subjected me, and the large
profit which has resulted from my superintendence, I have the honor to
request you will submit my claim to Government for remuneration. The
duties of Mint Master were long performed by the Collector at Surat, for which, I am informed, he
received a monthly salary, and I request that Government may be pleased to
grant me an allowance, either on this principle or such other as may appear
most advisable to the Right Honorable the Governor in Council. Details
of the amount of coin produced at the mint are also shown in this extract and
have been summarised in the following table:
Amount of Silver Coin Produced at Aḥmadābād In
February 1818, the mint committee in Bombay, whilst agreeing with Dunlop’s
actions in restarting the mint, suggested that the Judge and Magistrate (one
person) at Aḥmadābād should visit the mint two or three times
a month and indiscriminately take a few coins and send them for assay at
Bombay. Thenceforth this provided the means of controlling the quality of the
coins issued from the mint [12]: …As a means of placing
the mint however, as far as possible under the control of the mint officers
at the Presidency, in the same manner as the Surat mint formerly was, the Judge and Magistrate
should be instructed to proceed without any previous notice two or three
times in the month, at the least, to the mint and oftener when much business
is going on, and to take a few pieces indiscriminately from the hands of the
workmen – say not fewer than ten – and dispatch them under his seal at the
end of the month, to the Mint Master at the Presidency for examination. In
October 1818, the mint committee recommended that the coinage should continue
but the Financial Committee resolved that the Aḥmadābād
authorities should be asked for their opinion on the necessity for this,
given that a new uniform coinage (for the Bombay Presidency) would soon be
issued following the installation of a new mint at Bombay [13]. Of
course, the new Bombay mint did not actually become operational until the
1830s, when a steam driven mint started operations, but, in 1818,
consideration was being given to the possibility of building a local machine-driven
mint (see Dr Stewart’s pattern coins.). As far as the copper coinage was concerned, Dunlop found
that there was a shortage in 1818, but that this was caused by the shroffs
deliberately taking the coins out of circulation. He therefore immediately
began striking copper pice at the mint, with the effect that the hoarded
copper was released into the market and minting was stopped [14]: In reference to my letter of 6th May, I
request you will have the goodness to acquaint the Right Honorable the
Governor in Council that the shroffs of this place had so completely
engrossed all the former pice coinage, with the view of [forcing] the people
to accept of a much smaller number than had been fixed for the rupee, that no
change was to be obtained in the city. Finding it impossible to
ascertain the persons by whom this monopoly was made, it became necessary for
me immediately to coin other pice, for which purpose I purchased one hundred
maund of copper, on the best terms procurable (an account of which shall be
afterwards forwarded) and yesterday began making pice of the same weight as
those now current here, and I am happy to say with the very best effect, as
pice are today in sufficient numbers at every shop for the established rate
of 64 per rupee. The object I had in view
being thus answered I shall not carry the experiment any further at present,
than the quantity of copper already purchased (with the approbation of
Government) than may from time to time be necessary to defeat similar
interested combinations of shroffs. The
copper coinage of Aḥmadābād was discussed by Wiggins in 1981 [15]. He
believed that copper pice were only struck dated 1234 and 1236 and that those
given the date 1233 (1817/18), by Masters [16], were
the result of an incorrect reading because this date was too early for the
EIC. However the letter from Dunlop (above) would
seem to refute this and coins dated 1233 are included in the Stevens
catalogue [17]
(indeed Wiggins had one of these in his collection, so his view may have
changed after writing his paper). Pice dated 1232 and sold in the Noble sale
(Noble (1995), sale 48, lot 2170) must be pre-EIC or may be a mis-reading. Unfortunately, there were no photos of these
coins in the sale catalogue. Coins dated 1235 have been reported by Masters and in the Noble sale so this date is included in
the catalogue [18]. In 1819 the standard for the Aḥmadābād rupee
was established by the assay master at Bombay [19]: I am not aware that the professed
standard weight in troy grains or quantity of pure silver in the Aḥmadābād
sicca rupees has hitherto been declared,…; perhaps
the best standard would be weight 181 troy grains and purity or touch 85⅛
per cent. Each coin would thus contain 154 grains and a small fraction of no
importance, of pure silver. I suggest this standard because it is very nearly
the actual average of the coins of last year. There
are further references to the results of assays of the coins from the Aḥmadābād
mint in 1821 [20],
and in 1828 the Collector was able to report [21]: …there is no other coin current in
this collectorate except the Aḥmadābād sicca rupees which are
always received in revenue payments and struck by the Government at this
place. No
record of the date of final closure of the Aḥmadābād mint has
been traced. By 1832 the mint had stopped producing copper coins because a
proclamation was issued in that year concerning the rate of exchange of the
new Bombay quarter annas for the old Aḥmadābād pice [22]: The Right Honorable the
Governor in Council is pleased to give notice that the old pice called
Ahmadabad, being genuine coin and not counterfeits, shall continue until
further orders to be current throughout the several Purgannahs comprizing the
Ahmadabad collectorate and will at all times be exchangeable for the new
copper currency to the extent of the supply in the revenue treasuries of the
district and Sudder station at the rate noticed below. Sixty
new quarter anna pice for 68 Ahmadabad pice. Rupees and half rupees exist dated 1249 (1833/34) so the
mint cannot have been closed before then, and Masters [23] lists
coins dated 1250 and 1251 so the mint may have continued in operation until
1835, although no coins of these dates have been seen by the current author. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
There is no clear reference to the
site of a mint operating under British jurisdiction in Aḥmadnagar.
There was a Maratha mint at Wabgaon (Vaphgaon), which is close to Aḥmadnagar
[24], so
perhaps this mint was operational during the 1820s. In any case, an entry in
the records does suggest that a mint was operational [25].
Average
annual coinage for 10 years prior to 1833/34 at the Presidency and
subordinates. Alternatively, the table might simply refer
to coins supplied to the Nasik and Aḥmadnagar collectorates from the
Chandore mint. The design of the coins is not known. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
In 1820, consideration was given to a request
to establish a mint at Aḥmadnagar by Captain Gibbon [26]. The
mint was to produce coins for the whole Deccan with Captain Gibbon himself
acting as mint master. The coins were to consist of silver rupees (double,
single, half, quarter and eighth) and copper pice (double, single and half)
and specimens of the rupee and pice were sent to Bombay. In the event, the
proposal was rejected on the grounds that a serving officer could not
undertake such work and there were no plans to establish a mint master for
the Deccan. However, a specimen of a copper pattern rupee for the Deccan
dated 1820 exists in the Prince of Wales Museum in Bombay and was published
by P.L. Gupta [27].
There is a high likelihood that this is an example of the pattern rupee
submitted to Government by Gibbon. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bagalkot,
Belgaum, Shāhpūr and Dharwar Mints |
|
The British knew the area in the south
of the Bombay Presidency as the “Southern Mahratta Country”, which contained
mints such as Shāhpūr, Belgaum, Bagalkot and Dharwar that were
acquired in 1817/18. There are fewer references
to these mints in the records, particularly later in the 1820s, than there
are for some of the other mints and the analysis of those coins that were
produced, where and when, is therefore rather scant. The first reference to the mints in
what the records refer to as the “Southern Mahratta Country” occurs in 1820
when the commissioner for the Deccan referred to a problem encountered in
paying the troops with so many different types of coin in circulation. He
recommended that a new mint should be established to replace those at
Shāhpūr and Bagalkot [28]: I have the honor to submit together
with its enclosures, the copy of a correspondence with the Acting Principal
Collector and Political Agent in the Southern Mahratta Country which has
taken place in consequence of the complaints that have been preferred by the
troops of the losses sustained by them in the depreciation of the currency in
which they are paid. I have instructed Mr
Thackeray to make such immediate alteration to the rates at which coins are
paid into his treasury as may be most likely to check the fluctuation which
is experienced in the values of the currency, and I beg leave to submit to
the consideration of the Honorable the Govr in Council the arguments by that
Gentleman in favour of establishing a new mint, that may supersede the
coinage of the old ones at Buggrekotta and Sharpore. By 1821 some action had been taken on this proposal and a
new mint had been established at Belgaum [29]: I have the honor to
enclose for your inspection one of the first coins struck at the mint which
was lately transferred from Sholapoor [I presume that this is Shahpoor] to Belgam. The impression of the new coin differs from that of the
old only in bearing the date of the present currency, and the same weight and
proportion of alloy are still observed… The Commissioner was able to report to the Bombay
Government in May of 1821 [30]: I have the honor to
forward for the information of the Honble the Governor in Council, copy of
correspondence with Mr. Thackeray in regard to the
mints and coins in the Southern Maratha Country. In
concluding our final settlement with Chintamun Row, in which the
relinquishment of his mint at Shahpoor was an express condition, it became
necessary to consider the best means of supplying its place, particularly as
the Shahpoor rupee is also coined by the chief of Kittoor. I, in consequence,
suggested to Mr Thackeray to stop the mint at Kittoor as well as Shahpoor,
and instead of supplying their place by a new mint of the same coinage at
Belgaum, to abandon our own mint at Bagrekotta [= Bagalkot], and establish one new mint for the whole at Dharwar. The rupees of Bagalkot and Shahpur were well respected in
the area: As the Shapoor rupee is
at present to be coined at Belgaum, I trust that no great inconvenience will
be felt by the merchants who used to carry their bullion to Shapoor and
Kittoor. The management of the late Shapoor mint are far more respectable
than those of any other mint in the Dooab. They merely coin the silver that
is brought to the mint, without having any other concern in it, so that the
satisfaction that they give to the owners of the silver is the best test of
the integrity of the coin. This security and the rules which have been laid
down, will I hope, under a [regular] superintendence, prevent any abuse in
the new mint at Belgaum. In
my letter of the 7th October last, I endeavoured to
point out the evils to be apprehended from any sudden innovation with respect
to the mint. Further experience has convinced me that it would be inexpedient
to stop the coinage of either the Bagulkota or Shapoor rupee, until a
superior currency is ready to supply their places in the markets of the
Dooab. Much pains have been taken to prevent the
depreciation of these coins, and the very favourable rates at which they
exchange in remote and foreign bazars is the best proof of their intrinsic
value – in the bazar of Sholapur the local currency is far less acceptable
than the rupees of Shahpoor and Bagulkottah. If therefore we abolish these
coins, before they are superseded by the natural operation of a superior currency we shall only make a blank in the circulation,
which will be filled up by an inferior substitute. I
would therefore submit the expedient of continuing the coinage of the
Shahpoor and Sicca rupees at Belgaum and Bagulkotah. The idea of establishing a mint at Darwar, proposed
above, was discussed further in the same letter: With respect to the
expediency of re-establishing a mint at Dharwar, although Darwar itself is
not a place of much trade, its situation is central, it is near the large
trading town of new [Hoobly?], and it is the seat of an ancient mint. The
coin originally struck here was the Darwar Pagoda and as the revenue of the
adjacent Talooka were formerly collected exclusively in this coin, its value
was perhaps overrated. In Tipu’s time the Bahaduree Pagoda was struck at
Dharwar and the general currency of this coin both here and in Mysore would
make it far preferable to the Darwar Pagoda, if it
were thought advisable to re-establish a gold coinage. There
are indeed several considerations which would make it desirable to coin the
Bahaduree Pagodas at Darwar – it is money of account in many parts of the
district, it is more acceptable than any other coin in some of [the]
countries that trade with the Dooab and its parent mint in Mysore is said
[to] be losing its character for integrity. Much of the gold that supplies
the mint of Mysore is carried from Goa through the Dooab, and if there were a
mint to keep it here, a new channel of commerce would be opened between the
district and the coast. The situation of Darwar would also be more favourable
for a gold than a silver currency as the former is much more portable. For
these and other reasons, I think a mint for Bahaduree pagodas might be set up
at Darwar, and tried for one year. It could at any
time be stopped, it would be attended with little expense, and no
inconvenience that I am aware of, and until the experiment be tried, it is
difficult to judge whether it would be better to adopt the old gold coin of
the place or a new silver one. The
integrity of the coin will be best supported by the kind of security noticed
in the 2nd paragraph of this letter and if the coiners are prevented from
working on their own account it will be easy to check abuses in the mint… …To
check this evil I would propose that a proclamation
should be immediately published, excluding all coins from the revenues of the
ensuing Fasli, except the Madras pagodas and rupees; the Bahaduree or Ikeree
and Darwar pagodas, the Soortee or Bombay rupees, the Sicca or Bagulkotah,
and Belgaum (cidevant Shapoor) rupees. Objections may I know be made to this
measure but all that have struck me are counterbalanced by its advantages. The proposal to reduce the number of coins accepted into
the treasury was adopted almost immediately [31] and by
1823 the desired effect had been achieved [32]: Adverting to the state
of the currency, I beg leave to solicit the attention of the Honble the
Governor in Council to Mr Thackeray’s observations on the
subject of mints and to his former correspondence on this head, which
has been already laid before Government. It
appears that a great improvement has been brought about by the abolition of
the Kittoor and Moodhal mints and the transfer of that of Shapoor belonging
to Chintamun Row, to Belgam. The exclusion also of the inferior coins from
the collections, a measure which Mr Thackeray had judiciously adopted, has
had the good effect of silencing also the mints of Kolapore and of the
Jageers, and Mr Thackeray is of opinion that what is now chiefly wanted, is the
substitution of one uniform coinage for the currency of the Belgaum and
Baggrecotta [Bagalkot] mints. The Bagalkot mint is believed to have
closed about 1833 [33]. The earlier
proposal to establish a mint at Dharwar in the Doab appears to have been
accepted [34]: With regard to the proposal of establishing one regular
mint at Darwar for the whole of our possessions in the Southern Maratha
Country, we see no material objection to the measure, providing the several
cautions adverted to in the 3rd and 6th paras. of this report be kept in mind
and that the receipts are likely to cover the charges. and there is an entry referring to the
number of coins produced at Dharwar from 1823.
Average annual coinage
for 10 years prior to 1833/34 at the Presidency and subordinate [35]. This
seems to imply that coins were produced at Dharwar throughout the 1820s, at
least from 1823, until at least 1833/34 though exactly what coins were
produced there is not known. Presumably, They were
gold pagodas of some sort, as proposed by the commissioner in his letter
above |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Introduction Dholarah or Dholera is an old port
city, located in Dhandhuka Taluka of Aḥmadābād district in
the modern state of Gujarāt. Dholera’s commercial importance dates back to the 18th-19th
centuries. The creek on which it stands was then open to shipping, so it was
quite an important, though small, port on the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay). This
part of the Kathiawar peninsula first came into the possession of the EIC in
1802 as a result of treaties signed with the leading
political powers in the region, namely the Gaikwads of Baroda and the head of
the Maratha Confederacy, the Peshwa. During the American civil war (1862-65),
Dholera emerged as the chief port for cotton export in Gujarāt,
supplying cotton from upcountry cotton-growing regions to Bombay. However, by
the end of the nineteenth century the port had silted up and was no longer
used. Attempts to revive it are under way. Archival
References: In 1816 the Collector of Kaira (Mr Rowles),
the district under which Dholera was jurisdictionally located, wrote to the
Governor in Council at Bombay informing him that there was a shortage of
copper coins in the area and asking to be allowed to re-establish a ‘pice
manufactory’[36]: I request you to
represent to the Right Honble the Governor in Council that the copper
currency within the Kaira Collectorship is extremely bad and that the lower
orders of society, whose labor is compensated by a daily payment in pice, are
considerable sufferers from this circumstance. In
addition to the badness of the pice, a further inconvenience is experienced
arising from the different degrees of value set upon them, and not only in
different towns and villages are pice of different weights and value in circulation,
but even in the same place. The
class of society that benefits from this want of uniformity in the copper
circulation are the many changers who speculate with the commodity, as a
merchant with any article of traffic, and thus obtain an advantage in
addition to what they are justly paid on exchanging copper for silver or vice
versa. The
copper currency in the districts subordinate to the Guicowar, the Peshwa, the
Nawab of Cambay and in fact throughout the province generally, with the
exception of this jurisdiction, is brought under control, either by the
establishment of manufacturies or by sanctioning such pice only to pass in
circulation as are of a certain weight, which is ascertained at an office
fixed for that purpose and the approval is notified by a stamp [the
countermarked coins of the area]. The
pice in circulation in this jurisdiction are chiefly manufactured at
Bhownugur by a class of people called Purjea Soonees, and
are of a very inferior description with regard to the metal they are composed
of, as well as their weight. Consequently they are
much cheaper than any other pice, and the poor person who may receive payment
by a given number of pice, instead of a certain proportion of a rupee is a
material sufferer from the depreciation. The
reason why no measure has hitherto been adopted to remedy this evil within
the Kaira jurisdiction, originates in a measure proposed by the Honble the
Court of Directors, communicated in their letter of the 7th
September 1808, and replied to by my predecessor on the 13th April
1809, when it was suggested that 50,000 rupees worth of pice of British
manufacture should be forwarded for the use of these districts, but the
suggestion has not since been adopted. Under
date the 25th August 1810, I had the
honor to submit a petition relative to the establishment of a pice
manufactory at Dollerah, to which the sanction of Government was communicated
on the 10th of the following month permitting me to make an
experiment of the plan proposed. The
manufactury was accordingly established and about four hundred and nineteen
maunds of copper were worked into pice and circulated at the proposed rate of
64 for a rupee. As
the experiment was only extended to Dollarah and its vicinity, this quantity
of pice proved sufficient for the circulation and I stopped the manufactory,
fearful that a more extensive issue might tend to detract from the value of
the pice and thereby not only be productive of a loss but also baffle that
part of the object which was to keep the exchange at a given number of pice
for a rupee of a given value. The
pice above stated to have been manufactured for Dollerah are now become
inadequate to the demand and it would be expedient to set the manufactory
again on foot, provided the objective is not extended and rendered applicable
to the whole of the jurisdiction. A
sense of the benefit that will accrue, both to Government and to the Public,
from the establishment of a regular pice manufactory, makes me solicitous to
submit the subject for the consideration of the Right Honble the Governor in
Council, and to request his sanction to the introduction of a manufactory at
this place for the use of the jurisdiction generally. The
Governor passed the request to the Bombay mint committee who replied that
they were not in favour of copper coins being produced anywhere in the
Presidency except in the Bombay mint but that they would like to have
specimens of all the copper coins in the district sent to them [37]: We have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 1st instant
giving cover to the copy of one from the collector of Kaira and desiring us
to suggest the most advisable means to be adopted for supplying the
collectorship of Kaira with copper pice. In
reply we request you will have the goodness to state to the Right Honble the
Governor in Council that in our opinion it is not desirable to sanction
private coinages of any description and that as all our other mints are now
abolished, not only the Kaira Collectorship, but all the districts
subordinate to this Presidency should in future be supplied with copper pice
from the Bombay mint. To
ascertain how this might be effected in the best manner, it was necessary
that we should inform ourselves of the actual value of what Mr Rowles
appeared to consider the best description of Pice in circulation in the Kaira
district and we have accordingly been endeavouring, but in vain, to trace any
account on our records of the expense or outturn of the four hundred and
nineteen (419) maunds of copper stated, in the eighth paragraph of that
gentleman’s letter, to have been coined into pice at the pice manufactury at
Dollera in 1810. Under
these circumstances we beg to recommend that the collector be directed to
send down by an early opportunity specimens to the number of sixty four (64)
of each sorts of the different kinds actually current within his district for
examination, and in the meantime, judging from the description Mr Rowles has
given of them, we may state that we have little doubt that a superior coinage
may be introduced of a weight sufficient to secure a regular supply from this
mint without incurring loss even in the event of the price of copper becoming
much higher than it is at present. A
copy of this was passed to the Collector at Kaira with instructions to send
examples of the copper coins in circulation there, to Bombay. In December of 1816, the assistant
collector of Kaira replied to the mint committee’s request and sent the
copper coins as ordered [38]: I have the honor in reply
to your letter dated 30th August last, with copy of a letter to
your address under date the 24th of that month from the mint committee,
on the subject of a coinage of pice for this jurisdiction, to transmit
specimens to the number of sixty four of each sort
of the different kinds of pice now current within this collectorship. I
beg leave to refer the Right Honble the Governor in Council for every
information which seems requisite in regard to these
specimens (ten in number) to the annexed memorandum. In
reference to the 3rd paragraph of the Committee’s letter to your
address, I have the honor to submit a statement exhibiting the result of the
manufacture of pice which Mr Rowles, in the 8th para of his letter
of the 9th July last, reported to have
been carried out at Dhollera, under the authority of Government dated 25th
August 1810. The quantity of copper coined did not exceed 330 maunds, 1
quarter, 1 pennyweight… In
the same letter he provided a list of the different types of pice sent to
Bombay: Bhaunagar, old Bhaunagar, new Goga* Dhundroka* Dollerah* Dholka Kaira Mondeh Nerriad Naupar He
stated that those marked with a * were of the Dolerah coinage of 1811 &
1812. They are place names, marked on the map as Dhandhuka and Gogo (as well
as Dholera). Exactly what this means is not entirely clear, but it will be
discussed further below. He also added a statement of the number of pice
produced: 330 maunds 11Ľ [gr]
copper coined into pice at 64 per rupee, yielding 725,990. Value rupees 11,343 . 2 . 37 This
whole event provoked considerable discussion within the Bombay mint committee
about the necessity to improve the coinage of Bombay but as far as the Kaira
copper coinage was concerned, it was eventually decided that 50,000 rupees
worth of pice should be sent to Kaira from Bombay [39] and
no further pice coinage took place at Dholera. The
Coinage: Recently,
copper coins with mint-name ‘Bandar Dholarah’ were identified by Dr. S.
Bhandare. The coins are rather crudely struck specimens on which, as is
usual, only part of the legend can be seen. The date is rarely visible, but
specimens have been found with clear dates AH1225 and 1226, both of which
match exactly with the duration of the functioning of the ‘manufactory’ as
indicated in the archival reference reproduced above. The coins weigh about
8-9g and have a diameter of about 19.5-21.5mm. A full-die impression, showing
complete obverse and reverse dies, can be created:
The
obverse carries a Farsi/Hindustani inscription Sarkar Kampani Bahadur followed
by the date, and the reverse carries a legend Bandar Dholarah. Both
inscriptions are enclosed within circular borders – on some coins it is
composed of a saw-toothed inward edge. On one coin, the saw-teeth are
replaced with semicircles. There appears to be a difference in placement of
legends – on coins dated AH1225, the word ‘Bahadur’ appears at the top,
‘Kampani’ and ‘..kar’ in the word ‘Sarkar’ appear
below it and the date is placed right at the bottom of the design, beneath a
divider formed by ‘Sar…’ ‘Sarkar’. On coins dated AH1226, the word ‘Bahadur’
appears after the word ‘Sarkar’ and it seems the
word ‘Kampani’ forms the last horizontal divider at the bottom. Contrary to
the issues of the previous year, the date 1226 appears right at the top.
Depending on this variation, the coins may be classified as ‘Type 1’ and
‘Type 2’. There is also a noteworthy degradation
noticed in surviving specimens of both types. On some coins, the legends are
executed in retrograde, on others the words ‘Sarkar’, ‘Kampani’ etc. are
ill-executed, the ‘Ka’ looking more like the Indian numeral ‘4’. This
observation seems not in congruence with the fact that the ‘manufactory’ was
run for a relatively short time only as an ‘experiment’, and one would
presume the issue was not long enough lived to induce so many die-variations
and executional changes in the design. Another significant aspect to be noted
is that at least two of the known coins are overstrikes. The under-type in
one instance is a copper falūs, struck in the name of Muhammad Akbar II,
issued by the Maratha government mint at Ahmedabad. It is listed as T6 for
the Ahmedabad mint by Maheshwari & Wiggins[40]. It
is plausible that the second piece also has the same under-type, although it
is not as clear as it is in the first instance. This is interesting inasmuch as both coins have the ‘Dholarah’ overtype of
reasonably crude calligraphy. The under-type is listed by Maheshwari &
Wiggins as bearing RY9 and AH1232/RY10. It appears to have been struck during
a period of a temporary re-occupation of the city by the Peshwas after almost
ten years of control by the Gaikwads of Baroda (for further discussion on Aḥmadābād
coins, see Shailendra Bhandare - ‘Maratha Issues of Ahmedabad’, ONSNL 184,
2005 and Alfred Master – ‘The post-Mughal coins of Ahmedabad, or a Study in
mint-marks’, JASB-NS, vol. XXII, 1913). The fact that the under-type is dated
to AH1232 clearly indicates that the issue of ‘Dholarah’ coins, albeit of a
cruder execution, went on for at least seven years after the Company’s
‘manufactory’ situated there struck coins in AH1225 and 1226. These later
coins would fall into the category of ‘Katchha’ pice, as identified by Barry
Tabor [41], and
have been discussed in more detail by Bhandare & Stevens [42]. It
is possible that these coins were struck at one of the other mints mentioned
in the list above. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Around Bombay itself, and down the
coast, was the area known as the Concan which had a Northern and Southern
district, some of which came under British control as early as the
mid-eighteenth century, but mostly fell under their control after about 1817. The British are not known to have
produced any coins in the Northern Concan and this area will not be discussed
further. However, this is not true of the area known to the British, in the
early nineteenth century, as the Southern Concan. This district lay on the
west coast of India to the south of Bombay (Mumbai). Bankot, with its fort
and nine surrounding villages, had been ceded to the British by the Peshwa in
1755 and 1756 but it was not until 1819, following the final Mahratta war and
the acquisition of further territory, that the area was formed into the
separate collectorate of the Southern Concan. Initially Bankot, which was
also known as Fort Victoria, was the headquarters of the collectorate but in
1820 this was transferred further south to Ratnagiri, and in 1830 the three
subdivisions to the north of Bankot Creek were transferred to the Northern
Concan collectorate and the Southern Concan was reduced to the rank of
sub-collectorate. This situation only lasted for two years and in 1832 the
Southern Concan was again raised to the status of collectorate[43]. The
Southern Concan was also known as Ratnagiri after the place of its
headquarters. The currency of the Concan
was mixed, the brisk sea trade bringing into the district every sort of
Indian coin. Up until 1835, the main coin was the Chinchoree rupee (struck at
Poona), and later the Surat rupee (struck at Surat and Bombay),
supplemented by various older rupees known as Chanvad, Doulatabad, Hukeri,
Chikodi and the Emperor Akbar’s Chavkoni, or square rupee. After 1835, the
Company’s rupee gradually superseded this heterogeneous currency until, by
1880, the Imperial currency was the sole circulating monetary medium [44]. Following the creation of the collectorate
in 1819, a copper coinage was issued to meet the needs of local tradespeople
and Pridmore catalogued the coins[45]. They
are crudely struck, consisting of three denominations: double pice, pice and
half pice, and variously dated 1820 and 1821. Similar coins dated 1828 and
1829 will be dealt with in the section on the Rahimatpur mint. The
Coins and their Use On the 30th
June 1820, Mr. Pelly, the collector responsible for the Southern Concan,
wrote to the Governor and Council of the Bombay Presidency stating that the
people of the area were suffering considerable inconvenience because of the
lack of copper coins available for everyday commerce. He believed that this
was caused because the copper coins were exported more profitably for their
metal content rather than being exchanged for rupees. He had tried to
intervene by sending pice from areas where there were fewer difficulties, to
those where the problem was most acute, but this had not succeeded. He
therefore proposed that a copper coinage should be undertaken, either locally
or in Bombay, consisting of pice and half pice exchangeable at the rate of 64
and 128 to the rupee respectively. Pelly’s proposal was referred to the mint
committee who agreed that it seemed sensible, given the circumstances, and
recommended that the contract for striking the coins should be open to
competition and that, before authorising the coinage, the collector should
send specimens to Bombay for examination [46]: I beg leave to represent for the
information of the Honble the Governor in Council that for some months past
considerable inconvenience has been experienced in this Zillah owing to a
scarcity of copper coin, which has been withdrawn from circulation
principally owing to the course of exchanges having rendered its exportation
the most profitable remittance that could be made, to other quarters – at
Malwar when the fixed quantity of copper exchangeable for a rupee was
largest, the inconvenience has naturally been most severely felt. I have
endeavoured to lessen it, by sending thither supplies of pice from other
Tallookas – but this expedient if long pursued would obviously be merely
shifting, not removing the evil. What appears to be required [is] the issue
of a sufficient supply (perhaps half a lack) of this circulating medium, at
such a rate as may stop its exportation. And I would respectfully suggest
that a coinage of copper pice of 64, and half pice of 128, to the rupee, be
undertaken for this Zillah, either here or at Bombay – I venture to recommend
the half pice, because the inferior classes of inhabitants who are the
greatest consumers of trifling retail articles, are always sure to suffer by
the lowest denomination of coin in a Country, being of comparatively high
value, since scarcely anything they buy is charged lower than the smallest
current coin – and probably would not be charged much higher, even if its
intrinsic value were far less. The numbers have been selected from the
convenience they afford of each of them dividing by the annas in a rupee,
without a remainder – they possess moreover this further advantage, that as
the pice now commonly current are not generally widely different from this
same standard value, inconvenience from the introduction of the proposed new
pice is not, I think, to be apprehended. Ordered that a copy of
the preceding letter be transmitted to the Mint Committee with directions to
offer their opinion on the suggestions offered by Mr. Pelly for relieving the
scarcity of copper coin in the Southern Concan. The mint committee responded [47]: We have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 11th instant, referring to us one
from the Collector in the Southern Concan dated the 30th ultimo
and desiring our opinion on the suggestion offered by Mr Pelly for relieving
the scarcity of copper coin in that district. In
reply we request you will do us the favour to state to the Honble the
Governor in Council that under the circumstances stated by the Collector, we
are not aware of any better mode of supplying the deficiency than by adopting
Mr Pelly’s suggestion of undertaking, or rather authorizing, a coinage of
copper, to a certain extent, on the spot. The rules we would
recommend would be the same as for the Broach copper coinage, namely that the
division should, as Mr Pelly proposes be 64 whole, or 128 half, pice per
rupee, and the privilege of coining should be assigned to a sort of
competition to the person who may be willing to coin the heaviest pice to be
exchanged at that rate, but without requiring any share in the profits. Before, however, finally authorizing the coinage, it might
be advisable that a few specimens of the proposed coin should be forwarded to
the Presidency for examination. Ordered that instruction
be issued to the Collector in the Southern Concan to invite proposals for
coining copper pice comformably to the Mint Committee’s suggestions. Accordingly, in September 1820, Pelly
advised the Bombay Government that he had issued an advertisement inviting
tenders for making the new copper coins but that he had received only one
reply, from Sootoophoo Din Purkar, who had recommended that 25,000
rupees-worth of each of three denominations should be struck [48]: Pursuant to the instructions conveyed
in Mr Farish’s letter dated the 21st July last, advertisement (as
per accompanying translation) were issued, inviting tenders for coining
copper pice to the extent of seventy five thousand rupees which will probably
be required, the population of this zillah amounting to nearly six and half
lacks of person; and the export of copper pice being a common mode of
remittance by sea during the fair season. Of the only tender which
has been received in consequence of the above notification, I enclose a copy
on its merits. With reference to the Bombay currency, I am not able to offer
any decisive opinion, because I do not know the standard weight of copper,
which there ought to be in each Bombay Rupees worth of Bombay pice. Those
pice are not current here but having collected 50, and weighed them, I found
they fluctuated from about 41 to 42˝ tolas of copper for a Bombay rupee – the
present tender offers a weight of 41 tolas of pure copper per Chinchoree
rupee, a coin rupees 3..2..52 percent inferior to
the Bombay rupee. I enclose, as desired,
specimens of the proposed coin. They seem, I think, better executed than the
Bombay coin. Besides the pice and half pice, I would recommend to be coined
about twenty five thousand rupees worth of the double pice, or half anna, as
per specimen no. 3, which will be a great convenience and in no way
objectionable that I can perceive, since, like the pice and half pice, a
rupee worth of them may be divided by the annas in a rupee, without a
remainder. The contractor, it will
be observed, expects that the copper (which is a British staple), should be
allowed to be imported into this zillah free of customs. The Honble the
Governor in Council can best determine whether this can be complied with; any
abuse of the privilege (if conceded) might easily be guarded against by
giving the contractor dustucks for the exact weight of copper necessary for
the fulfilment of the contract and no more. The security offered is wholly
unexceptionable. The contractor will probably solicit an advance of 20 or
25,000 rupees. PS Specimens of three
kinds of coin are enclosed as follows: No. 1 double pice or
half anna, 32 to the Chinchour rupee. No. 2 whole pice, 64 to
the Chinchoree rupee No. 3 half pice, 128 to
the Chinchoree rupee Sootoophoo Din Purkar’s offer was as
follows [49]: Your Honor having made notification
that sealed tenders will be received in Southern Konkan Collector’s Sudder
Kutcherry for the coinage of copper pice on the 26th day of August
1820 to the amount of seventy five thousand rupees in the proportions of one
third whole, one third half and the remaining third double pice, the whole
pice to contain sixty four and the half pice one hundred and twenty eight and
the double pice thirty two for each Ankosee Chinchoree rupee. I wishing to have
undertake the coinage of the seventy five thousand
rupees in copper pice and tender to your honor the weight of copper for each
rupee as follows Vizt: for every Ankosee Chinchoree rupee received
I engage to deliver forty one tola of copper in pice, or in English weight,
seventeen ounces one quarter Avoirdupois, the half and double pice to weigh
the same for each rupee. I have accompanying this tender sent muster of the different sizes
of the coin in whole, half and double pice as I perceived was ordered in your
Honor’s notice. I mention my friends
Abdull Guffoor and Dayen Khaun, they having agreed
to become security for my due performance according to agreement. I also wish to make
remark your Honor, this pice exceeds the Bombay average and I hope equally so
in other respects as to execution etc. I beg to mention to your
Honor that I make so much weight in my tender because I hope and conclude
your Honor not expect customs for the copper employed in this business, upon
importation here. Ordered that copies of the preceding papers together with the
specimens of the copper coin accompanying them be referred to the Mint
Committee. The three proposed denominations were
double pice, single pice and half pice, specimens of which were sent to
Bombay, via Pelly, as had been requested by the mint committee. The original
advertisement called for denominations of pice and half pice, and it is clear that the addition of the double pice denomination
originated with Sootoophoo Din Purkar, although Pelly subsequently supported
it. A translation of the
actual advertisement appears in the records as follows [50]: Notice is hereby given That at noon on the
twenty sixth day of August, corresponding with Suravan sood 3rd
Shalewan 1742 and 16th Zilkand 1235 Hejree, sealed tenders will be
received at the Southern Konkan Collector’s Sudder Cutcherree, for the
coining of copper pice. The coins must be rendered in whole or
half pice, the former consisting of sixty four (64)
the latter one hundred and twenty eight pice (128), to the rupee. A specimen of each kind
of coin must accompany the tender, and the contractor must give in the names
of two sufficient sureties for the due performance of this engagement. The tender must contain in words,
written at length, the weight of copper in Bombay seers, which the proposer
will undertake to deliver for each Ankoosee Chinchoree rupee, at sixty four whole, and one hundred and twenty eight half
pice to the rupee. The tender offering the
greatest weight (if in other respects approved of) will be accepted; and the
whole profit of the transaction will be the contractors. The contractor will be required
to deliver at least one thousand rupees worth of copper pice per week in the
proportion of half in whole, and half in half pice; to undertake to coin in
the whole to the value of seventy five thousand
rupees, 37,500 in half and the same quantity in whole pice, and he must
desist from coining when that quantity shall have been completed. The pice must be made of
pure copper, and not mixed with any other material; each pice, and half pice
cast, must be of uniform weights, should there be found any differences in
weight, the contractor will be punished. The mint committee was very
complimentary about the process that Pelly had used to get the proposal from
Sootoophoo Din Purkar and they considered the terms as advantageous to the community as could
be wished or expected. The quality of the copper and the workmanship in
the specimens submitted to the committee will
do great credit to the individual undertaking the coinage,
if the whole shall be completed in the same style. To ensure that
future coins were of the same standard, Pelly was asked to send specimens,
regularly, to Bombay for assay [51]. Sootoophoo Din Purkar had
signed the contract by November 1820, and Pelly requested permission to
advance him 25,000 rupees so that he could begin work on the first batch of
coins [52]. Adverting to the 5th
paragraph of my letter dated the 4th September last, and yours of
the 2nd ultimo, I beg to report that the contractor for the
coinage of copper pice for the use of this zillah, having executed his deed
of agreement under proper security, I request authority to advance him the
sum of twenty five thousand rupees, as mentioned at the conclusion of the
paragraph above referred to. Ordered that Mr Pelly be
authorized to issue to the contractor for the coinage of copper pice for the
use of his zillah an advance of rupees 25,000. By early May of 1821 he had produced
about 20,000 rupees worth of the pice and permission to start issuing the
coins was sought and received [53]. With reference to your
letter of 20th July and 2nd October last relative to
the new copper coinage in this zillah, I have now the honor to report that
the contractor has delivered upwards of twenty thousand rupees worth of pice
into the treasury at this station, and as great inconvenience has for a considerable
time past been felt throughout the different districts in the Southern
Concan, from the scarcity of copper coin, I beg to solicit the permission of
the Honble the Governor in Council to issue the quantity already received at
the rate of sixty four pice, or one hundred and twenty eight half pice, per
rupee. Ordered
that Mr Burnett be authorized to issue the copper pice received from the
contractor at the rate of sixty four pice or one
hundred and twenty eight half pice [per] rupee, of which the Mint Committee
is to be informed. In that month he was advanced another
25,000 rupees for the next batch of pice and the final 25,000 rupees in early
November 1821 [54]. I have the honor to
report for the information of Government that the contractor for the coining
of pice in this zillah has delivered copper coin to the amount of the sum
advanced to him agreeably to the orders conveyed in your letter of the 28th
November last and now beg to request the permission of the Honble the
Governor in Council to make a further advance of twenty five thousand rupees
on account of this contract. Ordered
that Mr Burnett be authorized to advance the sum of twenty
five thousand rupees to the contractor for the coinage of pice on
account of this contract. In November 1821, Sootoophoo Din
Purkar asked for another contract for a further 50,000 rupees-worth of pice
on the grounds that he had all the people and tools necessary to undertake
the coinage, which meant that it would be cheaper to strike another batch
immediately, rather than have to start again [55]. Petition of Sootfooteen
Purkar to J.J. Sparrow, dated 10th November 1821. Represents
that my present contract for coining copper pices nearly completed and I hope
to your satisfaction, I therefore offer, if you are desirous of coining more
copper pice to undertake the same on the terms of my present contract,
because I have at present workpeople and mint implements, and if the former
are once dispersed they cannot without great trouble be collected together,
in which case I should not be able to undertake the contract at the present
low rates. I therefore pray that you will take this petition into your
serious consideration and issue such orders as you may deem proper. However, the Accountant General had
noticed the final advance of 25,000 rupees and drew the attention of the
Bombay Government to the fact that no specimens of the new coinage had been
received at Bombay for examination since the original specimens sent before
the contract had been agreed [56]. With reference to your
letter of the 6th instant, apprizing me of a further advance
having been authorised to be made to the contractor for coining pice in the
Southern Concan, to the extent of twenty five thousand (25,000) rupees, and
having ascertained from the Assay Master that no further specimens of the
pice have been transmitted to the mint officer at the Presidency for
examination since those received with your letter of the 15th of
September 1820, to the address of the Mint Committee, I beg recommend that
the attention of the Collector be called to this very important point in the
orders conveyed to him on the 2nd of the following month. Resolved
that the corresponding orders be issued to the Collector in the Southern
Concan. Following this, the mint committee
examined specimens in January 1822 and they reported
that the quality of the coins was not equal to that of the specimens sent in
September 1820, although they had to admit that the assay master was away,
and that this was merely their opinion. However, they felt strongly enough to
recommend that the coinage should be stopped and no further pice should be
issued. The Bombay Government instructed the Collector to stop issuing the
coins, but not to stop making more [57]. In May 1822 a further ten
specimens were sent to Bombay and were again found to be of lower quality
than the first samples and to be of slightly lower weight. This time the
collector was instructed to stop the production of the coins and to report
how many had already been struck [58]. I am directed by the
Honorable the Governor in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
dated the 19th ultimo and to inform you that the ten specimens of
the half pice of the new copper coinage accompanying it are found on
examination not to be so well executed [as] former samples transmitted to
Government nor to be of the full weight. They are a grain lighter than those
received in February last. The
Honorable the Governor in Council thinks it expedient to direct you to
suspend the further coinage of copper coins contracted for by Sootoophoodeen
Purkar and to report the value of those already struck by the contractor. You
will also be pleased to send up a number taken promiscuously of the different
coins made under the contract for further examination by the Assay Master.
The Mint Committee have been directed to suggest the number they may consider
sufficient for this purpose. He replied that of the original
planned 75,000 rupees-worth, 70,897 rupees, 2 quarters and 44 reas worth had
then been received into the treasury and that the greater proportion of the
outstanding amount had already been struck and was awaiting delivery.
Sootoophoo Din Purkar sent a petition to the collector for transmission to
Bombay, in which he tried to explain why the coins were of lower quality than
the original specimens and requesting that he should be allowed to complete
the contract, which he was allowed to do [59]. However, getting the coins
into circulation was not proving easy. In December 1821, the commander in
chief of the Bombay Presidency raised the matter of the troops in the
Southern Concan losing as much as a quarter of their pay because they were
being forced to receive part of it in the
Bankote pice. The exchange rate of 128 new pice per rupee (this must
refer to the half pice denomination) compared unfavourably to the old
exchange rate of 160 old pice per rupee, and the use of the new pice to pay
the troops was stopped. This incident does reveal the fact that the new
copper pice were struck in a mint established at Bankot. This is evident not
only from the above quote but also a reference to the new copper currency issued from Bancote in the same series of
correspondence [60]. By 1823 it had become
obvious that it would be impossible to get more than a small part of the 75,000
rupees-worth of pice into circulation in the collectorate within a reasonable
timeframe. The new collector in the Southern Concan, Mr Dunlop, gave serious
consideration to various possible options. Firstly, he thought about reducing
the value of the pice so that the number per rupee was increased from 64.
This was rejected on the grounds that, once started, the value would continue
to decrease until it reached the value of the intrinsic copper content, at
which point the pice would be sold for scrap metal and the whole raison d’ętre for issuing them would
be lost. In addition the reduction in value would
cause a considerable financial loss to Government. The second option was to
keep the pice in the treasury for a number of years
and release them slowly, at the authorised Government rate of 64 per rupee,
as the community needed them. This would also confer a financial loss on the
Government[61].
However, this second option seems to have been adopted almost by default, and
there was a very slow release of the coins into circulation over the next few
years. Fortunately, in 1824, the
Judge at Sūrat had another idea. For some time there had been a shortage of copper coins in
Sūrat and the Judge suggested that some of the surplus coins in Bankot,
in fact 10,000 rupees-worth, could be used to fill the gap [62]. As
soon as the Sūrat shroffs heard about this proposal they issued a
petition stating that they had plenty of copper pice and could meet the
requirements themselves if only the Government would allow them to over-stamp
the coins with the Company’s mark [63]. The
British authorities did not trust the local shroffs and this petition was
rejected [64]: …that
after a deliberate review of all the circumstances of the case, we are of the
opinion that the native community of Surat cannot be in such great want of an addition
to their copper currency as the money changers would wish us to believe and
that it seems pretty plain that the object of the latter, in wishing to
obtain the Government stamp on the pice in their possession, is to force a
spurious coinage on the public at a rate above its marketable value. That the copper circulation of Surat stands in need of a reform in common with
that of every subordinate district, we do not in the least doubt, but
conceive it would be idle, with the prospect of our efficient mint before us [this is a reference to the new
steam-driven mint to be built at Bombay],
to make the attempt with our present means, nor do we think it would tend to
any good end, to allow of any further coinages of copper being undertaken,
under the sanction of Government, as a private speculation. We
incline therefore to recommend, that the copper currency of Surat be left for the present as it is, that is,
the old pice passing as heretofore, at their marketable value, and the
circulation of the new (Concan) pice being under the proclamation which we
presume has been issued, entirely optional, which will afford at least some sort
of security to the lower classes against a worse currency being imposed on
them, until we shall be able to supply them with an entire new coinage which
cannot be imitated without machinery. Ten thousand rupees-worth
of Concan pice were shipped to Sūrat via Bombay, and a further 5,000 to Broach,
which was also very short of copper coin. In fact
the collector at Broach had already agreed a contract with local moneyers to
strike 7,000 rupees-worth of pice, but was instructed to stop this, if possible,
and wait for the Concan pice to arrive[65]. The
pice were to be exchanged at 64 to the rupee, but the Sūrat shroffs
refused to trade in the coins at that rate, and the experiment was not
successful there [66].
However, in Broach there was no such resistance and the coins quickly gained
acceptance [67].
In 1826, the shortage of
copper coins in Sūrat was felt even more acutely, and the judge
asked that the collector be given permission to strike copper coins locally [68].
However, the Bombay Government would not accept the proposition that the
Bankot pice could not be used, basing their conclusion on the fact that they
had been successfully adopted in Broach in 1824 [69].
They, therefore, sent a further 10,000 rupees-worth of the Bankot pice
together with a proclamation declaring that they would be issued at 64 to the
rupee and would be accepted back at the treasury at 64 to the rupee. A
further 5,000 rupees-worth was also sent to Broach [70]. This time the pice were
accepted and the following year, 1827, a further 20,000 rupees-worth were
requested although the records are not clear about whether
or not they were actually sent [71]. A
petition from the Sūrat shopkeepers of 1828 implies that they were
not [72]. What
is certain is that 5,000 rupees more were sent to Broach in 1827 [73],
making a total of at least 35,000 rupees-worth that were sent to Sūrat and
Broach (and possibly 55,000), of the original 75,000 that were produced. This exhausted the stocks
of the pice in the treasury of the Southern Concan, and when further demands
were made in 1828, the collectors at both Broach and Sūrat were instructed to strike pice locally,
though exactly what type these would have been is
not known [74]. In 1831, a certain
Nathooset bin Abaset sent a petition to Bombay asking for permission to open
a copper mint at Penn in the Southern Concan. This petition was passed to the
collector in the Southern Concan and he was asked
for his opinion. He confirmed that all of the
1820/21 pice were now in circulation and that there was a need for more
copper coins. Having spoken to Nathooset bin Abaset, he was able to confirm
that the petitioner wanted to produce 50,000 rupees-worth of pice [75]: …half
to be of the description coined at Bankote by Mr George Pelly in 1820/21 at the
rate of (64) sixty four per rupee, and half,
Doodandees, or old Poona pice, at the rate of (60) sixty per rupee, weighing
57 [per] Chinchoree rupee. Following this petition and its
rejection, the whole focus of the mint committee fell on the new copper
quarter annas (pice) produced in the new steam-driven mint supplied to Bombay
by Boulton & Watt of Soho, Birmingham, England. Because of the great
shortage of copper coins throughout the Presidency, the new mint concentrated
first on meeting this need as opposed to the silver coinage. Once the mint
was up and running so that the coins could be produced in sufficient numbers,
a difficult enough process in itself (see chapter 5
and also [76]),
it soon became clear that getting the coins into circulation was going to be
yet another challenge. At first the coins were simply sent to the different
collectorates throughout the Presidency in the expectation that they could be
exchanged for the old pice when these came into the treasury. However, the
rate of exchange of 64 quarter-annas for one rupee, inhibited this to such an
extent that, for instance, in Bombay itself there was little or no demand for
the new coins, with less than 50 rupees-worth having been issued by November
1831 [77]. A new
approach was taken in 1833 [78], the
intention being to target the collectorates one by one and offer favourable
terms of exchange for a short period to get the new coins accepted. The
Northern Concan was chosen as the first place for this new approach, which
proved to be successful, and, in 1834, the second collectorate to receive the
new coins was the Southern Concan, by then referred to as Ratnagiri [79]. This
approach again proved successful. Henceforth, the copper coinage for the
Southern Concan would be the uniform coinage of the Bombay Presidency
eventually replaced in 1844 by the uniform copper coinage for all of British India. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
The province of Sind was conquered and
annexed to British India in 1843 by Major-General Sir Charles Napier, whose
reputed telegram ‘Peccavi’ (Latin
for ‘I have sinned’ i.e. Sind) was in fact a caption
given to his picture by Punch magazine. No entries in the records,
referring to the Bhakkar mint, have been found, so the evidence at present
relies mainly on the coins. The mint at Bhakkar, which had been a Moghul
mint, then Durrānī and then local mirs for many years, continued to
issue coins and therefore falls into the category of a transitional mint from
1843 onwards. One type shows a lion, which is believed to represent the fact
that the British had taken control, but the longest-lived type has a
selection of floral ornaments amongst the Persian inscription. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
The port of Broach (Bharuch) on the river Narmada is a
town of great antiquity and was an important centre of trade and commerce for
a considerable time until superseded in importance by Sūrat. Broach was never a mint of the
Moghul emperors. In the eighteenth century it was part of the private estate
of the Governor of Gujarāt. A mint was established at
Broach during the time of the second Nawāb, Nek ‘Ālam Khān II,
by permission of the emperor, Aḥmad Shāh Bahādur (1748-1754).
In 1772 the Nawāb of Broach was deposed by the East India Company, whose
army took the city, the belief being that the Nawāb was in alliance with
the Gaikwars, who had designs on the Company’s territory. In 1782, by virtue of the
treaty of Salbye, the Company made over the port of Broach to Sindhia of
Gwāliār. Jambusar, a few miles to
the north of Broach, was occupied by the British from 1775 to 1783 and
contained a mint that issued coins during this time [80]. Coins struck at Broach
between 1772 (AH 1186) and 1782 (1197) fall into the British series but later
coins, up until 1803, belong to the Marathas [81].
Coins may have been issued from the mint at Jambusar during the time it was
occupied by the British but whether or not they were
also issued from a mint in Broach, itself, is not clear. In 1803, after the treaty
of Bassein, Broach once again became a possession of the EIC, who did strike
coins there at this time. Silver Coins A rupee dated AH 1173 issued in the
name of Ālamgīr II, regnal year 6, is known. However, no direct
reference to mints operating in Broach under the British, during the period
1772-1782, has been found in the EIC records and no coins are known. However,
there is a tangential reference in a record dated 1781 [82]: The
President acquainted the Board that there is a quantity of private silver on
the island [Bombay] brought by the freight ships from the
Gulf of Mocha and that it would be of the highest benefit to the place if
such an advantage could be held out to the proprietors as would induce them
to continue their bullion upon the island & convert it into Bombay
currency, otherwise that they will as usual export it to Surat and Broach where it will yield a larger
return from the mints. Although Jambusar features quite often
in the EIC records, there is no mention of a mint operating. However, rupees
have been reported with this mint name and dated RY 22 (1780/81) [83]. Kulkarni
pointed out that this date could be fictitious and that the coin might be a
Mahratta coin of a different time. The coins have a distinctive symbol in the
seen of julūs on the reverse [84]. In 1803,
the Company took over the mint at Broach and continued striking rupees and
fractions (halves and possibly quarters) and copper coins. The coins formerly
struck by the Nawābs had a flower as the predominant mark
but the Company changed this to the cross of St. Thomas. Although the mark is
often present on the coins, very few will be found with clear regnal years as
they are almost always off the flan. In a
letter to the Bombay Government dated 31st October 1814, the
Collector reported the value of rupees produced at Broach for each year from
1787 to 1803 under the control of Sindhia and then the value of those
produced each year under British control [85].
This seems to clearly establish the years in which silver coins were produced
at the Broach mint under EIC control with the silver mint being closed in
1814. A petition from local people to issue more silver rupees in 1820 was
rejected by Government [86].
Mintage
of silver coins at the Broach mint, 1803-1809
Copper
Coins In 1820 a decision was taken to produce copper coins at
Broach and to fix the exchange rate of pice at 64 to the rupee [87]. By
April of 1820 the Collector at Broach was able to report that he had received
a response to his advertisement for a contract for a copper coinage and he
sent examples of the pice to Bombay for examination by the Bombay Government [88]. The
assay master at Bombay reported that the coins weighed 139 grains 15 dwt each
and their manufacture was ‘wretched in
the extreme’ [89]. The
Collector at Broach was ordered to stop their production immediately. However,
in 1821 the Broach authorities were informed that they could restart the
coinage of copper provided that the quality of coins was improved [90]. In 1824 a contract for the production
of 7,000 rupees worth of pice was granted to ‘Chocksee Pranwallub Gokooldas, Ruseeckbhaee Bhugwandass, Khooshall
Purmanund and Jugdees Mungul Pahruck on similar terms to those of 1821’ [91].
However, too many pice had been produced in the Southern Concan [92], and
a decision was made to ship these ‘Bankote’
pice to Broach to meet the need for copper coin, and the Collector was asked
to withdraw from the contract that he had made. This he succeeded in doing,
and the need for copper coin at Broach was met by the Bankot pice for the
next few years. By 1827, there were no further pice left in the treasury
of the Southern Concan and the Collector at Broach was instructed to issue a
contract for the production of pice locally, again,
under the same terms as those used in 1821 [93]. In 1828 the production of a further 10,000
rupees worth of pice was sanctioned [94]. In 1830 the Collector reported on the number of pice
struck in the preceding three years [95]:
Value of copper pice produced at Broach A further
25,000 rupees-worth were authorised for production in 1830 [96], but
with the opening of the new Bombay mint, the activities of the Broach mint
were ordered to be stopped on 14th February 1831 [97]. An interesting reference to the copper coins of Broach is
found in a petition from the shroffs of Sūrat to the Bombay Government dated 1824 [98]: When a dispute arose sometime back, at
Broach, concerning the pice of that place, Mr Prendergast ordered the pice of
Broach to be stamped with the mark of the Sirkar, and from that time all
disturbances concerning them ceased, and they were received as current. This
implies that at least prior to 1824 some of the coins of Broach bore the ‘mark of the Sirkar’, probably the balemark
of the Company. Jan Lingen has reported the existence of copper coins of
Baroda (not far from Broach) over-stamped on coins with the Company’s
balemark on both obv. and rev. One of these coins is dated 1244 (1828/29), a
date that fits very well with the production of coins at Broach earlier in
the century. Pridmore
reported a copper coin bearing the Company’s balemark on both obverse and
reverse (Pr. 300) and he assigned it to the Malabar Coast. Given the quote
above, the fact that the copper coins of the Concan (bearing the Company’s
balemark) were so readily accepted at Broach, and the existence of Baroda
coins over-stamped with the balemark of the Company, it seems reasonable to
reassign this coin to Broach, with a probable date of issue sometime during
the first quarter of the nineteenth century. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Nasik became a stronghold of the Marathas in
the mid-eighteenth century. Their first rupees were struck in the name of
‘Ālamgīr II, and these were followed by coins with the name of
Shāh ‘Ālam II. The old Moghul name of
Gūlshanābād was retained on the coins, although the name Nasik
seems to have been used in all other matters once the Marathas had charge of
the district. Coins were struck with the Shāh ‘Ālam legend until
1818 (AH 1233) when the city fell into the hands of the British at the
conclusion of the third Maratha war. Wiggins stated that the mint continued
production of the same type of rupee and its fractions until AH 1249
(AD1833), when it was closed down [99]. In contradiction to this last statement,
in 1823, the Commissioner for the Deccan stated that ‘The only other mint in this part of the Deccan [apart from Poona] is
that of Chandoor’ [100], implying that, by 1823, only the mints
at Poona and Chandore were operating in the Deccan. So, what about Chandore? The Bombay
Gazetteer of 1880 [101] states that: the Chandore rupee
coined at the Chandore mint in Nasik (this mint started about 175 years ago
was closed soon after the British conquest) was current at the beginning of
British rule, but it has now disappeared. Although this was written fifty or
sixty years after the event, it does imply that the mint in Nasik (presumably
in the Collectorate of Nasik) might have been located at Chandor, not in the
town of Nasik itself. This, together with the previous quote about the
Chandor mint, suggests that there was a mint at Chandor
and this was the only mint in the Deccan other than Poona. There are therefore two possibilities. Firstly there may have been two mints operating, one at
Nasik and one at Chandor, or secondly, there may have been only one mint, at
Chandor, producing the coins identified as ‘Nasik’ type (Jaripataka) rupees.
The first possibility seems to be the more likely for several reasons.
Firstly, if the mint was in Nasik when the British took control, it seems
unlikely that it would have been moved from that place. If it had been moved to
Chandor, then the type of rupee produced would most probably have been the
Chandori type rather than the Jaripataka type, which was strongly associated
with Nasik. The Jaripatakas are known to exist with dates down to AH 1249
(1833/34, see later). Finally, reference to the table originally published in
1821 by the assay master at the Bombay mint (see apendix), reveals that the ‘Chandore’ rupee was coined at Chandor
and that the ‘Jeereeputka’ rupee
was coined at Nasik [102], although the table does not give the
dates when the rupees were struck. None of this provides conclusive evidence,
but it does seem to point to the existence of a mint at Nasik from about 1818
to about 1834 (see catalogue) and another at Chandore sometime early in this
period, at least. This conclusion is confirmed by a letter
from the Collector of Ahmadnagar to Bombay, dated 4th November
1833 [103]: With reference to your
letter dated 4th May last regarding the custom of stamping coins in
subordinate treasuries and directing me to prohibit such a practice in all
the treasuries in this zillah, I have the honor to annex, to be laid before
Government, copy of a letter from Mr Andrews, 1st Assistant
Collector at Nassick, detailing his proceedings in consequence of these
instructions. I
apprehend Mr Andrews has misunderstood the instructions of Government by
stopping the mints at Chandore and Nassick, but I beg to solicit the
instructions of Government on this point. The
Chandore rupee is coined at Chandore and the Jerryputka at Nassick, and both
are in circulation in this zillah, as well as in other parts of the Deccan,
and some inconvenience will, I imagine, be experienced by the deficiency in
the circulation which will be created by these mints being stopped. The
Chandore mint coined last year 183,928 and the Nassick mint 69,383 and
yielded a revenue to Government of 1358.2.66. There
is also a mint for coining copper at Chandore which coined 27,050 rupees and
yielded a revenue to Government of 103.-.64 last year. The Bombay Government replied (in 1833) [104]: The mints at Nassick and
Chandore, I am directed by His Lordship in Council to state, should be reopened,
as otherwise inconvenience may arise from the want of Chandore and
Jurreeputtee rupees in Candeish and Gungthurree. The same entry in the records shows that
both mints appear to have been working in 1820, because the author refers back to an event when W. Wilkins wrote to Captain
H. Pottinger (Collector of Ahmednuggur) [105]: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st instant with an
enclosure from the Commissioners calling upon me to report whether the mints
of Nassick and Chandore were under our immediate control or farmed out for a
stated period. In
reply I beg leave to state that the mints of both places are not farmed out,
but the business of coinage is entrusted to natives who pay a percentage to
Government upon the number of rupees coined, and consequently the operations
at both these mints can be suspended whenever it is the pleasure of
Government to have recourse to that measure, and I should conceive that there
could not be any inconvenience whatever in placing the mints under the
control of the Committee in Bombay provided any benefit is contemplated by
that arrangement. The
only control exercised at present by Government over the mint master is that
whenever the operation of coining takes place, one of the Carcoons of the
Kumavisdar’s establishment with a peon or two is present to take an account
of the number of coins which are struck during the day and who, when the
day’s work is over, locks up the dies and the keys are deposited with the
Kumavisdar. Thus, despite some inconsistencies, the
records provide good evidence that two mints were operating, one at Nasik and
one at Chandore, throughout the 1820s and into the early 1830s. The mint at
Nasik produced the Jaripataka rupees, which were identified by Maheshwari and
Wiggins [106]. The
design of any coins issued from the Chandore mint is not known but may have
been of the standard Chandori type of rupee. The quote above also indicates
that there was a significant output of copper coins from the Chandore mint in
1832 at least. Again, the identity of these coins is not certain (but see
Lingen ONS Newsletter 152 for a copper coin with mint name Gulshanabad). Other mints may have been operational
after 1823, because there is an entry in the records that shows the number of
coins struck on average, annually, in various places during the period 1823
to 1833[107].
Average
annual coinage for 10 years prior to 1833/34 at the Presidency and
subordinates. Khandesh Khandesh (or Candeish) was a district
to the north of Nasik but exactly where in this district a mint might have
existed is not clear. The assay master’s report of 1821 states that the
Chandor rupee was the standard coin of Khandesh (see p. 318) so it seems
likely that any mint in Khandesh would have produced the Chandor rupee.
Indeed, the table above might even be referring to the mint at Chandor, which
is not far from Khandesh. Alternatively, the table may refer to the number of
coins shipped to the treasuries at Khandesh rather than the number produced
there. If coins were produced at a mint in Khandesh, there is currently no
information known about the design of the coins. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Rupees were first struck at Poona
during the Moghul occupation at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning
of the eighteenth centuries. They bear the name of the emperor Aurangzeb and
the mint name of Muhiabad urf Pune.
The Marathas had a firm hold in Poona by the middle of the eighteenth century
and coins were struck there in the name of Muḥammad Shāh, the
Moghul emperor. Regular and systematic minting of coins by the Maratha
government started about 1760 at Poona and several different types were
issued there, namely the Hali sikka,
the Ankusi and the Pharasi sikka. These coins were struck
until 1818 when, during the third Maratha war, Poona was taken by the British
following the battle of Kirkee. On the annexation of the Peshwa’s territory,
the EIC took over the mint at Poona and continued to issue the Hali sicca and the Ankusi in much the same form, but they
were properly dated in the Fasli era on the reverse [108].
That the mint was kept in operation is confirmed in a record of the receipts
and expenditure for the territories conquered from and ceded by the Peshwa in
1818/1819, wherein are found the costs of running the Poona Mint (Rs
2569-3-89) for 1818/19 and an estimate of the costs for 1820 (Rs 2500-0-0) [109]. The coins were issued by
the Tanksale or mint master family of Deshasth Brahmans under the supervision
of British officers and they were apparently allowed to add ten percent
copper alloy to the silver coins as their profit [110]. In 1820 the mint establishment at
Poona was cited by Captain Gibbon as [111]:
Establishment
of the Poona mint in 1820 Silver Coins Prior to 1820 the EIC records contain references to
coining of copper coins at the Poona mint, but little on the coinage of
silver. Shortly before August 1822 the Poona
mint was closed for some time owing to the discovery of frauds. The reason
for the closure was outlined by the Commissioner for the Deccan in a letter
to Government in 1823 [112]: …The mint farm was
knocked down to him for the year [for 1821/22] at a public auction as the
highest bidder and he entered into security for the
payment, and the faithful performance of his engagement. The weight and assay
of the coin to be struck were particularly specified, and for every deviation
from the standard he was to be fined 500 rupees. The contractor adhered to
the conditions of his agreement until the month of May 1822 when he was found
out mixing up more than the prescribed quantity of alloy in the coins. The
extent to which this deterioration had been caused not being known, some
decisive measures became necessary to check the evil and the mint was
accordingly shut up and the Farmer placed in jail to stand his trial for the
fraudulent breach of contract. In the examination which followed, it was
discovered that he had sent a considerable quantity of depreciated money into
circulation, and being found guilty of the charge brought against him was
sentenced to pay a fine of 3700 rupees, double the amount which he gained by
debasing the coin and indemnifying Government for the loss sustained by the
closure of the mint – which was 3637 rupees. The closure of the mint caused great inconvenience due to
the shortage of circulating coin and it was reopened, although, exactly when
this happened is not clear [113]. In 1823 the assay master at Bombay
reported on the outcome of tests he had conducted on Hali Sicca rupees lately coined at Poona [114]:
Assay
of Hali Sicca Rupees by the Bombay assay master (Decls = Deciles) These coins were presumably sent to Bombay for assay
after the mint had been reopened, implying that the mint must have been open
by March 1823 [115].
The contractor who had been responsible for the mint prior to its closure was
Appajee Muckajeesett who, in 1824, sent a petition soliciting the remission
of an indemnification to Government for the loss sustained from the mint at
Poona having been closed on account of his breach of agreement. The Bombay
Government rejected his petition, as they did a second petition from him [116]. In 1826 the Collector at
Poona asked for advice on whether or not he was
allowed to accept an offer for the mint contract that was not the highest in
cash terms but was made by a person who had been responsible for keeping the
mint in operation for the previous two years. This letter states that [117]: During
the last two years the farmer (who is the person that has offered the least
sum this year) has sustained considerable loss from the small number of
rupees that have fallen from the mint… From this it is apparent that not many
rupees were struck during the years 1824 and 1825 (Fasli 1234 and 1235).
Government confirmed that the Collector could choose whomsoever he considered
most suitable for the contract and this he duly did at the rate of 3,200
rupees for ‘the current Faslee’. By 1831 the new mint at
Bombay had begun operation and the Collector at Poona wondered if he should
issue a contract for the mint for that year [118]. He was informed that he should issue a
contract for silver only and that the new Bombay mint would provide copper
coins [119]. The Poona mint was still
producing rupees in January 1834 because the Collector informed Bombay that [120]: …two
silver coins continue to fall from the mint of Poona both having the Fusly
year “1243” stamped upon them. These are called the one “Hallee Sicca” and
the other “Ankoosee”. The Poona mint not having been ordered to be stopped… However, by September 1834 the mint
appears to have been closed[121]. The EIC records confirm
the dates observed on the coins themselves. These range from Fasli 1230 to
1244 (AD 1820 to 1834). In 1819 the Commissioner of the Deccan
asked for copper coins to be supplied to Poona from the Bombay Mint. However,
the mint committee replied that they had never had any intention of supplying
copper coins to the Deccan from Bombay, but that they did have a supply of
copper that could be sent to Poona for coining locally [122].
Initially the price of copper was too high for the authorities at Poona [123], but
as the price fell they asked for a sample to be sent
and half a ton was duly dispatched [124]. The
trial showed that to produce pice at the rate of 64 to the rupee, given the
cost of the copper, would result in a loss to Government. By 1820 the cost of
the copper had fallen, and the mint committee at Bombay was insistent that
any pice produced at Poona should be exchanged at 64 to the rupee even if
this meant a slightly lower weight [125].
This rate was consistent with the rate that the mint committee had asked both
Broach and the Southern Concan to achieve and they were obviously trying to
establish a standard throughout the Presidency. This did not pose a problem
for the authorities at Poona[126], and
presumably minting of the coins started in that year, since specimens exist
dated Fasli 1230. As has been stated above, the Collector at Poona was
instructed not to renew the contract for copper coins in 1831 and thus pice
dated Fasli 1240 (1830) are the last to be issued by the Poona mint. The copper pice bear a Nagari inscription
and can be identified by the presence of the Fasli date on the obverse.
However, a contemporary quote reveals that pice struck at Poona were
identical to those struck at Satara so these two cannot be differentiated
(see chapter 8) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
The only coins identified as having
been issued from the Rahimatpur mint are those rather crude copies of the
1820/21 copper coins issued by the British for use in the Southern Concan.
These copies are dated 1828 and 1829. A letter to the Bombay Government dated
1830, reveals the source of these copper coins [127]: The
profit on a coinage of this weight is so great that a spurious pice very
nearly resembling the original has been brought down in considerable
quantities from the distant town of Ruhimutpoor in the Putwurdhun’s
territory. These counterfeit pice are not quite so well executed as the
Bankote coinage. The copper is of a little inferior quantity [quality?]
and there is a very slight difference of weight. This quote, written in 1830, appears
to establish that the coins dated 1828 and 1829, were not a second official
issue of pice for the Southern Concan, but were, in fact, imitative pieces
produced outside of the collectorate and sold for a profit. Usually copies of
this nature would closely follow the design of the original coin, but these
1828/29 pieces have a slightly different design, and obviously bear different
dates. This fact misled Pridmore into believing that they were a later
official issue, albeit rather more crudely struck. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
When the British first arrived at
Sūrat in 1612 there was no mint operating in the
town. EIC commerce was conducted in foreign gold and silver coins for the
first few years that the Company resided there [128]. In
fact, their first factory was established in what had previously been the
local Moghul mint and which had been closed before the British arrived.
However, in August 1618 the Company was obliged to move from this site
because the mint was to be re-opened [129].
Henceforth, commerce had to be conducted using local mohurs and rupees and
imported coin had to be converted in the Moghul’s (and later the
Nawāb’s) mint. In 1759, the British captured Sūrat and for the next
forty years occupied the fort leaving the Nawāb in nominal charge of the
city. However, increasingly, the British took more and more control of the
town as well as the fort until, in 1800 they took complete control of the
place [130],
[131].
Treaty
with the Nawab of SuratArticles of Agreement between the Hounourable East
India Company and their successors and the Nawab Nuseer-ood-Deen Khan, etc.
etc., and his heirs and successors, for the better administration of the
Government of the City of Surat and its dependencies, concluded on the 13th May 1800, or the 19th of Zilhuj 1214 of the Hegira. Whereas
the Hounarable the English East India Company have been subjected to a heavy
expenses for the protection of the city of Surat, and whereas the existing system of
internal government in the said city has been found inadequate to the
protection of the persons and property of the inhabitants; and whereas the
Right Honourable the Earl of Mornington, Governor-General of the British possessions
in India, and the Nawab Naserooddeen, etc., are mutually desirous of
providing more effectually for the external defense of the city of Surat, and
for the security, ease, and happiness of the inhabitants, the following
Articles of Agreement are concluded on behalf of the Honourable English
Company and their successors, by the Honourable Jonathan Duncan, Governor of
Bombay, vested with full powers for that purpose by the said Governor-General
on the one part, and by the Nawab Nuseerooddeen, and his heirs and successors
on the other part: - ……. Article
2: The Nawab Naseerooddeen agrees that the management and collection of
revenues of the city of Surat, and of the territories, places, and
other dependencies thereof, the administration of civil and criminal justice,
and generally the whole civil and military government of the said city and
its dependencies, shall be vested for ever entirely and exclusively in the
Honourable English Company. Article
3: It is agreed that the Nawab shall be treated on all occasions with the
same respect and distinction as his predecessors. Article
4: The English Company agree to pay to the Nawab Naseerooddeen and his heirs,
out of the revenues of Surat and his dependencies, in four equal
quarterly payments, one lakh of Rupees annually, which shall be considered to be the first charge payable from the said
revenues. The Company also engage to pay to the said Nawab and his heirs, in
addition to the above mentioned lakh of Rupees, a
proportion of one-fifth of the annual revenues now arising, or which may
hereafter arise, from the said city and its dependencies, after deducting the
said lakh of Rupees, the sum payable to the Mahrattas, and the charges of
collection. The residue of the revenues, after the forgoing reductions, shall
be at the disposal of the said Company. Article
5: In order that the Nawab may at all times have full satisfaction in respect
to the revenues of Surat and its dependencies, he, the said Nawab,
shall be at liberty to inspect all the accounts thereof from time to time, or
to station a vakeel or accountant, at his own expense, in all or in any of
the offices of collection, for the purpose of taking and transmitting to His
Excellency copies of all or any of the accounts of the said revenue. Based on this it
would seem that the EIC took control of the Sūrat mint in May 1800 [132].
However, several entries in the records seem to show that there was a British
mint master much earlier than this. In 1800 John Church wrote [133]: …I
observe in the year 1789 on my receiving charge of the mint I found the
proportions of standard silver to be 508 rice of
pure silver with 44 of alloy agreeably whereto the rupee weighing 548˝ rice
contains 43.72 rice of alloy or 7.97 per cent of its weight, at which rate I
have sedulously endeavoured and I hope successfully to maintain it… and even before that the EIC appears
to have been able to issue orders concerning the mint (see earlier section). As previously discussed (see
chapter 4) the coins issued from the Bombay and Sūrat mints are dated RY 46. However, KM records
Sūrat rupees dated RY 49, 51, 52, 53, 54 and 6x (KM 76) under French
India. This seems an unlikely attribution and whilst these rupees might have
been produced somewhere other than Sūrat itself (for instance at
Bhaunagar, which has been suggested by Jan Lingen as a place that forged
Sūrat rupees [134]), it
is also possible that they might have been produced in a local mint, perhaps
controlled by the Nawāb, in defiance of the British. Assuming the coin
dated RY 6x represents the posthumous year 60 of Shāh ‘Ālam, this
equates to 1815 when the Sūrat mint proper was closed by the British
(see below). There nevertheless are strong
arguments against the Nawāb being responsible for the issue of these
coins, not least the treaty signed in 1800 (shown above). However, there can
be no doubt that the Nawāb was receiving an income from a mint, whether
his own or that of the EIC, between 1808 and 1815, because an entry in the
records dated 1816 shows the amount of revenue derived from the mint of Surat by the Nawab as about 1193 rupees p.a. [135] Gold and Silver Coins Minting of silver coins had started by
June 1800 because an entry in the records shows the number of coins struck
from 100,000 dollars during June and July [136]:
These
produced at 216.3.24 per […] dollars: 216801.1.31 rupees. Exactly when the
minting of gold began is not known. Management
of the Mint The usual method of managing the provincial mints in the
Bombay Presidency was for the Collector to contract the mint work for an
annual fee to a local person. At the Sūrat Mint, however, a full-time mint master was
appointed. The first of these was John
Church [137],
who by 1806 had been replaced by C. Wren [138].
Wren was followed, in 1807, by Thomas White [139],
who was, in turn, replaced by John Morison [140].
In order to ensure the quality of the coins, on Having produced his report, but before
sending it, he obtained copies of the mint records of Sūrat and added a postscript to his report. This
reviewed the entries relating to the standard of the Sūrat rupee over
the preceding twenty years or so. He found that the Sūrat rupee had
contained less silver then that of Bombay in 1765. When the Sūrat rupee
had first been issued it was meant to contain 2.18% alloy but this had
gradually increased until by 1772 it was supposed to contain about 5%. Even
then, this standard was not adhered to and the coins contained even more
alloy and this continued throughout the years 1780 to 1784:[144] PS
Since writing the above I have received and read over the Surat diary of the mintage. It commences in 1762
and concludes in 1790 but several parts of it have been lost. From the diary
it appears that in 1765 the Surat rupee was worse than that of Bombay by 5.5
per cent. In
November 1771 the Chief and Council write to the Court of Directors “that
they had with the Nabob fixed the standard of the rupee at an alloy of 22
rice which makes it 2⅓ per cent superior to the Bombay mint”. Hence the
Surat rupee contained 4 per cent of alloy &
the Bombay rupee only 1⅔. In
1784 they write to the Bombay Government “that on the establishment of the
Surat mint the standard was 538 rice pure silver
and 12 rice of alloy”, that is the alloy was 2.18 per cent. Only the same was
continued during Hyder [Konle] Khan’s time. In the time of [Jikhbeghkan] it
contained, they say, 526 rice pure silver & 24 rice of alloy. This
amounts to 4.36 per cent alloy. In
1772 I see a further change was made on the fineness of the rupee for the
standard was now fixed at 514.5 rice of pure silver 35.5 rice of alloy. This
is an alloy of 4.956 or 5 per cent nearly. But the Surat mint in its actual coinage never kept even
to this standard, for by assays of its rupees for 7 years viz: 1773, 80, 81,
82, 83 and 84 (sic) the alloy had increased above the standard from 1569 to
3364 [I’m not sure
what this means]. In 1775 the Court of Directors tried to intervene
to re-establish the standard and in 1789, someone called “the chief” tried to
fix the amount of alloy at about 6.5% but all these efforts were in vain: In
1775 the Court of Directors recommended the rupee to be of the same fineness that
it had been in 1767. That is to say that it should be of the same fineness
that it had been in the time of Hyther Coolie Khan, or that it should contain
no more than 2.18 per cent of alloy (see regulation by the Surat Committee in August 1767). This, like all
other repetitions for the standard of the Surat mint seems never [to have]
taken place. I do not observe that such rupees were ever coined either in
1767 or after the Company orders in 1775. Last
of all I observe that in February 1789 the chief fixes that standard of
fineness for the Surat rupee at 35.5 rice of alloy or 6.454 per
cent. This is the latest regulation for standard that this diary contains.
Like the rest it appears not to have been put in execution. What
the present [regulation] is for fineness I do not know but it is very
necessary to get this information from Surat when no rupee that shall in future be coined
either there or here should exceed it by the smallest fraction. With regard
to the weight of the rupee the diary contains no information but I imagine it
is the rupee of the Mogul of 178.314 grains. The judge and magistrate went on to speculate
about why control of the fineness of the Sūrat rupee had been so difficult concluding that
it was largely political for monetary gain. The fineness should finally be
fixed at the then standard, whatever that was: The
diary of the mint of Surat might furnish abundant materials for reflection
and shows in many respects the danger of speculating in a political matter of
so great difficulty & delicacy. A good state of the coinage is at once
the interest of the sovereign & the people, nor does it appear to me to
be possible consistently with the welfare of either to make […]. The mintage
was at once a source of revenue to the King of Dilhi, the Company, the Nabob
& the Mahrattas. Under those circumstances we constantly kept pressing
the Nabob to make his coinage very pure but still insisting on our portion of
the profits of it. It surely was forgotten during a period of 30 years that
it is only from the alloy of a coinage that any profit whatever can arise. We
tried to get the advantage undiminished from him while at the same time we endeavoured
to take away the very means that produced it. I
think it would be advisable to keep at present to the standard now fixed for
the Surat rupee whatever that may be, for all changes
are attended with loss or inconvenience. The complaints of the shroffs and
merchants on this subject are often short sighted or interested. They are
fearful at one time (surely without reason) that a pure coinage would be
bought up by the neighbouring mints, at another time they complain that the
coin is not sufficiently good for the purposes of commerce or exchange. I
image it is not difficult to see on which side of the question the real cause
for apprehension lies. I
have had but a few hours to consider this Surat diary which I hope will plead my excuse if
any error should afterwards appear in what I have said. Change
of Management, 1806-1807 The
cost of producing coins at Sūrat began to come under scrutiny in 1806 when
the mint master at Sūrat wrote to Bombay about the matter [145] and
the mint and assay masters at Bombay wrote a joint
letter to Government in July of 1806 [146]: In reply to your
secretary’s letter of the 4th ultimo, accompanying copy of a
letter from Messrs Bruce Fawcett & Co to Government of the 27th
of January on the subject of the returns of silver from the Surat mint for bullion sent to it for coinage, we
have to observe that there is no kind of doubt but that the Surat mint does
not deliver the number of rupees to the holder of bullion which it ought to
do and that it is, and long has been, the practice of that mint to keep back
a greater sum than the expense of coinage, together with the Company’s duties
[amount to]. It
is evident (for example) that 100 dollars contain silver enough to make very
nearly 227 Surat rupees. Something is lost by the melting and
refining. The expense of coining is 2 per cent and the Company’s duty ˝ per
cent. Our mint contractor here has delivered for 100 dollars, as far as 220
Surat rupees, but he complains that he suffered a little loss and we may
perhaps be obliged to be satisfied with a fraction of one rupee less on 100
dollars. With this however, he will be quite satisfied. Nor can we see any
reason why such conditions should not be very satisfactory to any fair
minter, either here or at Surat. We
have had repeated conversations with the mint contractor with regard to his coining
the Surat rupees, at Surat, on the above
mentioned conditions. With the conditions he is perfectly satisfied,
but he tells us that he foresees that at Surat he will meet with great
opposition from the shroffs and others who have an interest to keep the Surat
mint on its present footing. He further says that his absence would
materially interfere with his engagements at Bombay. These difficulties
however, may be got over by Government assuring the contractor at Surat of
their full support against the combinations of individuals. On such terms we
have no doubt but our mint contractor will get one of his own family to carry
on the Surat coinage at Surat, or men will be easily found there to do so,
when they are sure of receiving the protection of Government. The resistance
from interested individuals is the only difficulty that can arise in such a
case. Resolution Ordered that copy of the
preceding report be referred to the mint master at Surat with intimation that Government expect he
will reduce the expense of coinage at Surat to the same standard as at Bombay
or to report the obstructions he may experience in carrying the same into
effect, being authorized for this purpose to correspond with the mint master
at Bombay, who is to be directed to communicate with Mr Wren the expense of
coinage in the Bombay mint. In November they sent a more detailed letter: [147] According to the order
conveyed to us by you we have attentively considered the mint master of Surat’s letter of the 15th
ultimo and the following reflections have occurred to us: It
is, we conceive, the intention of Government that a percentage be levied on
the coinage at Surat by which the expenses of the coinage shall
be fully paid in the first place, the remainder going to Government. After
the payment of this percentage the bullion holder is to receive back all that
remains of his silver, not a grain of which is to remain unaccounted for. On
this principle we are not yet satisfied with the offer [of] the Surat mint master of 220 rupees for 100 dollars as
expressed in his letter, for a good deal of the silver he receives would
remain entirely unaccounted for. To make this perfectly
evident let us examine his proposals. The
expenses of making the coins at Surat are no more than 1˝ per cent but the Surat
mint master states in his letter of 15th July that the use of a
lead instead of a copper alloy creates an expense of ˝ per cent. If therefore
a copper alloy be adopted at Surat the expenses of minting will be but one
per cent 100 dollars gross
produce Rs 266 The Surat mint master returns Rs 220 Leaving rupees 6 Now, 6 rupees equals to
per cent 2.2.60 Deduct Government
customs as Stated by the mint
master -.2.- Leaving 2.-.60 If the mintage costs 1˝
per cent, the usual rate he would have
to pay for it 1.2.- -.2.60 or nearly ľ per cent
which seems to be entirely unaccounted for If
however the adoption of a copper alloy saves him on the mintage ˝ per cent as
he states then there remains in his hands no less then Rs 1.-.60 or nearly 1Ľ
per cent of which he gives no account. This is above twice as much as he
proposes paying to Government. We now beg leave to
recommend that the Surat mint master be called upon solumnly and upon
honor to declare at what rate per cent he can conduct his coinage, 1 with a
lead alloy and, 2 with a copper alloy. When we know this we know as well as
they can do at Surat what return they ought to make to the bullion holder
& what should go to Government. In Bombay the deduction from the bullion
holder is 3 per cent. If Government choose to make the same deduction at
Surat it is evident that the Honble Company ought to receive 2 per cent
clear, instead of half a per cent as stated by the Surat mint master, The
bullion holder will get in that case the same return from both mints. The
Surat mint master offers to return 220 rupees for
100 dollars, observing that the Bombay mint returns only 219.80 (he should
have said 219.88). That is to say he offers to return a little more than 1/3
of one per cent above the return of the Bombay mint. The reason is evident. We pay our mint
contractor per cent 2.2 He pays for his mintage
at the most 1.2 Hence he gains per cent
on Making of the coin 1 His
is at one the secret of an offer that has the superficial appearance of
advantage. It may be asked why the Surat coins can be made so much cheaper than those
of Bombay. We answer that it chiefly arises from the great difference of
expense of labour and also in part from the constitution of their mint which
as we shall presently see is defective in this very respect. Our mint
contractor positively refuses even with a copper alloy to abate more than a
few reas of this percentage. It may be seen that not a grain of silver is
left unaccounted for here if anyone should choose to make the inquiry. The mint and assay masters considered that the
Sūrat mint had been badly run for the previous 30
years and, in particular, noticed that in order for
people to get their silver minted they had to negotiate with people called
‘Bhurteahs’ and there was no direct access to the mint. These Bhurteahs
somehow made money out of this process but it was very opaque. They
considered that this practice should be stopped although they wanted to make
sure that the Bhurteahs did not starve so they proposed that the mint
contractor should support them: We
have long considered the constitution of the Surat mint and we think it is radically wrong. No
mint master there however great his knowledge or however just his intention
can protect the public at all times from fraud. Accordingly for 30 years past
with an exception of a few years of late, it has exhibited, as the records of
Government abundantly show, a scene of disorder. It has given rise to a most
disordered state of the coinage both here and there. The cause of the evil
still remains altho’ it has ceased for a time to operate so extensively. This
great cause, of which we so much complain is the employment of men called
Bhurteahs, who exclusively are authorized to bring the silver of individuals
to the mint. They have no acknowledged profit but it cannot be believed that
they labour without profit. They are permitted against all the ordinary
practices of Government to bargain with individuals who have bullion for
return in rupees, which they will agree to make. Thus the bullion holder is
left (as the former returns from the Surat mint will prove) to their mercy.
We anxiously recommend that the office of Bhurteah [must] cease forever &
that individuals may be allowed to carry their silver to the Surat mint
whenever it suits their conveniency. Instead
of Bhurteahs we advise that a mint contractor may be employed to make the
coin at Surat.
He should be a man of character & give security in a large sum for his
honestly both with regard to the public and individuals. Such a man would
certainly not make the coins for 1 or perhaps even 1˝ per cent. He ought to
have a reasonable & an open profit for his office is most important. From
such an office we should have a great degree of security & his avowed and
honorable allowances would support some of the Bhurteahs whom we wish not (so
far as is possible) to deprive of their bread. Until this regulation is
adopted we confess that we do not expect to see the Surat mint on that
footing which is so desirable unless those who make the coins are bound by
penalties and held by heavy responsibility. It is impossible that any mint
master can protect the public or Government in the coinage of Surat. We
conceive that 3 per cent collected on the coinage of Surat would in this way amply reward a mint
contractor besides paying a mint master & affording a certain revenue to
Government. We
do not say that this last proposal from Surat keeps back much more of the silver from the bullion
holder than may be absolutely necessary to pay the contractor & the other
demands in a well regulated mint, but we complain that this silver is kept
back there from the bullion holder secretly without an avowed object &
(as we conclude) that it must be absorbed by the Bhurteahs without answering
any good purpose. Men will never labour without reward in any situation, but
to employ men in a mint without any open and avowed means of living is of all
systems the most ruinous. Should
Government be pleased to adopt our suggestion with regard to placing a mint
contractor in the Surat mint, we should think it proper that this
person should pay a visit to the Presidency that he may be made fully to
comprehend our systems and that an agreement in all respects may be
established between the two mints intimately connected as they are. Until
this is done we recommend that the Surat mint may be stopped altogether. We
shall at a future time take the liberty of recommending a further system of
check on the Surat coinage for it cannot go materially wrong
without damaging both our gold and silver and producing as it did for many
years both loss & inconveniency to Government & the public. The
specimens sent us of the Surat coinage with a copper alloy is
unexceptionable. No objection would be made to it here but before it is
adopted by Government (and it would be very desirable to have it adopted) it
should be ascertained at Surat if it would be willingly received there. We
still think that such objections would be unreasonable and ill-founded. Resolution Ordered that a copy of
the preceding report be forwarded to the mint master at Surat for such remarks as occur to him respecting
more especially the manner in which the Bhurteahs
derive their emolument and the expediency of dispensing with their services
as above proposed. Another copy to be sent to the chief at Surat for his
final opinion in the question suggested in the last paragraph as to the
currency of the Surat rupee if coined with copper alloy Accordingly, in 1807 the mint master was directed to
change the management of the mint. Up until then five Bhurtiahs had overseen
the operation of the mint. Three very young ones were descended from those
who had served in the mint for half a century, and two who had recently
transacted the business of the mint by themselves, and whose ancestors had
been doing it for upwards of 75 years[148].
Henceforth, the Bhurtiahs were to be replaced by a Superintendent reporting
directly to the mint master and paid by the Company as a salaried employee.
The then current Bhurtiahs were allowed to become contractors if they chose,
and would receive half a percent for the contract. If they refused
then the mint master was to consult the Chief and Collector of Sūrat as to the next steps to be taken [149]. The
Bhurtiahs were not happy with this and would only agree to continue to
operate the mint on a three-month trial [150].
These problems appear to have been resolved and the mint continued in operation.
However, by the time that John Morison took over in 1810, the mint buildings
had fallen into a state of dilapidation because the mint contractors could
not afford to maintain the buildings, as they had done in the past, with
their lower income [151]. In 1813 the capability of the mint at
Sūrat was again being questioned and the mint
master was asked to show how many coins had been produced during the previous
year. He replied that between 1st May 1812 and the 28th
February 1813 the mint had produced just over 40,000 rupees-worth of silver
coins and a mere 272 mohurs-worth of gold coin. The ability of the Sūrat mint to produce rupees of the same standard
as those produced at Bombay continued to be questioned, with the Sūrat
mint master claiming that he did not have the necessary equipment to conduct
assays as accurately as those performed in the Bombay mint [152]. Eventually the Bombay Government
deemed it necessary to issue a proclamation declaring that the Bombay and
Sūrat coinages were of the same standard [153]: Proclamation
issued Notice
is hereby given that the coinage of the Bombay and Surat mints being in all respects of the same standard
and purity, and received as such in all the public treasuries at the
Presidency and subordinates, the payments from those treasuries will be
regulated on the same principle’ However, the criticism continued
throughout 1814 with an ex-employee of the mint claiming that the standard
achieved was not high enough [154] even
though these were clearly refuted by the mint master [155]. Finally,
in 1815 the Bombay Government discussed the subject of the Sūrat mint and came to a decision to close it. The
Bombay mint master saw three benefits in this [156]: 1. That
it is under no efficient control from the want of an European gentleman on
the spot duly qualified to conduct the department of assay. 2. That
it enables the Surat shroffs to establish a fraudulent exchange
by making a distinction between the Bombay & Surat rupee to the
disadvantage of the former. 3. That
it deprives this mint [i.e. Bombay] of profit that would
otherwise accrue to it, and which would enable Government without incurring a
greater expense, to put the mint here on a more respectable and efficient
footing. The Governor in Council agreed with
this and ordered that the Sūrat Mint should be abolished from The
Right Honorable the Governor in Council is pleased to announce for general
information that the mint at Surat will be abolished from the 1st of
the ensuing month of November and that the whole of the coinage under this
Presidency will in future be conducted at the mint at Bombay. There were petitions from the local traders [157] and
from the Nawāb of Sūrat [158] but
all to no avail [159] and
the Sūrat mint was duly closed for the production of
gold and silver coins. Copper
Coins For some reason, Pridmore excluded the copper coins of
Sūrat from his catalogue but events surrounding
various coinages of copper pice at Sūrat are recorded in the EIC
archives. At the end of 1802 and the beginning
of 1803 a copper coinage amounting to 18,000 rupees-worth was undertaken, but
this was insufficient to meet demand and more copper was requested and sent
from Bombay [160].
The size of any coinage undertaken, as the result of this copper being sent,
has not been identified. Another coinage took place when the
Sūrat mint master asked Bombay to send him enough
copper and lead to strike 20,000 rupees-worth of pice [161].
Although he made the request in 1812, the delivery took some time and the
coinage actually took place in 1813 [162]. A further copper coinage probably took
place in 1815 when the Sūrat mint master asked for lead to be sent to him
to enable him to coin copper that remained in the mint [163]: I beg the favor of your
obtaining permission from the Right Honble the Governor in Council to direct
the Warehousekeeper at the Presidency to send me up by the first [Cnuzir] 110
Surat maunds of lead for the purpose of coining
the copper now remaining in this mint into pice. The warehousekeeper was ordered to comply with the
request. On The Sūrat mint had been closed for gold and silver
coinage in 1815 but obviously the capability to produce copper coins
continued. Whether this activity was undertaken in a mint directly supervised
by a British official, or was farmed out to local native manufacturers, is
not clear. The latter seems most likely. In 1824, when Sūrat found, again, that there was a shortage of
pice locally, some of the excess pice produced in the Southern Concan were
shipped to Sūrat to meet this need [166].
However, the local inhabitants did not like the coins and in 1826 asked for permission
to strike pice locally as they had in 1818 [167].
This petition was rejected and more pice were shipped from the Southern
Concan [168].
However, in 1828 another request to produce the coins locally was accepted
because there were no further pice available from the Southern Concan [169]. In
1831 a further offer to produce a copper coinage was made by Vrizbhookhundass
Nagurdass [170],
but by then the new Bombay mint was in operation and all future coins for
Sūrat were supplied from there. The type of copper coins
issued from the Sūrat mint is not known. Copper coins issued
before 1800 (i.e. before the British took control) are known (specimen in the
Ashmolean Museum, shown on p.316) and perhaps this was the style adopted by
the British as they had adopted the earlier style of gold and silver coins. |
Appendix
Coins in circulation in the Bombay
Presidency in 1820 [171].
Assay Report
shewing the mint standards of Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and England, and the
weight, purity and intrinsic value, by assay, of all the coins, either current
in the Hon’ble Company’s territories under the Presidency of Bombay, or
imported as bullion.
Gold
Coins
|
Type |
Weight grains, decimal |
Touch
% decimal |
Pure Metal grains, decimal |
Value of 100 in (Rupees, quarters, reas) |
Comments |
||||||
|
|
179 |
92 |
164.68 |
1500 |
In the coins of these mints,
1 part of gold represents 15 of silver |
||||||
|
|
204.71 |
91.66 |
187.65 |
1709.2233 |
|||||||
|
|
180 |
91.66 |
165 |
1502.914 |
|||||||
|
English |
129.5 |
91.66 |
118.70 |
1081.187 |
1 part of gold represents
14.281 of silver |
||||||
|
Venetian or sequin |
53 |
99.25 |
52.60 |
479.011 |
Full weight 54 grains |
Imported as
bullion |
|||||
|
Gubber or Dutch Ducat |
53.25 |
98.25 |
52.31 |
476.500 |
Full weight 53Ľ grains |
||||||
|
Joaneese or PortuguesePortuguese Dollar |
220.75 |
91.50 |
201.98 |
1839.805 |
Full weight 222˝
grains |
||||||
|
Persian Toman |
73.50 |
97.25 |
71.47 |
651.06 |
|
||||||
|
New Ekairee Pagoda |
52.85 |
84 |
44.39 |
404.390 |
This coin was struck by
Kishun Raj Wadder, Rajah of Mysore in the mint at Mysore. It is chiefly
current in the |
||||||
|
Old Ekairee Pagoda |
52.62 |
84.38 |
44.40 |
404.452 |
This coin was struck
by Rajah Boodee Bussapa at Biddanoor |
||||||
|
Bhol Ekairee Pagoda |
52.69 |
84.50 |
44.52 |
405.50 |
Current in the
Southern Mahratta country |
||||||
|
Bhoolpuddee Pagoda |
52.77 |
85 |
44.85 |
408.585 |
This coin denominated Bhoolpuddee
or head of the idol is of the same coinage with the stamp a little different. |
||||||
|
Bahandry Pagoda |
52.72 |
84.50 |
44.54 |
405.768 |
This coin was struck by
Hyder ally about 50 or 60 years ago at Seringapatam |
||||||
|
Funokee Pagoda |
52.80 |
84.63 |
44.68 |
407.037 |
This coin was struck
by the Sultan about 30 years ago |
||||||
|
The above six coins are
usually received into the Poona treasury from the districts of Rannee
Biddanoor, Koda Bunkapore, Savanoo Gudduck, Dummull Kanghulla, Andoor
Kanigull & Nowlagund etc |
|||||||||||
|
Guddapuddee Pagoda |
50.97 |
76.38 |
38.93 |
354.625 |
These coins were
struck by Esajee Ram, Mumleeder of the Paishwa, about 60 years ago at Darivar
and Nargoond, but the coinage has been discontinued for at least 25 years. |
||||||
|
Fudduck Pagoda |
50.77 |
76.38 |
38.77 |
353.234 |
|||||||
|
Kudvanajee Pagoda |
50.75 |
76.38 |
38.76 |
353.095 |
|||||||
|
Hallee Sicca Pagoda |
50.90 |
76.38 |
38.87 |
354.139 |
|||||||
|
Modapuddee Pagoda |
50.55 |
75.25 |
38.038 |
346.500 |
|||||||
|
Rajaram Ekaire Pagoda |
52.80 |
84.13 |
44.42 |
404.632 |
These coins have little
or no currency in this province, but as they are circulated in the camp
bazaar to a small extent, they are inserted in the list |
||||||
|
Bhatoree Pagoda |
50.50 |
75 |
37.87 |
345.003 |
|||||||
|
Tomancien ˝ Pagoda |
26.12 |
84.63 |
22.105 |
201.359 |
|||||||
|
Bangalore pagoda |
52.82 |
84.25 |
44.50 |
405.363 |
This coin was struck
during the government of Hyder in the mint at Bangalore. It has no very general
circulation, but is occasionally received from individuals in payment of
revenue. |
||||||
|
Mahomed Shaie Pagoda |
51.50 |
78.75 |
40.55 |
369.431 |
These coins have
little currency in these provinces. Their exchange has now been fixed with
reference to the rates of the Ballaree treasury and to their estimated value
by the shroffs |
||||||
|
Ventrataputkee Pagoda |
51.50 |
76.38 |
39.33 |
358.313 |
|||||||
|
Herponbillee Pagoda |
50.75 |
77.50 |
39.33 |
358.272 |
|||||||
|
Pavan Tharokee Pagoda |
52.89 |
84.38 |
44.62 |
406.496 |
Received for assay
from the Collector in the Doab. Current in the Southern Mahratta country |
||||||
|
Nagar Tharokee Pagoda |
52.90 |
85.13 |
45.03 |
410.186 |
|||||||
|
Gharava Tharokee Pagoda |
53.85 |
85.25 |
45.18 |
411.543 |
|||||||
|
Bhut Padee Pagoda |
52.90 |
84.75 |
44.83 |
408.355 |
|||||||
|
Baha Tapee Pagoda |
54 |
84.75 |
45.76 |
416.853 |
|||||||
|
Joona Elaye Pagoda |
52.50 |
84.38 |
44.29 |
403.500 |
|||||||
|
Navee Ekee pagoda |
53 |
84.50 |
44.78 |
407.92 |
|||||||
|
Centeroy Fanams |
5.82 |
59 |
3.43 |
31.278 |
|
||||||
|
Sultana Fanams |
5.87 |
58 |
3.40 |
31.012 |
|
||||||
Silver Coins
|
Type |
Weight grains, decimal |
Touch
% decimal |
Pure Metal grains, decimal |
Value of 100 in (Rupees, quarters, reas) |
Comments |
|
|
179 |
92
|
164.68 |
100 |
|
|
|
191.916 |
91.66
|
175.923 |
106.827 |
|
|
|
180 |
91.66
|
165 |
100.194 |
|
|
English Crown |
436.36 |
92.5
|
403.63 |
245.101 |
|
|
Spanish Dollar |
415.02 |
89.38
|
370.95 |
225.25 |
Full weight 416 grains |
|
German Crown |
430.25 |
83.38
|
358.74 |
217.84 |
Full weight 433 grains |
|
Ankoos or Chinsoree Rupee |
172.50 |
91.75
|
158.26 |
96.105 |
Standard coin at Poona Current throughout the
Deccan & the Northern and Southern Concan |
|
Chandore rupee |
172.25 |
91.50
|
157.608 |
95.705 |
Coined at Chandore, and is the standard coin
of Candeish passes equivalent with the Ankoosee Rs. Current also in the
Northern Concan |
|
Thoora rupee |
170 |
91.50
|
155.55 |
94.425 |
Current at Candeish |
|
Jeereeputka Rupee |
171.6 |
91.25
|
156.58 |
95.083 |
Coined at Nassuck; bears a discount of 8
& 12 annas per cent; current in the Northern Concan and Candeish |
|
Belapooree rupee |
171.82 |
85
|
146.04 |
88.685 |
Coined at Bellapore; current at Poona
Ahmadnuggur, the Concan etc. |
|
Batoree Rupee |
171.3 |
87
|
149.03 |
90.495 |
Coined at Bhatoor near Ahmednuggur; current
in the |
|
Shree Sicca Rupee |
172 |
91.50
|
157.38 |
95.567 |
Coined formerly at Poona and is esteemed
better then the Ankoosee rupees by one per cent |
|
Hallee Sicca Rupee |
174.75 |
96.25
|
168.19 |
102.128 |
Coined at Poona for mercantile purposes |
|
Waubgaum Rupee |
172.55 |
91.50
|
157.88 |
95.872 |
Coined at Waubgaum, bears a discount with the
Ankoosee of 8 annas per cent |
|
Purkee Rupee |
178.88 |
94.25
|
168.59 |
102.376 |
Current at Candeish Coined by Scindia and is
perhaps the same coin as assayed under the name of Berhanpoor sicca |
|
Chambagoondee Rupee |
171 |
84.75
|
144.92 |
88 |
Coined at Chambagoondee and bears a discount
with the established Ankoosee of two per cent |
|
Mullarshie or Bagulcota rupee |
172.3 |
89
|
153.34 |
93.118 |
Coined at Bagulcota; current in the Doab,
Malwan etc |
|
Shapooree rupee |
174 |
87
|
151.38 |
91.924 |
Coined at Shapoor and produces 102 Ankoosee
per cent at Poona |
|
Kittoor Shapooree rupee |
174 |
86.25
|
150.07 |
91.013 |
This coin was struck originally at Kittoor;
this mint has continued the coinage during the last 25 years; it is current
in the district of Bettikerra, Belgaum and Padshapoor |
|
Ongien Rupee |
173 |
90.25
|
156.13 |
94 |
Coined at Ongein and Chullemaishwar. Passes in
Poona at a premium of two per cent for Ankoosee rupees. Current throughout
Malwa |
|
|
174.50 |
92.50
|
161.41 |
98 |
Coined at |
|
Govind Buksh Rupee |
171.16 |
78
|
133.50 |
81.066 |
Coined at |
|
Nagpore Rupee |
166.73 |
86.5
|
144.22 |
87.575 |
Coined at Nagpore, and is inferior at Poona
to the Ankoosee rupee by four per cent |
|
Broach rupee |
177.5 |
87.62
|
155.52 |
94.440 |
The only currency at Broach Current also at
Kaira, Surat etc. |
|
Old Broach Rupee |
177.06 |
94.25
|
166.88 |
101.335 |
Coined formerly at Broach Now disappearing |
|
Cambay rupee |
179.50 |
81.88
|
146.97 |
89.247 |
Current in the Nabob’s districts, Kaira etc. |
|
Babasye Rupee |
177 |
84.88
|
150.75 |
91.540 |
Coined at Baroda also current at Kaira etc |
|
Walkersye Rupee |
177.39 |
87.75
|
155.65 |
94.532 |
|
|
Ashasye Rupee |
176.50 |
86.5
|
152.68 |
92.705 |
|
|
Mukunsye Rupee |
176.62 |
87.5
|
154.54 |
93.842 |
|
|
Wullubsye Rupee |
175.56 |
85
|
150.07 |
91.217 |
|
|
Ahmadabad sicca rupee |
179.92 |
84
|
151.13 |
91.772 |
Coined formerly at Ahmadabad |
|
New Ahmadabad Sicca Rupee |
180.75 |
85
|
153.63 |
93.292 |
Present currency there, current also at Anjar
and throughout Cutch |
|
Hallee Ahmadabad Sicca Rupee |
174.77 |
96.25
|
168.21 |
102.147 |
Coined at Ahmadabad current within the walls
of the city |
|
Cutch Kowrie rupee |
72.15 |
60.75
|
43.83 |
26.615 |
Coined at Anjar, current throughout Cutch |
|
Porebunder Kowrie Rupee |
74.50 |
69.75
|
51.96 |
31.553 |
Coined at Porebunder |
|
Persian Rupee |
159.12 |
94.50
|
150.36 |
91.309 |
Imported as bullion; current in the |
|
New Persian Rupee |
141.3 |
94.50
|
133.52 |
81.083 |
ditto |
|
|
168.50 |
86
|
144.91 |
87.995 |
Imported as bullion |
|
Mysore or New Holker Rupee |
173.56 |
94.25
|
163.58 |
99.390 |
Coined formerly at Mysore now disappearing |
|
Mulkapore rupee |
173.2 |
71.75
|
124.27 |
75.461 |
Coined at Mulkapore and bears a discount of
12 per cent with the Ankusi |
|
Meritch Hookaree Rupee |
172.6 |
84
|
144.98 |
88.039 |
Coined at Meritch, bears
a discount at Poona of 5 per cent |
|
Narrainpet Rupee |
172.5 |
80.50
|
138.86 |
84.321 |
A species of Hyderabad rupee coined at
Narrainpet, but little known at Poona Rate uncertain, from 9 to 12 per cent
discount |
|
Timbourne Rupee |
171.3 |
85.50
|
146.46 |
88.936 |
ditto, coined at Timbourne by
the late Sadaser Monkaiser. Is inferior to the proper Ankoosee rupee |
|
Waye Sicca Rupee |
171.8 |
89.50
|
153.76 |
92.760 |
ditto. Coined at Waye,
& bears a discount in Poona of 1 per cent |
|
Jumkundee Rupee |
175 |
92
|
161 |
97.765 |
Coined at Jumkundee and passes at a discount
of 2 per cent |
|
Berhanpoore Rupee |
178.8 |
94.75
|
169.41 |
102.87 |
Coined by Scindeah in Candeish |
|
Phoolsheree Rupee |
171.7 |
91.50
|
157.10 |
95.397 |
A species of Ankoosee rupee, coined at Phoolsherh,
but inferior to the regular Ankoosee by 8 annas per cent |
|
Pertabghur Rupee |
170.40 |
87.25
|
148.67 |
90.278 |
Coined at Pertabghur, a species of Ankoosee
rupee but 19 per cent inferior to it |
|
Emaumee Rupee |
175 |
95.50
|
167.12 |
101.484 |
The Emaumee coin was struck by the Sultan,
but is not current in this province, and is seldom received by the shroffs or
sabookars |
|
Rajah Pondicherry Rupee |
176.16 |
94.75
|
166.91 |
101.354 |
This coin was struck at Mysore during
Poornya’s administration. It is current, but not generally, in the Ranee
Biddanoor district |
|
Punlee Old Rupee |
170.60 |
63
|
107.47 |
65.264 |
This coin was struck by Karweekur Maharaj at
Panallee about 50 or 60 years ago. The mint still continues. The coin has
very little currency in these districts. |
|
Nepanee Perkanee Rupee |
173 |
75.75
|
131 |
79.548 |
This coin was by Sidowjee Row Naik Nembalkur
at Nepanee about 15 years ago. It is current in the districts of Padshapoor
and that vicinity |
|
Semboo Perkanee Rupee |
172.75 |
79.75
|
137.76 |
83.658 |
Current in the Southern Mahratta Country |
|
Moodholee Perkanee Rupee |
173 |
57.50
|
99.47 |
60.405 |
This coin was struck by Malajee Row Modholkur
about 30 years ago. It has very limited circulation. |
|
Old Semboo Perkanee Rupee |
174 |
89.75
|
156.16 |
94.829 |
This coin was struck by the Bhosla family of
Sawartawdt about 200 years ago. It is but little current |
|
Toragull Nelkantee Rupee |
170 |
62
|
105.4 |
64 |
This coin was struck by Bhalasaheb of Toregull
Synakhurga (about 50 years ago). It is but little current, not very
generally. |
|
Tokoshaie Rupee |
173.16 |
94
|
162.77 |
98.84 |
Current in Ahmednuggur districts |
|
Jyenuggree Rupee |
172.68 |
90
|
155.41 |
94.37 |
|
|
Mannashie Rupee |
169.50 |
90
|
152.55 |
92.634 |
|
|
|
174.50 |
97.65
|
170.57 |
103.578 |
|
|
1820 Perkanee Newest Rupee |
177.9 |
88.75
|
157.88 |
95.875 |
Coined in Sawant state; received for assay
from the political agent there |
|
Spanish Independent Dollars |
420.5 |
89.50
|
376.34 |
228.532 |
Coined at Chili in 1817, by the Independents |
References