The
pattern double mohur had been submitted in March of 1835. Some delay was
experienced in preparing further patterns [1] but
a second pattern, presumably showing the lion with the value in English and
Persian in the exergue on the reverse, was submitted in October
[2]. The
representation of a lion was initially rejected [3],
but the Mint Committee was not happy with this [4]
and the Governor General was persuaded to approve the lion design late in
November [5].
This pattern has a plain edge, whilst
the currency coins and proofs have a milled edge. Minting of double mohurs
began before the end of 1835 and they were issued into circulation from
These coins have always been popular
with collectors and as presentation pieces and were continually re-struck up
until the practice was discontinued in 1970. Proof coins are more common than
currency coins
[1]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, September 1835, No 1
Letter from the Mint Committee to
Government dated 1st September 1835.
…The specimens of the gold coins
required by your letter of 27th May last have been delayed from the
employment of the die engraver on the silver matrices. I am directed to state
however that the Mint Master contemplates being able to furnish them in the
course of 15 days
[2]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, October 1835, No 19
Letter from the Mint Committee to
Government, dated
I am directed by the Mint Committee to
transmit the accompanying specimen of a proposed device for the new gold coin.
It is in the rough state as struck from
the matrix die without a collar, consequently the marginal beading is imperfect
and the letters are as yet undressed, but the Honorable
the Governor General of India in Council will be able to form an opinion of the
general appearance of the coin in its present stage of fabrication and the
committee is desirous to be able to communicate to the Mint Master the
sentiments of Government on the propriety of adopting the design before he
proceeds to multiply the punches and dies from the matrix.
The matrices of the single gold mohur
have not yet been put in hand owing to the great press of work with the chief
engraver. They will however necessarily be mere reductions from the larger
specimen, as will likewise be those of the ten rupee and five rupee pieces.
With regard to the latter coins however,
the committee direct me to request you to ascertain whether, since gold is not
to be legal tender of any fixed amount, His Honor in Council would desire the
omission of any direct reference to the silver unit of value upon the gold
coins, substituting the expressions “two thirds” and “one third” of a gold
mohur in English and Persian, in lieu of the more simple designation “ten
rupees” and “five rupees”.
There appears to be some difficulty in
rendering these expressions into Persian, and the committee are inclined to
prefer the Hindustanee term “Tihai”
to the Arabic “suls” as being more generally
intelligible to the people at large. There is no expression upon any other of
the new coins which is not common to the vernacular Hindustani and to the
Persian language.
[3]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, November 1835, No 3
Letter from Government to the Mint
Committee, dated
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt
of your secretary’s letter dated the 24th instant and in reply to
state that the Governor General in Council is of opinion that the
representation of any animal upon the gold coin had better be avoided. In lieu
therefore of the device of the specimen submitted he desires that the Committee
will prepare a device for each of the gold coins ordered containing on the reverse
the name of it in English and Persian with an ornamental wreath or other
embellishment easily distinguishable from the rupee.
With respect to the objection to
expressing on the coin the value in rupees when the gold coin is declared not
to be a legal tender for any given sum, the Governor General in Council
observes that the 5 and 10 rupee pieces are so specifically named in the act
recently passed and if the designation of the coin is to be borne on the
reverse it will be necessary that the name shall correspond with that used in
the law under which it is coined
[4]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, November 1835, No5
Letter from the Mint Committee to
Government dated
I am directed by the Mint Committee to
acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 4th instant forwarding
copy of a petition from Rajkishen Numdee
and others, who, contrary to the generally expressed wish of the merchants, are
urgent for the speedy adoption of the new gold mohur standard and the new
device.
The fact of the case is this: The
promulgation of the act for the new gold coinage caused a considerable rise in
the market price of the old standard gold mohur and many merchants speculating
thereon bought up fine gold to send into the mint in the time limited or
purchased old mohurs already coined at enhanced prices with a view to their
resale at a profit.
The postponement of the date of issue of
the new coin caused an immediate fall in the price of the old standard mohurs
and it is to save themselves from loss that the holders now seek to hasten the
order against which they have hitherto uniformly protested.
The proposed device of the new mohur,
Flaxman’s lion, not having met with the approval of Government, will cause a
considerable delay in the period at which the gold coinage can be changed, for,
independently of the chance of other devices being rejected, the head engraver
is now so fully employed with the silver dies, and with the plates for the new
4 per cent loan in Company’s rupees, that he may not be able to touch the gold
matrix for a couple of months.
Moreover, the lion (which was prepared
some months ago) was copied from the original of a superior English artist as
have been all the pictorial devices hitherto adopted (Viz
the head, the wreath and the Company’s arms). To execute therefore a new design
altogether will occupy much more time, unless indeed the Honorable
the Governor of India in Council should be induced to sanction the adoption of
the “Britannia” of the half penny or the “Royal arms on drapery”, so richly
executed on the latest gold and silver coins of England, as the reverse for the
mohur.
I have the honor to submit specimens of
these coins as noted below together with the sketches formerly submitted in
order that the style to which a preference would be given may be made
known to the Committee and thus time be saved in their selection.
The Committee has already urged as a
strong objection to the wreath device that any similarity to the silver coin
will endanger the fraudulent conversion of the less into the more valuable
price by a coating of gold. It was expressly for this reason that a superior
design “more in the fashion of a medal and embracing the very highest efforts
of the die cutter” was recommended for the gold in the note on the general device
of the Indian coin submitted with the Committee’s letter of the 15th
April 1834, which note I am directed to request you to bring once more to the
notice of the members of Government as it contains a strong opinion from
professional men against the device of the Company’s arms, which the Committee
had in consequence recommended should be confined to the Honorable
Company’s copper coin.
[5]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, December 1835, No 1
Letter from Government to the Mint
Committee dated
I am directed by the Governor General of
India to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 16th
instant with its accompaniments and in reply to state that under the
circumstances represented from which it appears that it will lead to considerable
further delay to prepare and execute dies with a new device for the gold coin
proposed to be issued, whereas the coinage of double mohurs can immediately be
commenced to answer the requisitions of gold bullion merchants if the die, cut
with the device of a lion according to the design of Flaxman, be adopted, the
Governor General of India in Council has been induced to waive his objection to
the representation of an animal upon the gold coins of India and to approve the
adoption of this device.
The Committee will accordingly take
measures for issuing gold coins with the device stated and the requisite notice
will be given as required by the Act XVII of this year