In April
1835 the Governor General finally selected the design for the rupee. The bust
of the King was to be on the obverse with the legend WILLIAM IIII without the word
KING. The reverse of the coin should show the value in English and Persian
only, and should have a fixed date of 1835 [1].
However, in May Prinsep explained to the
Mint Committee that there were problems in arranging the King’s name without
the word KING, and he submitted sketches to illustrate this point
[2]. The Governor General agreed [3]. In June, the Mint Master, Robert
Saunders, raised the fact that a milled edge would cost more than a plain edge
but this worry was immediately rejected as trifling by the Mint Committee [4] and a final pattern was prepared
sometime between June and August 1835. Ten specimens were sent to Government in
September 1835 and were approved and forwarded to the Board of Directors in
[1]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, April 1835, No 52
Letter from Government to Calcutta Mint
Committee, dated
With reference to the communication
addressed to you from this department under date the 8th instant, I
am directed by the Governor General of India in Council to inform you that it
has been this day resolved to inscribe on the reverse of the new silver coinage
the denomination of value in the English and Persian languages only, and to
have no difference whatever in the dies of the several Presidencies. The year
(1835) of the die will represent the era of the alteration of the coin, and
will not need to be changed until a new coin shall be ordered to be struck.
On the face of the [die] with His Majesty’s
head it will be sufficient to stamp the name of the sovereign ‘William IIII’
without the word King.
[2]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, May 1835, No 8 (see also No 7)
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Committee to Government,
Dated
I am directed by the Mint Committee to
submit the enclosed 12 sketches of the obverse device of the new rupee in order
to take the opinion of the Honorable the Governor General in Council as to the
most suitable distribution of the letters of the inscription ‘WILLIAM IIII’.
There is great difficulty in placing so
short a legend on the coin so as to look well. The officers of the mint express
a preference for the specimens marked No 3 or No 5 on which the name is on the left
and the numeral IIII on the right of the King’s head. None of them equal in
elegance the Latin inscription which runs round the whole margin.
An immediate reply is solicited, as the
preparation of dies for the new coinage is meanwhile necessarily suspended.
[3]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86 May 1835, No 28 (see also No 27)
Letter from Calcutta Mint Committee to
Saunders (Mint Master), dated
I am directed by the Mint Committee to
forward to you, for your information and guidance, the accompanying copy of a
letter from Mr Secretary Bushby of 13th
instant, just received, communicating that the Governor General in Council has
been pleased to select from among the several specimens transmitted to
Government, the one with the inscription ‘WILLIAM IIII KING’ for the obverse of
the new coin for India. You will be pleased to adopt the necessary measures for
preparing the dies and submitting a finished specimen of the coin as soon as
practicable.
[4]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, June 1835, No 41 (see also attachment)
Letter from Robert Saunders to Calcutta
Mint Committee, dated26th June 1835
With reference to the orders of
Government dated the 8th April last and communicated with your
letter of the 23rd of that month directing that the new silver coin
hereafter to be issued from the mint shall be straight milled, I have the honor
to bring to the notice of the Committee the accompanying letter from the
Superintendent of Machinery pointing out the additional expense that will be
incurred by the substitution of that milling for the plain flat milling.
Captain Forbes estimate has been
carefully prepared from the average amount of the charges attending the coinage
of 35 lacks of Madras rupees at this mint in 1833 which bore a milling similar
to that now proposed to be introduced, compared with those attending the
coinage of Calcutta and Farruckabad rupees with plain flat millings during the
same period, and experience shews that the expense in the articles of Dies and
Collars is against the former in the proportion of about 38 per cent or Sicca Rs 24 on each lack. Moreover in consequence of the greater
number of stoppages in the press room to replace dies and collars when worn out
or broken, the average produce of the room will, he estimates, be reduced from
250,000 pieces to less than 200,000 in a working day of seven hours, whereby
the productive power of the mint will be reduced about one fifth.
The probable additional expense
attending the substitution of the fluted for plain milling was brought to the
notice of the Committee and of Government by Captain Forbes & myself in our
report of the 26th April 1830, but as the subsequent coinage of the
Madras rupees has afforded certain data on which the relative expenses may be
calculated, I think it right to bring the circumstance again to the notice of
the Committee in order that Government having the facts before them, may decide
whether the advantage anticipated from the adoption of the fluted milling, be
sufficient to counterbalance the certain additional expense.
Bengal Consultations. IOR
P/162/86, June 1836, No 42
Letter from the Calcutta Mint Committee
to Saunders, dated
I am directed by the Mint Committee to
communicate for your information and guidance the accompanying resolutions of
Government in regard to the future gold and silver coinage of British India and
in reference to para 4 to request that no time may be lost in forwarding for
submission the required specimens of the new mohur and rupee, as well as the
multiples and fractions of each when the dies of the latter shall have been
cut.
You will perceive by the 4th
para that Government has finally adopted the upright milling. The Committee
does not therefore deem it necessary to call its attention to the circumstances
of additional trouble and trifling increase of contingent charge for dies and
collars which are shewn by the statement of Captain Forbes accompanying your
letter of 26th June to be unavoidable if the milled be substituted
for the plain edge.
Could you however conveniently prepare
specimens of the plain edge and of a lettered milling indented on the plain as
seen on the French and American coins, it will be desirable to place the whole
under the inspection of the Governor General in Council. This however need not
impede your preparations for an immediate issue of the rupee now sanctioned.
[5]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, September 1835, No 1
Letter from the Mint Committee to Government dated 1st
September 1835.
I am directed by the Mint Committee to forward to you for submission
to the Honorable the Governor General in Council, the accompanying (10)
specimens of the new rupee in order that the device and general appearance may
be finally approved by Government before proceeding to press with the large
quantity of blanks now ready for coinage in the mint.
[6]
Bengal Consultations. IOR P/162/86, September 1835, No 17
Letter from Government to Mint Committee
dated
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter dated the 1st instant with the 10 specimens, therein
mentioned, of the new rupee and to inform you that the Honorable the Governor
General in Council is pleased to approve the device and general appearance of
the coin, and to sanction the alterations, on the reverse, of the design before
approved. The specimens will be transmitted to the Court of Directors.