Madras Mint – Early Coinages –Silver, Rupee – Alamgir II (1754 to 1759) – Mint Name: Arcot

Coins with RY 6 are far more common than other dates of Alamgir’s silver coinage. This arises from RY 6 being frozen and the fact that these coins were struck at Madras, Calcutta and Murshidabad and possibly Dacca. Evidence for these coins being struck at Murshidabad comes from letters between the Supravisor (sic) of the Company’s possessions at Dacca and the Resident at Murshidabad in 1770 [1]. The Supravisor at Dacca requested that dies for the Arcot rupees should be sent from Murshidabad. This request was refused with the comment that the Government was anxious to reduce the number of different coins in circulation, and that Murshidabad only struck Arcot rupees occasionally for use at Chittagong. After 1776 Madras continued the issue until 1807.



[1] Murshidabad – Letter Copy-Books of the Resident 1769-1770. Edited by Firminger W.K. (1919). Bengal Secretariat Press. Calcutta