Bengal Presidency, Gold 1/4 Mohur, 3.10gm, in the name of Shah Alam II, AH 1182 / RY 10, Azimabad (Patna 1769-1770) Mint. Dr. P. Stevens - 5.13 (pg. 230). Second known specimen & only known coin of this date, Obv: Couplet in the name of Shah Alam II ' sikka zad bar haft kishwar ba sayah fazl alah / hami din muhammad shah alam badshah, AH date 1182 in the last line. Rev: Legends read, sanah 10 julus maimanat zarb "azimabad' in three lines, a 'cinquefoil' mark to the right of RY.
Very Fine, Extremely Rare.
On 12th August 1765, after East India Company took the control over the mints of Patna (Azimabad), Dacca (Jahingirnagar) & Murshidabad, as mentioned by F.Pridmore ( The Coins of British Common Wealth of Nations Part 4 India, Volume I: East India Company. Presidency Series C1642-1835. London P.199-200). the decade of the 1760's was particularly fraught with scarcity of silver coins and in June 1766, Robert Clive, the Governor of the Company, intoroduced gold coinage as legal tender. The 'Muhr' was authorised and declared to be the equal of 14 sikka rupees. But however, this coinage was increased to 17 annnas sicca weight (190.733 troy grains), along with this half, quarter, eight & one sixteenth gold coins were also ordered to be struck. Discussing the country mints of Patna & Dacca, F.Pridmore mentions that they are Very Rare - only one gold 1/16th Mohur is listed by him for the Patna(Azimabad) mint in (pridmore book no 60 page 234) from the British Museum collection. Later one quarter mohur dated AH 1183/ 11 Ry , from Vienna collection. struck to heavy standards was published by Dr. Shailendra Bhandare ( 2010/ JONS. 205 pg.31.), which was a welcome addition to be the inventory of the very gold coins of the period. The above listed coin offered is the second known piece till now, with the new date AH 1182 / 10 Ry.
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