Baldwin's London Auction 71 Baldwin's London auction 71 offers a spectacular array of Indian, Islamic and Latin-American coinage. Including the Yashoda Singh Collection of Indian Coins and the Alan Harley Collection of Latin Ame
COINS. Hyderabad. Mir Mahbub Ali Khan II (1868-1911), Copper Pattern Rupee, AH 1301 Hijra (1883-1884), plain edge, 27.5mm (not listed in KM). Choice lustrous about uncirculated, probably unique. A presentation piece most likely for the investiture of the Nizam of Hyderabad. No regnal year appears on the coin, possibly because it was felt impolite to remind the ruler at his investiture that he had had a regent for some years. An exceedingly rare and historically important coin.
Estimate: £15,000-25,000
1489 INDIAN COINS. East India Company, Bombay Presidency, VIP Proof Set, 1834, Bombay Mint, comprising three silver and three copper coins, possibly struck to mark the first complete coinage in 1834 by the new Bombay Mint, or in 1835 for the end of local Presidency coinage. All in PCGS holders and graded: Silver Rupee, dated AH1215, graded PR67 : Silver ½-Rupee, dated AH1215, graded PR67+; Silver ¼-Rupee, dated AH1215, graded PR67; Copper ½-Anna, dated 1834, graded PR65BN; Copper ¼-Anna, dated 1833, graded PR66RB; Copper Pie, dated 1833, graded PR66RB This Six-piece set of Proof Strikings is exceedingly rare and historically important. According to Major Fred Pridmore’s catalogue of East India Company coinage, Bombay was the last of the three presidency mints to adopt machinery, Madras and Bengal having done so many years earlier. Construction of the new mint began in 1824 and was completed in 1829. Despite the existence of a large 1828 medal commemorating the opening of the mint, the first coins, ¼-Anna (KM 231; Pr 205) were not struck until November 1830, followed by the Pie (KM 230; P. 210) in 1831. A few proofs of a ½-Anna dated 1832 were made in 1833 for examination by the mint committee, but the design (KM250; Pr 204) was never adopted for circulation. Silver coinage at the mint began with the rupee denomination in a slightly revised design, these struck from dies prepared at the Bombay mint, in the second half of 1832. The half and quarter rupees must have been struck shortly afterwards, as they are mentioned in a proclamation of 17 October 1832 quoted by Pridmore. The dates of the silver coins in this set are meaningless. The design was copied from an earlier coin. The date AH1215 corresponds to 1800-1801 AD. Regnal year 46, referring to Emperor Shah Alam (ruled 1759-1806), was a fixed regnal year on coins produced under British control. It was supposed to refer to the year 1800, but Shah Alam’s 46th year was actually 1803. The British had miscalculated the date. Dies for a redesigned copper coinage were prepared at the Calcutta Mint and sent to the Bombay Mint in February 1834. Pridmore quotes from a remarkable document which records the names of the engravers for each denomination: “On the 7th February 1834 the Calcutta mint master reported completion [of the new dies] to the Calcutta mint committee and detailed the difficulties experienced. He also records by name the persons responsible for the various denominations: Half Anna - Mr. Delacombe. European map engraver. A
