Bombay Presidency ; Silver Rupee ; Issued in the name of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, Bombay Mint (although named as Surat) 1215 AH / RY 46 ;

Description

Bombay Presidency ; Silver Rupee ; Issued in the name of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, Bombay Mint (although named as Surat)
1215 AH / RY 46 ; Weight : 11.48 Grams
This is a unique coin full of contradictions and contains a number of anomalies:
(1) The mint name is given as Surat although that mint was closed in 1815 and the coin was actually struck by the Bombay mint;
(2) The AH date 1215 does not match up to the RY date 46 on the coin; AH 1215 commenced on 25 May 1800 while the 46th julus year of Shah Alam II commenced on 29 July 1803.
(3) Moreover, the Emperor Shah Alam II had already died in 1806!!
Note : A new mint, fitted out with up-to-date minting machinery, was opened at Bombay in 1831 (the old mint being closed on 28 April 1831). The new mint continued the production of coins in the old style until new dies were ready in July 1832. The type is copied from the Bombay Surat rupee but now shows the entire design on all coins. The coins were struck between 1832 and 1834 with the ‘frozen’ names and dates being employed for commercial reasons – to stop money-changers dropping the value of old coins when new ones were issued. Similar coins to this were struck at Calcutta in 1824-1825, the Calcutta coins had edge milling. This issue was replaced by the East-India Company standard rupee for India in 1835 but remained legal tender until 1 June 1878.