Bikanir's copper coinage of the 1890s was struck under the authority of Maharaja Dungar Singh, whose reign saw the state navigate increasingly intrusive British paramountcy while retaining the nominal right to issue its own currency — a privilege jealously maintained by Rajputana's princely courts. By 1894, the Government of India had been tightening control over subsidiary coinage across the subcontinent, making each issue from a state mint a quietly political act.
KM#70 is among the scarcer Bikanir copper types; the state's output was modest and local circulation was often hard on low-denomination pieces.
Bikanir's copper coinage of the 1890s was struck under the authority of Maharaja Dungar Singh, whose reign saw the state navigate increasingly intrusive British paramountcy while retaining the nominal right to issue its own currency — a privilege jealously maintained by Rajputana's princely courts. By 1894, the Government of India had been tightening control over subsidiary coinage across the subcontinent, making each issue from a state mint a quietly political act.
KM#70 is among the scarcer Bikanir copper types; the state's output was modest and local circulation was often hard on low-denomination pieces.