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1/2 Rupee - Alamgir II
| Issuer | Madras Presidency |
|---|---|
| Year | 1807 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays a Persian legend arranged in three horizontal registers within the field, stating the mint name Arcot and the regnal year 6, reading 'Zarb Arcat Sanat 6 Julus Maimanat Manus.' The inscription is rendered in Naskh script, with decorative pellet or rosette ornaments filling the interstices between the text lines. Linear borders frame the legend in the same formal manner as the obverse. The frozen regnal year refers to the reign of Alamgir II, maintained as a convention by the Madras Presidency well beyond the emperor's actual reign. |
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| Edge | Oblique milling |
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| Additional information |
Alamgir II died in 1759, murdered on the orders of his own wazir Imad-ul-Mulk — yet the Madras Presidency continued striking coins in his name for decades afterward, a fiction of Mughal authority that served British commercial interests in maintaining bazaar confidence. By 1807, the East India Company had effectively controlled the subcontinent's major revenue streams for a generation, but local trade still demanded the familiar weight and style of Mughal silver. The coin's date is frozen, its emperor long dead.