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1/4 Ashrafi - Wajid Ali Banaras mint
| Issuer | Kingdom of Awadh |
|---|---|
| Year | 1851-1855 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | The obverse bears a three-line Arabic legend in bold Nastaliq script, divided by horizontal ruled lines across the coin's field. The upper register reads 'Sultan 'Alam wa Zaman' (Sultan of the World and the Age), the central register bears the ruler's name 'Muhammad Wajid Ali Shah', and the lower register carries the title 'Badshah' (Emperor). The calligraphy is executed in the florid Mughal-derived style characteristic of Awadh gold coinage, with lively seriffed strokes filling the flan to its margins. |
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| Obverse lettering | سلطان عالم و زمان محمد واجد علی شاه بادشاه |
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| Additional information |
Wajid Ali Shah's reign over Awadh was among the most culturally rich and politically precarious of any Indian princely state in the nineteenth century. The British East India Company had been systematically undermining Awadhi autonomy for decades before finally annexing the kingdom outright in February 1856 — meaning this coin's production window closed not by any natural end of reign but by forcible British absorption under the doctrine of lapse and allegations of misgovernance. Wajid Ali was exiled to Calcutta, where he died in 1887 never having returned.
The Banaras mint attribution for this type distinguishes it from Lucknow-struck issues of the same reign.