1 Cash - Victoria Trial Strike

In the early 1860s, the Royal Mint was actively exploring a coinage system for India that would replace the chaotic patchwork of presidency and princely issues still circulating across the subcontinent. This trial strike was part of that exercise — pattern pieces submitted for official consideration, never approved for circulation. The two KM pattern numbers reflect variants struck in the same exploratory batch, almost certainly differing in die alignment or edge treatment rather than any substantive design change.

The cash denomination itself was already archaic by 1863, a unit of account associated with Madras presidency coinage that the colonial administration was moving to phase out entirely in favor of a unified rupee-anna-pice structure.