Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Fanam
| Issuer | Thanjavur Maratha Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1820-1830 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Fanam (⅐) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse displays a highly stylized abstract design consisting of a prominent crescent or arch motif at the top of the field, beneath which a curved row of raised pellets or bosses arranged in a semicircular pattern fills the lower portion of the flan. This arrangement of pellets is a characteristic feature of South Indian fanam coinage and is thought to represent a highly abstracted anthropomorphic or deity figure in a conventional local tradition. The flan is irregular and the striking is typical of hand-hammered production, with slight unevenness across the surface. No legend or inscription is present. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (1820-1830) |
| Additional information |
The Thanjavur Maratha kingdom by the 1820s was a political fiction — the British East India Company held effective control, and the last raja, Serfoji II, ruled as a pensioner under subsidiary alliance. Coinage continued largely by administrative inertia rather than monetary necessity, which explains why these tiny gold fanams circulated alongside Company issues without any formal demonetization.
Serfoji II died in 1832, and his son Shivaji II was deposed in 1855 when the Company annexed the kingdom under the Doctrine of Lapse, extinguishing the line entirely.