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 Pice - Shah Alam II
| Issuer | Bengal Presidency |
|---|---|
| Year | 1820-1824 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Milled |
| 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 field is divided horizontally into two registers by a bold raised bar. The upper register bears a Persian inscription denoting the denomination, while the lower register carries the equivalent legend in Devanagari script, together identifying the coin as one pice of the Sika (Company) currency. The bold, raised lettering in Nastaliq and Devanagari scripts fills the circular field to the rims, with minimal decorative elements, consistent with the utilitarian character of Bengal Presidency copper coinage of the early nineteenth century. |
| Reverse script | Arabic, Devanagari |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Bengal Presidency coinage of this period was issued under the authority of the East India Company, which had wrested control of Bengal's revenue and administration following the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Shah Alam II, the Mughal emperor whose name this coin formally invokes, had been effectively a pensioner of the Company since the late eighteenth century — his name on the coinage was a political fiction maintained for legitimacy, not a reflection of any actual authority he held. He had died in 1806, meaning this coin was struck a decade or more after the emperor it nominally honors was already in his grave.