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1 Pice - Shah Alam II
| Issuer | Bengal Presidency |
|---|---|
| Year | 1831 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Paisa = 1/4 Anna = 1⁄64 Rupee |
| 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 |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays the denomination inscribed in three regional scripts arranged in horizontal registers across the coin field, reflecting the multilingual commercial environment of early nineteenth-century Bengal. The uppermost register presents the legend in Bengali script, the central register in Persian Nastaliq script, and the lower register in Gujarati script, each reading 'One Pie Coin' in their respective languages. This trilingual presentation was a deliberate administrative choice by the Bengal Presidency to facilitate recognition of the coin's value across diverse trading communities. The field is plain with no additional ornamental devices or border decoration. |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Shah Alam II died in 1806, yet the Bengal Presidency continued striking coins in his name for decades afterward — a bureaucratic fiction maintained to avoid disrupting bazaar acceptance in markets accustomed to Mughal-style coinage. By 1831, the East India Company was effectively running a ghost emperor's mint, the fiction so entrenched that abandoning it carried genuine commercial risk. The practice only ended when Company authorities felt confident enough in their own monetary authority to retire the Mughal name entirely.