The Bengal Presidency rupee of this period was struck under the authority of the East India Company but deliberately designed to pass as a Mughal imperial coin — specifically imitating the frozen regnal year and mint name of Shah Alam II. The Company had no legal authority to issue coinage in its own name and relied on this fiction for decades. Calcutta's mint output during the 1780s was enormous, feeding a vast internal trade economy the Company was rapidly coming to dominate.
KM#106 is part of the "Murshidabad" series, struck well after the actual Murshidabad mint had ceased to be the primary facility.
The Bengal Presidency rupee of this period was struck under the authority of the East India Company but deliberately designed to pass as a Mughal imperial coin — specifically imitating the frozen regnal year and mint name of Shah Alam II. The Company had no legal authority to issue coinage in its own name and relied on this fiction for decades. Calcutta's mint output during the 1780s was enormous, feeding a vast internal trade economy the Company was rapidly coming to dominate.
KM#106 is part of the "Murshidabad" series, struck well after the actual Murshidabad mint had ceased to be the primary facility.