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1 Rupee - Shah Alam II
| Issuer | Bengal Presidency |
|---|---|
| Year | 1183-1790 |
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| Value | 1 Rupee |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field bears a multi-line Persian legend in naskh script arranged in two registers separated by a horizontal line, reading the imperial titulature of Shah Alam II: 'Sikka zad bar haft kishwar saya fazl Ilah Hami ud-din Muhammad Shah Alam Badshah.' The AH regnal year appears within or adjacent to the legend. The script is boldly struck in a characteristically irregular hammered style typical of late Mughal Bengal Presidency coinage. No pictorial device is present; the entire obverse is devoted to the royal inscription in florid calligraphic form. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Shah Alam II was the Mughal emperor who, after the Battle of Buxar in 1764, effectively ceded revenue authority over Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa to the East India Company through the Diwani grant of 1765. The Company was then legally obligated to continue striking coins in his name — a fiction of imperial legitimacy that suited both parties. These rupees were produced at the Murshidabad and Calcutta mints for decades after the emperor held any real power over the region, the regnal year frozen or manipulated to maintain the illusion of continuity.
The "1183" refers to a frozen Hijri regnal year, a deliberate minting convention the Company used to avoid triggering political complications that a date change might signal.