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1 Rupee - Shah Alam II
| Issuer | Bengal Presidency |
|---|---|
| Year | 1812-1814 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Central field bears a multi-line Persian legend arranged in horizontal registers, reading: 'Sikka zad bar haft kishwar saya fazl Ilah Hami ud-din Muhammad Shah Alam Badshah' (Shadow of divine favour, Defender of the religion of Muhammad, Shah Alam Emperor, who has struck his coin over the seven climes), with the regnal date AH 1229 prominently displayed. The inscription is executed in a neat Naskh-style calligraphy characteristic of late Mughal coinage produced at the Banaras mint under Bengal Presidency authority. The legend fills the coin face with no central device, framed by a plain border. |
|---|---|
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| Mint | Muhammadabad Banaras Mint |
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| Additional information |
Shah Alam II had been effectively blind and a pensioner of the East India Company since Ghulam Qadir had him blinded in 1788, yet the Bengal Presidency continued striking rupees in his name for decades after his 1806 death. The practice was deliberate — the Company understood that Indian bazaar commerce ran on Mughal-weight silver, and any disruption to the familiar coinage would invite resistance from merchants and money-changers alike.
The frozen regnal year on these pieces, derived from the Hijri calendar dating to early in Shah Alam's reign, never updated. Every coin in this series was effectively a legal fiction issued by a colonial trading company in the name of an emperor who no longer existed.