1 Rupee - Shah Alam II Kora mint

Shah Alam II issued coins in his own name from 1759, but during the earlier years of this type's production he was still Mirza Ali Gauhar — a Mughal prince in flight, briefly allied with various powers against the expanding British presence. The Marathas, who controlled Kora at various points during this period, struck rupees in his name as a political instrument, asserting Mughal legitimacy while exercising the actual administrative and military authority themselves. It was a common fiction of the age: the emperor's name on the coin, someone else's army in the field.