2 Cents Madras mint

The East India Company's Madras copper coinage of the 1820s was produced under the authority of the Madras Presidency, one of three largely autonomous presidencies that maintained their own currencies well into the nineteenth century. The "cent" denomination itself was a deliberate nod to the decimal system being trialed in parts of British India, influenced by the currency reforms already underway in Ceylon and the Straits Settlements. Madras was unusual in persisting with its own copper well after Calcutta had largely adopted a unified standard.

The Soho Mint in Birmingham struck many of these pieces under contract before local production at Madras took over — accounting for minor variation in planchet quality across the date range.