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2 Fanams
| Issuer | Madras Presidency |
|---|---|
| Year | 1764 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pagoda (1639-1817) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays a large, bold raised oval or vesica-shaped device occupying the majority of the field, formed by two intersecting curved raised lines creating a leaf or eye-shaped central motif — characteristic of the Madras Presidency fanam reverse type associated with KM#308. The design is executed with the typical boldness and simplicity of South Indian hammered silver coinage, with no surrounding legend or inscription. The flan edges are irregular and show tool marks consistent with hand-hammered production at the Madras Mint. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Madras Presidency fanams of this period occupy an awkward transitional moment: the East India Company was consolidating its territorial grip following the Carnatic Wars, yet continued striking coinage that owed more to Mughal and south Indian convention than to any British monetary logic. The fanam had circulated across the Coromandel Coast for centuries before the Company touched it, and the 1764 issue represents one of the earliest attempts to regularize what had been a chaotic patchwork of local silver denominations.
The Stevens reference (Stev2#1.24) places this among the earlier Company fanams before the 1807 monetary reforms rationalized the Madras coinage system entirely.