Specimen strikes produced for the East India Company in this period were almost certainly intended as presentation pieces — submitted to Company directors in London or distributed among senior officials as proofs of the Madras Presidency's minting output. The gilding on copper functioned as a display convention, not a monetary one, signaling this piece was never meant to pass between hands in trade.
Specimen strikes produced for the East India Company in this period were almost certainly intended as presentation pieces — submitted to Company directors in London or distributed among senior officials as proofs of the Madras Presidency's minting output. The gilding on copper functioned as a display convention, not a monetary one, signaling this piece was never meant to pass between hands in trade.