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MADRAS PRESIDENCY: AR 1/5 rupee (fanam) (2.28g) (Arkat), XF-AU

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Indian Coins - Colonial Start Price:180.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 300.00 USD
MADRAS PRESIDENCY: AR 1/5 rupee (fanam) (2.28g) (Arkat), XF-AU
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[?]Live Online Auction Starts In 2025 Sep 18 @ 09:00 (UTC-07:00 : PDT/MST)
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MADRAS PRESIDENCY: AR 1/5 rupee (fanam) (2.28g) (Arkat), Stv-, KM-, in the name of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah; dated examples bear the regnal years 10, 11, and 13, which correspond to 1728-1732, a decade before the East India Company received formal permission to strike coins with the mint name Arkat (Arcot) in 1742 (regnal year 24 of Muhammad Shah); extremely rare, XF-AU, RRR, ex Ian Todd Collection. Only 3 examples cited on CoinArchives, sold in our auctions 20, lots 1326-1327, and 21, lot 1201, described as purely Mughal issues, lacking further information at the time. The actual issuer remains controversial. This denomination was produced solely for use in the Malabar Coast, first struck by the Bombay Presidency mint, presumably at Bombay, starting early in the reign of Muhammad Shah. Mughal authority was already diminishing and it seems very unlikely that they would have struck coins for Malabar use. Pridmore calls these coins issues of the Nawabs of Arcot, as they were produced before 1742. However, many coins bearing the mint name Arkat were struck at various locations, and that leaves the possibility that the Madras Presidency produced them briefly outside of Arcot, perhaps at "Chinapatan", which was the mint on Madras Presidency silver coinage since 1692. The overall style is almost identical to the Chinapatan rupees of the same period in the name of Muhammad Shah. They may have been produced without formal authorization, quickly abandoned as the Bombay 1/5 rupee issues became available.