Kashmir VS1916 rupee
This specimen was lot 2261 in Steve Album Auction 54 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2026), where it sold for $144. The catalog description[1] noted, "KASHMIR: AR rupee, Srinagar, VS1916, Y-17, bold strike, with the English letters JHS on reverse, XF. It is speculated that the JNS initials represent the Christogram JHS (or IHS), a Latin acronym for Jesus Hominum Salvator – Jesus Savior of Mankind. Reportedly, a Brahmin by the name of Anand in the Dogra court converted to Christianity and then persuaded the Raja to engrave these letters on his coins as a way to please the British and to bring good fortune to the king." The princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was created after the First Anglo-Sikh War, when the East India Company, which had annexed the Kashmir Valley from the Sikhs, then sold it in 1846 to the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh. Altho the region is majority Muslim, the raja was Hindu. The rupee shown here is listed in the SCWC as Y13, not Y17. It was struck VS 1906-1927. Kashmir is today partitioned between India and Pakistan, who have fought several wars over the province.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 10.3-10.8 g, silver, this specimen 10.88 g.
Catalog reference: KM Y13.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Hanbing Feng, Auction 54, featuring selections from the Kenneth A. Bovenkamp Collection of Ottoman Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2025.
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