Kutch AH 995 1/2 rupee
This specimen was lot 2237 in Stephen Album sale 27 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2017), where it did not sell. The catalog description[1] noted, "KUTCH: Bharmaji I, 1585-1631, AR ½ rupee, AH995. In the name of Muhammad bin Latif, superb strike, About Unc, R, ex Paul Stevens Collection. "Ra" numbers refer to the new work by Dilip Rajgor, Standard Catalogue of Coins of Kutch State." The Indian Princely State of Kutch is located in a flat expanse of salt marshlands on the western border of India along the Arabian Sea. To the west is the Pakistani province of Sind. Though Kutch never could support a large population nor was endowed with natural resources, it remained a power due to its navy and notoriety as a transport hub for pilgrimage to Mecca. Partly due to its geographic isolation, Kutch was able to maintain a unique coinage system from its beginnings through to independence from the British in 1947. The first Kutch coins were modelled after those of Nawanagar, from which Kutch officially gained its autonomy in 1617 AD. This was also the year that Kutch obtained the rights to produce coinage in the name of its own rulers.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 5.62 g.
Catalog reference: Ra-20.1.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 27, featuring the Dr. Paul Stevens Collection of Indian Coins, Part VI, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2016.
Link to:
- Kutch AH 978 kori KM-5
- Coins and currency dated 1586
- return to coins of India, Kutch