Madras (1808) 1/4 pagoda
This specimen was lot 2398 in Stephen Album sale 27 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2017), where it sold for $305.50. The catalog description[1] noted, "MADRAS PRESIDENCY: AR ¼ pagoda, ND (1808). second series, 9 stars either side of the pagoda, NGC graded AU58." Despite the large mintage, this type is scarce. The larger half pagodas attract attention from Latin American collectors as they were made from cut down Spanish colonial portrait dollars. The Madras mint, a facility of the British East India Company, minted pagodas under license from the Mughal emperor since the seventeenth century. This is the first milled type. The assets of the East India Company were transferred to the British government after the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the mint was closed in 1869.
Recorded mintage: 7,092,000.
Specification: 10.58 g, silver, 26.6 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-352. Prid-176.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Stevens, Paul, The Coins of the English East India Company, Presidency Series: A Catalogue and Pricelist. London, Spink & Son Ltd, 2017.
- [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:
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