Sikh Empire VS1873 rupee KM-66.1
This specimen was lot 2611 in Steve Album Auction 55 (Santa Rosa, CA, May 2026), where it sold for $1,020. The catalog description[1] noted, "SIKH EMPIRE: AR gobindshahi rupee, Lahore, VS1873, nice even strike and beautifully toned, AU." The Sikhs were a religious sect formed in the fifteenth century and lived peacefully under the Mughals until the emperor Jahangir deemed them a threat in the early seventeenth century. Mughal attacks militarized the religion and eventually the Sikhs defeated the Mughals and established an empire in the Punjab, which survived until conquered by the British in 1849. This rupee was struck at the Lahore mint VS1855-1887. It is scarce, despite the many years of production. Lahore was the first mint in the Sikh empire to issue rupees, in VS 1822; Multan was second, in VS 1829.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 10.8-11.2 g, silver, this specimen 11.08 g.
Catalog reference: KM-66.1, Herrli-08.06.04.
- 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 55, featuring Selections from the Swamperbob Gurney Collection of Cap & Ray 8 Reales, the Kenneth A. Bovenkamp Collection of Ottoman Coins and the 1914 Collection of World Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2026.
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