Travancore ME1112 1/4 rupee
This specimen was lot 591 in Stephen Album sale 50 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2024), where it sold for $228. The catalog description[1] noted, "TRAVANCORE: Bala Rama Varma II, 1924-1949, AR 1/4 rupee, ME1112 (1937), a wonderful mint state example! NGC graded MS64." This one year type is common. Travancore was a princely state on the SW tip of India adjacent to the Madras presidency. The SCWC reports the weight of this type as 0.95 g, which cannot be right. Wikipedia comments,
"Sree Padmanabhadasa Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma GCSI GCIE, popularly known as Sree Chithira Thirunal (1912-91), was the last ruling Maharaja of the Indian princely state of Travancore, in southern India until 1949 and later the Titular Maharajah of Travancore until 1991. His reign is known for several notable reforms that have indelible impact on the society and culture of Kerala."
Chithira Thirunal's most remarkable achievement was a proclamation of 1936 permitting low caste people, previously "untouchable", to enter temples in his domain.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: KM-62.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 50, featuring selections from the Dr. Robert A. Rosenfeld Collection, the Hakim Hamidi Collection, the Almer H. Orr III Collection and the Solar Collection, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2024.
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