Travancore ME1118 fanam
This specimen was lot 2624 in Steve Album Auction 55 (Santa Rosa, CA, May 2026), where it sold for $115. The catalog description[1] noted, "TRAVANCORE: Bala Rama Varma II, 1924-1949, AR fanam, ME1118 (1942), a superb lustrous example! PCGS graded MS65." Travancore was a princely state on the SW tip of India adjacent to the Madras presidency. This type was also struck in ME 1116 and ME 1118. All dates are common. 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: 4,157,000.
Specification: 1.51 g, 0.500 fine silver, 15.7 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-65, Y-45a.
- 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 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.
Link to: