Watch List notes:

British East India Company: A bronze seal matrix naming Edward Stephenson, dated 1126h, year 3, 18.5 x 14mm, extremely fine. Edward Stephenson (c. 1691 – 7 September 1768) was an English EIC administrator and ambassador who served as President of Bengal for one day from 17-18 September 1728. He was originally from Keswick where he returned after his EIC service, to a modest land holding. In January 1714 Stephenson was chosen, together with John Surman, to form a two-man embassy from the Governor of Fort Marlborough to the Court of Farrukhsiyar, with the objective of securing favourable trading rights with the new emperor. (The Early Annals of the British in Bengal, Vol II, Part I p 154). While there however they witnessed and reported the horrific mass execution of Banda Singh Bahadur and so many other Sikhs - arguably the greatest display of commitment to faith in Sikh history: 'It is not a little remarkable, with patience they undergo their fate, and to the last it has not been found that one apostatized from this new formed religion.' (Letter from Edward Stephenson to Robert Hedges, President and Governor of Fort William, Bengal, dated 10 March 1716: The Early Annals of the British in Bengal, Vol II, Part II, "The Surman Embassy", Letter XII (I), 119. This is the first EIC report of these events. The seal is written in Persian and dated 1126h, year 3 which equates to AD 1715-16. The inclusion of an Islamic date and regnal year implies that it was provided by the Mughal court for Stephenson's use presumably in ratifying contracts and agreements drawn up during his visit.
(200-400 GBP)