Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3067 6-7 Sep 2018
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India
Bengal Presidency silver Trial "Murshidabad" Rupee Year 19 [Frozen Date, c. 1818-19] XF40 ANACS, Calcutta mint, Prid-Unl., Stevens-6.10, Wiggins "Another Issue of the 19 San Sikka Rupee of the Calcutta Mint?" (likely this coin). An extremely rare and handsome slate gray trial issue postulated to have preceded the more common 1819 type without the frozen accession year of Shah Alam II (AH 1202) and a rosette of five pellets beneath the bad of badshah (cf. Prid-172). In a November 1989 article published in the ONS Newsletter, K. W. Wiggins proposed that a presumably unique rupee in his collection, in the style of 1793 Murshidabad rupees but with a dot below the bad of badshah, pronounced rims, and a straight-milled edge with 22 stria to the centimeter represented an early "experimental or an unsuccessful issue" which preceded the frozen date rupees struck at the Calcutta mint from 1819 forward. The present example could very likely be this same coin, stemming as it does from Wiggins' own collection, which was sold at least in part by Baldwins in 2001, though the poor quality of the photos in his article make a definitive pairing near impossible. It also appears to possibly be struck on another coin, as traces of an undertype seem visible below the exergal line on the obverse, though the present cataloger has been unable to determine the undertype--a fact which holds up Wiggins' argument that it indeed is a trial. The overall execution, moreover, is superb with a noteworthy crispness to the calligraphy seldom seen in this series. Certainly a piece of intensive interest to collectors of the British Indian series, and likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire as such.
Ex. K. W. Wiggins Collection
HID02901242017
Estimate: 800-1000 USD
Bengal Presidency silver Trial "Murshidabad" Rupee Year 19 [Frozen Date, c. 1818-19] XF40 ANACS, Calcutta mint, Prid-Unl., Stevens-6.10, Wiggins "Another Issue of the 19 San Sikka Rupee of the Calcutta Mint?" (likely this coin). An extremely rare and handsome slate gray trial issue postulated to have preceded the more common 1819 type without the frozen accession year of Shah Alam II (AH 1202) and a rosette of five pellets beneath the bad of badshah (cf. Prid-172). In a November 1989 article published in the ONS Newsletter, K. W. Wiggins proposed that a presumably unique rupee in his collection, in the style of 1793 Murshidabad rupees but with a dot below the bad of badshah, pronounced rims, and a straight-milled edge with 22 stria to the centimeter represented an early "experimental or an unsuccessful issue" which preceded the frozen date rupees struck at the Calcutta mint from 1819 forward. The present example could very likely be this same coin, stemming as it does from Wiggins' own collection, which was sold at least in part by Baldwins in 2001, though the poor quality of the photos in his article make a definitive pairing near impossible. It also appears to possibly be struck on another coin, as traces of an undertype seem visible below the exergal line on the obverse, though the present cataloger has been unable to determine the undertype--a fact which holds up Wiggins' argument that it indeed is a trial. The overall execution, moreover, is superb with a noteworthy crispness to the calligraphy seldom seen in this series. Certainly a piece of intensive interest to collectors of the British Indian series, and likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire as such.
Ex. K. W. Wiggins Collection
HID02901242017
Estimate: 800-1000 USD