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Numismatica Genevensis SA
Auction 11  18 Nov 2019
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Lot 26

Starting price: 15 000 CHF
Price realized: 18 000 CHF
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A very rare "Nazarana" Mohur.
Abu-Muzaffar Jalal al-din Shah Alam II (1173-1221AH/1759-1806CE). AV presentation Nazarana Mohur AH 1220, regnal year 48 (1805/6 CE), Dar al-Khilafat Shahjahanabad. Inscription in Persian, parasol (chatra) and date in mid-fiels, all within wreath composed of roses, thistles and shamrocks / Inscription in Persan all within wreath composed of roses, thistles and shamrocks. 10,72g. BMC Mughal 1111 var. (date); KM 722; Fr. 844
Good extremely fine and extremely rare.
From the collections of M. Louis Teller (until 1987) and Dr. Lawrence A. Adams, auction CNG Triton XIX (4 January 2016), 2410.
By the time this coin was struck, in the year before Shah Alam's death in AH 1221 (1805/6 CE), the Mughal rulers had ceased to issue currency coinage Mohurs in their own names. In their place they struck small issues of special Mohurs whose legends were inscribed on full flan. These rare issues intended for presentation are known as Nazarana. The fields were inscribed with full legends on both obverse and reverse and these were surrounded by borders of symbols associated with the British Raj - roses for England, thistles for Scotland and shamrocks for Ireland. These coins were obviously not intended for local use, but to emphasise the rule of the East India Company over the territories of the Mughal Empire. This is the only occasion on which such symbolism was used on the Mughal coinage. The pieces would have been given as gifts to high government officials to make it clear to them who was actually in power over the Mughal dynasty.
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