Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1649. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

INDIA, British India. East India Company. Bengal Presidency. 1651-1835. AR Rupee (11.49 gm, 1h). Calcutta mint. Dated AH 1171; RY 4 of Alamgir II (1757/8 AD). Persian legend with regnal year and mint / Persian legend with titles of Alamgir II; year [11]71], mintmarks star and rosette. Cf. Pridmore 7 (regnal year 4 not listed, but see pg. 197-198); KM 8.1. Good VF, toned. Rare. ($300)

The British East India Company opened a mint in Calcutta on 13th June 1757, having expelled the Nawab of Bengal from the city earlier in the year. From that date until 28th July, extremely rare mohurs and rupees were struck with the mint name Alinagar Kalkatah (Calcutta, the Port of God). At that point the mint name was changed to simply Kalkatah. The rare regnal year 4 rupees, not known but posited by Pridmore, were struck through 28th April 1758. During this period, on the 27 June 1757, Company forces under Clive routed the Nawab at the battle of Plassey, confirming British control over eastern India.