The Uniform Coinage of India, East India Company, William IV [temp. Victoria], silver mule Rupee, 1840/35, uncertain mint, rev. II, bust left, f [William Forbes] raised on truncation, william iiii , king ., rev. one rupee, yek rupiya surrounded by laurel wreath with 19 berries, no extra bud or privy mark, east india company around, date below with stop to right, large digits, edge grained, 11.48g/10h (Prid. 39 [Sale, lot 20]; SW 1.49a; KM. 450.5; cf. Fore III, 2362; cf. Baldwin 80, 2840 [= Baldwin 83, 5199]). Obverse fine, reverse good fine, toned, very rare £1,500-£2,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Puddester Collection.

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Format (Birmingham, UK) FPL 17, November 1981 (433).

Owner’s envelope and record card.

After the death of William IV coins bearing the frozen date 1835 continued to struck at Calcutta and Bombay and progress in the preparation of new Victorian dies was slow. An experimental coinage of rupees and their fractions was ordered in May 1840 and it seems likely that these mule rupees, utilising an old Calcutta obverse with raised f on truncation and a reverse with the date modified, were created at this time. The new 1840 coins of Victoria were announced by proclamation on 18 November 1840