The Puddester Collection

The Uniform Coinage of India, East India Company: Retro Patterns, Two Mohurs, uniface rev., in copper, lion walking left, palm-tree behind, east india company above, two mohurs, do ashrafi in exergue, edge plain, 32mm, 10.23g. Extremely fine, as made £100-£150

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

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Baldwin/Ma/Gillio/Monetarium Auction 36 (Singapore), 6 March 2003, lot 559.

Owner’s ticket and envelope, “Lion body very pitted. Lettering very similar to 1854 2 Mohur. Urdu for 2 Mohurs differs from that seen on issued mohurs.”

XRF analysis shows the metal content as 99.6% copper, with traces of zinc and tin.

The pieces in this and the following 10 lots cannot rightly be described as patterns or trials as they are modern-day creations (probably made in the 1970s), uniface, and not intended to duplicate past issues, but presumably were made for a Bombay collector, from whose collection they came. Likely unofficially made at the Bombay mint, they may be best described as fantasy pieces. The centrepiece is a representation of Flaxman’s original lion and palm-tree design, which differs from renditions by Robert Gordon (Bombay mint), Kasinath Dass (Calcutta mint) and William Wyon (London and Calcutta) in numerous details, most noticeably in the right front leg of the lion not reaching the plinth and the fact that the tree trunk is missing. The lion’s body is excessively pitted, unlike any other strikes, trial or otherwise, by either mint