THE ONLY KNOWN GENUINE INDIAN GOLD RUPEE COIN BEARING THE UNCROWNED PORTRAIT OF EDWARD VII FETCHES A HAMMER PRICE OF £95,000 AT NOONANS IN PART II OF THE PUDDESTER COLLECTION

The only known Indian gold rupee coin bearing the uncrowned portrait of Edward VII sold for a hammer price of £95,000 – almost five times its pre-sale estimate - at Noonans Mayfair on the first day of a two-day sale (Tuesday and Wednesday, October 1 & 2, 2024). The coin, which was bought by a collector from Hong Kong, was from Part II of the Puddester Collection which realised a hammer price of £1,703,045 – almost £1 million more than the pre-sale top estimate.

As Peter Preston-Morley, Special Projects Director (Numismatics) at Noonans added: “This was a unique original striking in gold of an Edward VII rupee, dating from 1903 from the Calcutta mint. Nothing has been recorded of this type before and the background to this exceptional piece is not known, but it can only be assumed that the original owner was a high-ranking official at the Calcutta mint, perhaps its Master, Col. Sir Buchanan Scott (1850-1937), who was in post from 1897 to 1904” [lot 1191].

Among the other highlights of the sale that comprised 1,181 coins that were sold in just under 700 lots was an excessively rare experimental silver rupee of 1939 from the reign of George VI. Believed to be the finest of the few known specimens in private hands, it sold for a hammer price of £60,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £20,000-30,000 and was bought by an Indian private collector [lot 1229].

A complete 8-coin 1861 pattern set that had once been part of the Sir John Wheeler Collection sold for a hammer price of £55,000. Each bearing a portrait of Queen Victoria and including a silver rupee, it is thought that the half- and quarter-rupees, and the 2 annas, were most likely Calcutta mint products, while the other coins almost certainly emanated from the Royal Mint. Bought by a British collector, they were expected to fetch £14,000-18,000 [lot 1069].

Also selling for a hammer price of £55,000 was an exceptionally rare 1863 silver proof pattern rupee, produced at the Royal Mint against an estimate of £9,000-12,000. It is believed that a tiny number of 1863-dated rupees, depicting the effigy of Victoria in slightly lower relief and with other minor detail differences, were struck in London prior to the tools being despatched to India. It too was bought by a British collector [lot 1108].

Mr Preston-Morley added: “We were exceptionally pleased with the result of the second part of the Puddester Collection which was 100% sold in a 12-hour bidding extravaganza. Buyers participated from every continent across the globe, which demonstrates that Indian coins are now collected more keenly than ever, not just in the Asian sub-continent. The collection is vast, and this is the second of nine auctions that Noonans will be staging over the next few years. So far, the first two parts have grossed a hammer price of £3,287,240. Mr Puddester, who lives in Canada and started collecting in the 1970s, hopes that this and the succeeding auctions will continue to encourage a new generation of enthusiasts to build their own collections within India and further afield.”