2026-06-17 Wed

The East India Company (EIC) established trading posts in the Mughal Bengal Subah in the early 1600s. In 1690, Job Charnock founded a factory in the villages of Sutanuti, Gobindapur, and Kalikata on the banks of the Hooghly River. These settlements eventually grew into the city of Calcutta.

Fort William was constructed around 1696–1700 and became the administrative seat of the Bengal Presidency around 1700. It was one of the three major presidencies of EIC. Bengal quickly emerged as the most lucrative due to its rich agriculture, thriving textile industry, and strategic trade networks.

Bengal Presidency hammered silver coins were minted with persian script in the name of nominal Shah Alam II. Important mints included Alinagar Kalkatah (Calcutta), Azimabad (Patna), Banaras (Varanasi), Jahangirnagar (Dacca), and Murshidabad.

The monetary system followed 3 pies eqvivalent to 1 Pice (paisa), 6 paisa = Anna, 16 Anna = 1 Rupee system. The copper coins were minted in the denominations of 1/2 Pice, Pice, 2 Pice, 1/2 Anna. The silver denominatins started from lowest denomination of 1/16 rupee.

The obverse of the above copper coin weighing 6.30g features Persian legend Sanah Julus Shah Alam Badshah, with the regnal year (RY) 37. The reverse displays the value in trilingual inscriptions i.e., Bengali on top, Persian in middle, Devanagari at bottom, typically reading “Ek Pai Sikka” or “One Pice".