2017-09-21 Thu

A Princely State was an entity of British India that was not directly governed by British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule.

British had their own monetary system but at least 125 states produced their own coinage, mainly in the period from 1800 to 1900, though the number of them continued to issue coins until 1947. Today, we will explore the history of one such Princely State called Radhanpur.

Radhanpur State was a Princely State in India during the British Empire. It was established by Jafar Khan in the year of 1693.The Nawabs of Radhanpur were Pathans of the Babi family who rose to a high office in the service of Shah Jahan and Murad Bakhsh in Gujarat.

This commemorative gold kori was minted in the reign of Nawab Muhammad Jalaluddin Khan in 1333 AH.

The obverse of this coin depicts the title and name of the King in Persian- Nawab Muhammad Jalal al-Din Khan Bahadur Babi and the reverse depicts a Persian legend, mint name, and Hijri date - Zarb Dar al- Riyasat Radhanpur Sanah H(ijri) 1333.

No gold coin of Radhanpur has ever been offered at an auction. The date on this coin corresponds to November 1914 - October 1915. The most significant event so far, as the history of Radhanpur is concerned, that took place during this period was Nawab Muhammad Jalaluddin's second wedding to H.H. Nawab Shah Begum Sahiba, daughter of Sardar Khan Mohammad Khan Sahib of Amritsar, which took place on11th March 1915. These gold Koris were most likely struck to mark this occasion and to be used in courtly presentation rituals only.

This gold kori was sold for INR 1800000 at Classical Numismatics Gallery on 12th August 2017.