2018-07-26 Thu

One of the most beautiful Maratha coin, popularly known as the 'Ganapati-Pantapradhan rupee', was struck by the Patwardhans of Miraj. These coins were issued to indicate their loyalty to the Peshwa by explicitly mentioning the Marathi version of his title on it. It is likely to have been struck when the Patwardhans were drawn into a conflict with the Chhatrapatis of Kolhapur during the late 18th century - the date 1202 which is most probably in the Fasli Era, corresponds to 1792AD.

The coins were minted at Murtazabad (Miraj) mint. The obverse of a coin inscribed with the legend ‘Shah Alam Bahadur Badshah Ghazi’ in Persian script and ‘Shri Ganapati’ in Devanagari and date 1202 below. The reverse of a coin bores a Persian legend ‘Julus formula with mint-name, and Devanagari legend ‘Shri Pantapradhan’.

This coin is one of the great rarities of India and sold for 3,60,000 by Classical Numismatic Gallery.

Image Source: Classical Numismatic Gallery