2019-01-04 Fri

Shivajirao Holkar was a Maharaja of Indore Princely State. He succeeded his father on 17th June 1886 and ruled till 1903 AD. During the reign, he issued silver and copper coins in the denomination of Rupee, Paisa, and Annas series. All these coins were struck at Indore mints and represents various symbol such as Sun face and Bull on its obverse face.

Represented here is trial strike/ OMS pattern of silver Rupee in copper. This extremely rare coin belongs to the reign of Shivaji Rao Holkar. Classical Numismatic Gallery sold a piece for INR 3,90,000 in an auction held on 15th December 2017.

The obverse of a coin depicts the bust of a king wearing Maratha headgear; Devanagari legend around, and date below. The reverse represents coat-of-arms of Indore state, denomination above; INDORE inscribed below.

Indore mint attempted to launch mechanized silver currency in 1896-98 but failed to do so because of the international silver crisis and lack of technical support. Although this coin is struck from the dies of a rupee it was mentioned as a 'Half Anna' coin in 'Studies in Holkar State Coinage', by Bhatt-Sethi-Holkar. It is more likely to have been a trial strike of a pattern. It is possible that these trial strikes escaped into circulation.

Image Source: Classical Numismatic Gallery