2019-05-04 Sat

Radhanpur was a Princely State established in 1693 by Khan Jahan, the founder of the Babi dynasty who was the son of the Nawab of Junagadh, Jafar Khan. 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.

Bismillah Khan was the Nawab of Radhanpur from 1874 to 1895 AD. During the reign, he issued silver and copper coins in the denomination of Rupee, Paisa, and Annas. These coins were struck in a round and rectangular shapes from Radhanpur mint. His copper paisa coin depicted the Devanagari character Ji on its obverse face. The silver Annas and Rupee series coins were issued in the name of Queen Victoria. It depicted the Persian legend ‘Nawab Mohammad Bismillah Khan Bahadur Babi’ on its obverse face. The reverse of a coin has legend ‘Mallika-e-Moazzima Qaisar-e-hind Victoria, Zarb Radhanpur’.

Depicted above silver Rupee belongs to his reign. Classical Numismatic Gallery sold this coin for INR 19,000.

Image Source: Classical Numismatic Gallery