Coins In Lucknow Mus. Vol 01 [56 MB - IndianCoins.org

49OSverseS ^JlcX.ReverseIn a letter from the British Resident at Bangalore, dated 1816.13th September 1816, concerning the Surat Rupees in circulationin the Province of Mysore it is stated that " The Surat Rupee:was originally imported into the Mysore country by the troops ofHyder Ali Khan, and by the soucars who returned from Malabarwith his army after the capture of Calicut in or about the year 1 766,but the currency was very limited until the conquest of Seringapatam,when that coin became somewhat more common in theseprovinces. As there was not any considerable commercial intercoursebetween Malabar and Canara and Mysore for several yearsafter the fall of Seriugapatam, the amount of the circulation inSoorat Rupees was never extensive until 1808."In 1817 considerable correspondence took place as to the estab- 1817.lishment of a mint by the French Company at Pondicherry. Itwas proposed that, with a view to simplifying accounts and removingany inconvenience which might arise from the establishmentof the French Mint, the rupees to be coined at Pondicherry shouldbe of precisely the same weight and value as those struck at Madrasand at that time current in the territories of the Honorable Company.But to this proposition the Madras Government replied tothe effect that it seemed scarcely necessary to express the expectationof the Governor- General in Council that the impression on theFrench coin should be such as to render it easily distinguishablefrom the coinage of the British Government, and that, were themintage at Pondicherry to be after the pattern of the coins struckby the British Government, as there seemed grounds for imaginingmight have been in contemplation, the British Government wouldin effect be made to answer for the intrinsic work of a currency,which it would have no means of regulating. In conformity withthe instruction of the British Government, the following specimensof the coins struck at Pondicherry were forwarded by the BritishConsul on June 12th, 1817 :One Rupee.HalfDouble Fauam.Single ,,of whicheight were equivalent to a Rupee.Half Fan am.One Doodee.HalfOne Cash, of whichsixty-four were equivalent to a Fanara.A letter from the Director of the Pondicherry Mint, bearingthe same date, states that " I have the honor to send you eightspecimens of the species (of coins) we have coined sinco the restorationof the place of Pondicherry to the French Government,viz. :