1081894 | INDIA-BRITISH. Bombay Presidency. East India Company. AH1215//46 (1832-35) AR VIP Proof Rupee. PCGS PR67. Surat. Edge: Plain. "In the name of Shah Alam II". Persian inscription, couplet / Persian-julus (formula). KM 221. Proof; Pridmore 287.

From a complete set offered by Baldwin's Auctions Ltd (Auction 7, 29 September 2011, Lot 1489) where there described as follows: Despite Pridmore’s reference to other set(s) being known or reported to him, the cataloguer has no record of another set having been offered. It is safe to presume this flawless set is of great rarity.


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Bombay Mint VIP Proof coins were possibly struck to mark the first complete coinage in 1834 by the new Bombay Mint, or in 1835 for the end of local Presidency coinage. According to Major Fred Pridmore’s catalogue of East India Company coinage, Bombay was the last of the three presidency mints to adopt machinery, Madras and Bengal having done so many years earlier. Construction of the new mint began in 1824 and was completed in 1829.

Silver coinage at the mint began with the rupee denomination in a slightly revised design, these struck from dies prepared at the Bombay mint, in the second half of 1832. The half and quarter rupees must have been struck shortly afterwards, as they are mentioned in a proclamation of 17 October 1832 quoted by Pridmore.

The dates of the silver coins in this set are meaningless. The design was copied from an earlier coin. The date AH1215 corresponds to 1800-1801 AD. Regnal year 46, referring to Emperor Shah Alam (ruled 1759-1806), was a fixed regnal year on coins produced under British control. It was supposed to refer to the year 1800, but Shah Alam’s 46th year was actually 1803. The British had miscalculated the date.

These new Bombay Presidency silver coins were, however, doomed. In 1835 the Bombay Mint replaced the native style silver coinage with standard East India Company designs. So the only two years in which all denominations were struck were 1834 and 1835. Accordingly this coin must have been struck in 1834 to mark the first full series of coins produced by the mint or in 1835 as a way to say good bye to the old.

The Rupee coin dated 1215 AH and Regnal Year 46 features an obverse with a fleur-de-lis at the right end of the center panel and in the upper left, near the date, is a branch with four leaves. The meaning of these two symbols, no doubt privy marks, is unknown. One theory suggests the lis may refer to Delacombe, on the assumption that the name is French in origin. Delacombe was known to have engraved the dies for the Half Anna, but Pridmore doesn’t say who engraved the dies for the silver coins.