† Coins of India. East India Company. Bom bay Presidency, ½-Pice or ¼-Pice(?), 1820-1821, from the series of copper coins of Southern Concan, Bankot mint, the series has ½-Anna, Pice and ½-Pice listed (see Pridmore 322-327), obv same design as these Concan pieces, with 90% of the design visible on the planchet, rev balemark of the EIC, appears to have been double struck or is an overstrike yet there is no hint of an overstrike on the obverse, 2.84g.Irregular flan, reverse double struck, very fine. Paul Stevens has demonstrated this series of coins issued from 1820-1821 was issued at the mint of Bankot, located in the southern Concan (JONS 179, pp.29-32, 2004). The present coin has a rather crude Hindi legend which is supposed to represent adha paisa – half paisa. The first coinage was stopped in 1822 because specimens sent to Bombay were found to be of lower quality and of slightly lower weight than what they should have been. According to Pridmore, the ½-Pice weighs 3.76g, therefore, at 2.84g, this present coin could be a ¼-Pice despite the legends.However, it is more likely that it is either a typical lower-grade ½-Pice from the mint. Part of the David Fore Collection of British Indian Coins. £200-300
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