Vol. X, No. 5.] Numismatic Supplement No. XXII. 166 



[N.S.] 



why Bldar Bakht should have shown Ahmadabad as a mint 

 town and the only one besides the obvious Shahjahanabad is 

 far from clear. But whether the coin bears the name of Ah- 

 madabad or not, I feel perfectly sure from the style of it that 

 it was not minted very far from SJiahjahanabad. The type re- 

 sembles too closely that of its immediate predecessor No. 2498 

 of Bldar Bakht and its immediate successor No. 2500 of Akbar 

 II, for it to be possible that it is anything but a true Mughal 

 coin. It cannot therefore have been actually coined in Ah- 

 madabad, for as we have seen the Peshwa then in possession of 

 the city was minting a series of coins of a particular stamp. 

 The recognition of Shah Jahan III (v. app. No. 8 and 9) is not 

 on the same footing. In his case, the death of 'Alamgir the 

 second was accompanied by the actual proclamation of Shah 

 Jahan as Emperor. Shah "'Alain II, now reckoned as 'Alam- 

 gir's successor by historians, was then in Bihar and remained 

 there some little time before physically asserting his claim to 

 the Imperial throne. It was therefore doubtful for a while 

 which claimant would prevail, and it causes no surprise to find 

 that the Emperor actually proclaimed at Dehli was the one 

 recognized by the Marathas. The latter appear to have ceased 

 coining for some years subsequent to 1175 a.h. 1 and the 

 next coin known is dated a.r. 10 of Shah 'Alam, by which 

 date he had had ample time to become universally acknow- 

 ledged as Emperor. 



For the coin of Bldar 



I think, an exact parallel in Nadir S_hah's issue of 1152 a.h. 

 It is well known that Nadir Shah had no connection with 

 Gujarat. He conquered Dehli and imprisoned the Emperor. 

 Watson (B.G., page 322) says, " except that coin was struck in 

 Nadir's name the collapse of Mughal power caused little change 

 in Gujarat." It is probably just as true to say that the col- 

 lapse of Mughal power caused no change in Gujarat. Ahmada- 

 bad was in joint possession of the powerful Momin Khan and 

 the Maratha Rangojf. " 2 Neither of them was likely to recognize 

 a foreign invader to the extent of striking coin in his name. 

 Nadir Shah is said to have converted a portion of the plunder 

 of Dehli into coin at Shahjahanabad, and from the similarity ot 

 style of the Ahmadabad to the other pieces of the invader, 



Bakht 



1 Two coins have just (June 1913) come to hand one Shah Alam 

 II, a.k. ahad, and the other a.r. 4. both with the plain ankush mark 

 The Marathas did not therefore cease coining as I have supposed, Out 

 either issued coins under the names of the two rival Emperors at once or 

 antedated the Shah 'Alam issue, when the claim of that Emperor was 

 established Vide last remark in Appendix. ... , 



« I venture here to differ from Dr. Taylor (Coma of Ahmadabad 

 J.B.B.R.A.S. 1901) who is of opinion that Nadir's com was *™* at 

 Ahmadabad. I do so with less diffidence as Dr. Taylor has not ad. , anced 

 the possibility of the coins being struck elsewhere than at Ahmaclaoaa. 



