Vol. I, No. 4.] Numismatic Supplement. 135 
NETS A 
French Compagnie des Indes. Now, in the 45th regnal year of 
See A.H. 1218 
Shah Alam II A.D. 1803-4 
rupee, France was still a belligerent power, harbouring hostlle de- 
signs against British India, It is thus well-nigh incredible that 
any coin struck in that year by the English at either Bombay 
on Surat, cities remote from the sphere of French influence, should 
bear this acknowledged symbol of French ascendency. 
5. Anautotype representation of the quarter-rupee is included 
in Plate XXXI of the British Museum Catalogue ; but the mint- 
name as there shown—at least in my copy—does not admit of 
decipherment as Mumbai-Strat. 
Rejecting for the above reasons the British Museum version, 
I venture to submit the following as the true rendering of the 
legend that is contained, so far as the plan admits, on the reverse 
of this coin :— 
the year of the issue of this quarter 
ead 
nla 18 UY dhw 
re 
Do” s° 
Tf this reading be correct, the quarter-rupee was struck at the 
Mahistr (Mysore) Mint. At Mysore the French held a dominant 
position till the fall of Seringapatam in 1799, and doubtless the 
crescent on this coin of 1803-4 stands as a survival from that 
earlier period of power. 
A comparison of this quarter-rupee (No. 80) with the Pondi- 
cherry and Machhlipatan rupees (Nos. 128 and 143) reveals the 
fact that all three are of the same (French) type, bearing not only 
the crescent symbol, but an identical obverse impression. In all 
the arrangement of the words of the legend is precisely the same, 
and the row of diamond-shaped clusters, each of four dots, is a dis- 
tinctive feature of the field. 
The Lahor Museum Catalogue registers a full rupee of Mahisir, 
dated the 47th year of Shah ‘Alam II, but unfortunately the 
description given of this rupee is imperfect. It would be interest- 
ing to examine the coin anew, and see whether in type and make 
it is allied to the “ Mumbai-Sirat”” quarter-rupee. 
Query :—In the L. M. Catal. Rodgers’s brief note reads :— 
“Year vie (for tv) and mint yyw «44. Maythis vir 
(P?=v....) stand for the regnal year “4a” prece- 
ded by a rudely formed or misshapen crescent ?* 
Guo. P. Taytor, 
Ahmadabad. 
* T have ascertained from Lahor that the reverse of this coin bears the 
crescent symbol to the left of ye,.—H. N, W. 
