54 E. Thurston — History of the East India Company Coinage. [No. 1, 
4. To enquire into the state of the cojiper coinage. 
5. To state their sentiments on the practicability and expediency 
of coining the gold moliars, rupees and pice, or either of those coins, 
with machinery of similar construction to that in use in the mints in 
Europe. 
On May 14th, 1792, the Mint Master informed the Committee that 
Patna, Murshidabad. J , 6 ^d received _ orders from the Governor- 
Oeneral to establish mints at Patna and Mur- 
shidabad, to facilitate the conversion of the various species of silver 
coins current in the several districts into sikka rupees. 
A new gold mohar and sikka rupee of the current coinage were 
laid before the Committee, who were of opinion that the size, shape, 
and impression of the mohar were perfect, and equal, if not superior' 
to the newest English guinea, or any of the gold coins in Europe, the die 
being precisely the same size as the coin, which consequently bore the 
whole legend, the letters being cut flat, and the coin being difficult to 
drill without defacing it, owing to its being milled and of proper thick- 
ness. With respect to the rupee, the Committee considered that it was 
very defective both with regard to its size, thickness, and impression, 
which was struck with a die of twice the circumference of the coin, so 
that only a part of the impression appeared on the coin. The letters 
were considered to be too prominent, and liable to injury from common 
wear and filing, and the thickness of the coin and absence of milling 
rendered it liable to be easily filed, bored, and defaced. The Committee, 
therefore, recommended that the rupee should be coined in every res- 
pect in the same manner as the gold mohar. 
In the Calcutta Mint Committee’s Proceedings, 1792, the following 
Benares. historical sketch of the Benares mint (con- 
cerning which great confusion exists) by Mr. 
Barlow, who had been deputed in 1787 to enquire into the trade and 
coinage of Benares, is placed on record. 
A mint was first established at Benares in the 15th year of the 
reign of Muhammad Shah (1734). The assay of the rupee was fixed 
at 22 chauwals, but, by the connivance of the Superintendents of the 
mint, it was debased to 32 chauwals at different periods before the 30th 
and last year of the reign. 
During the first three years of the reign of Ahmad Shah 
(1748-50) the mint was under the charge of Raja Balwant Singh, who 
increased the duties on the coinage by attaching the fees of the officers 
of the mint, and establishing new ones to the same amount. In the 
1st year the assay was kept up to 22 chauwals, but in the 2nd and 3rd 
years the Raja farmed the mint to one Nandram who, to increase his 
