1893.] E. Tlmrston — History of the East India Company Coinage. 67 
the provinces ceded by the Nawab Vizier to the English East India 
Company, and into the conquered Provinces of the Nawab and on the 
right bank of the river Jumna, including the Zillali of Bundelkhand, to 
be denominated the Lucknow sikka rupee of the 45tli san, struck 
at Earrukhabad, corresponding in weight and standard with the sikka 
rupee at present struck at Lucknow in the dominions of the Nawab 
Vizier; and has it in contemplation to establish a new copper coin in 
the provinces above-mentioned, of an uniform weight, to consist of pure 
copper.” 
1806. In 1806 the Mint Master at Benares, in a report on the 
copper currency of the Benares Province, stat- 
Benares. e <j that “ there is no regulation for the weight, 
size, or impression of pice that can be the least check on any person 
making them privately without fear of detection. A great part of the 
pice now in circulation have been made in Oudh, the Riwa Raja’s 
country, and other places, and smuggled into circulation.” He, accord- 
ingly, suggested for the consideration of Government a new copper 
coinage (of which specimens were forwarded) to consist of : — 
Value. 
Number to tbe 
rupee. 
Weight: Grains 
troy. 
Diameter, 
Inches. 
Double Pice. 
32 
240 
1 | 
Single „ 
64 
120 
1 
Half „ 
128 
60 
5. 
4 
Quarter „ 
256 
30 
5 
1 O 
“ If,” the Mint Master wrote, “ the machinery of the Calcutta mint 
could be used in laminating the derabs, it would greatly reduce the 
expense of making the pice, but I would by no means advise the 
impression being stamped in Calcutta, as the prejudices of the Natives 
in Benares should be conceded to.” 
In a letter dated 10th December, 1806, the Governor General, in 
forwarding a letter from the Court of Directors 
General. concerning a plan for one general coinage for 
the Company’s possession, expressed his opinion that the coins should 
be struck in the name of the king of Delhi, and not of the Company 
with their arms, as proposed by the Court. In the letter referred to, 
of which the following is a precis, the Court of Directors wrote as 
