1904.] Numismatic Supplement. 109 
Rev' 
l® 
This rupee turned up in a find of 129 coins in the Bhandara 
district of the Central Provinces. The mint may probably be identi¬ 
fied with Purbandar, commonly spelt Porbandar, a town on the west 
coast of Kathiawar, long. 70° lat. 22° and a port of importance in early 
times : cf. Elliot’sfHistory of India, Vol. I, p. 444. It is not far from 
Junagarh which was a well-known mint in the reign of Aurangzeb, 
Two other coins only from this mint are known—one in the Cabinet 
of Mr. Gr. B. Bleazby of Allahabad, and the other in the Cabinet of 
Dr. Gr. P. Taylor of Ahmadabad. The former is of the reign of Shah 
Alam Bahadur Shah, the latter of Farrukhsiyar dated A. H. 1128— 
H. N. Wright. 
28. Coins of the Murshidabad Mint between 1748 and 1793 A.D. 
(With plate.) 
Great difficulty has always been felt in distinguishing between the 
native coinage of the Murshidabad mint during the early days of the 
East India Company’s administration of Bengal and the Company’s 
own coinage. There appears to be no record shewing exactly when the 
native coinage ended and the Company’s issues began. 
A few facts only stand out definitely. 
We know that in 1757, after the recapture of Calcutta, the Company 
received permission to establish a mint in Calcutta, and coins are known 
of 1171 A.H. (1757-8) bearing the mint name “ Calcutta. ” 
It is further known that in 1765 (1178-79), after the battle of 
Buxar, the Company assumed the right of coinage in Bengal. 
From Regulation XXXV of 1793 we learn that the mints at “ Patna, 
Dacca and Murshidabad ” were withdrawn “ soon after the commence¬ 
ment of the Company’s administration, ” x and that the coinage of sicca 
rupees was confined thereafter to Calcutta. The latest rupee, so far 
1 Mr. Thurston in his paper on the “ History of the East India Company 
Coinage” [J.A.S.B. 1893, p. 61], in talking of the copper coinage, mentions 1772 as 
the date of withdrawal. He states no authority for this date. The facts I mention 
indicate an earlier one. 
