Most of India was controlled by the British before its independence in 1947. However, the Indian states did not have to give up their right to issue coins within their respective states. Since these coins were circulated only within a particular state there was never any need for standardization of denominations of coins between states.
What this resulted in was a fascinating variety of coins made of different metals, having numerous shapes, different sizes, weight and with different imprints on them. Most of these coins were two-faced and were imprinted with gods and goddesses, plants, weapons and images of rulers of the state that they were minted in.
Here is a list of some of the rare coins from Indian princely states. Most of these coins were made of silver, bronze or copper:
- In the 1920’s the square paisa was minted in Bahawalpur.
- Gwalior’s 1/4th anna had imprints of the maharajah on it.
- The 1940’s 2 paisa from Hyderabad sported a center-hole.
- In 1943, Mewar minted the eight-sided, 1 anna coin.
- From 1570-1894, the Nawanagar Dokdo was struck and there was almost no change in its design during that time.
- The Pudukkottai Amman Cash was a tiny coin that had the imprint of the Goddess Brihadamba.
- The Rampur paisa from the Sunth state was minted in 1870 and had the characteristic straight spears on them. There was also a coin that had a moon and star marking called the “chand-tara” mark.
- The silver variety from Bundi was minted in 1914 A.D. and had an imprint of Raja Ramsingh in seated posture. Similarly, the half paisa copper variety with the Bundi dagger was another variety minted by Ramsingh. There were many more varieties minted by Raja Ramsingh in the name of Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V and George VI.
- The Jhabua coins had the Katar (dagger) and star markings on them, and were made of bronze and copper.
- The Awadh coins have the characteristic fish mint mark.
- Coins from the princely state of Kishangarh were minted from 1759-1806 and had Shah Alam engraved on them. This variety did not have an original design and was very similar to the varieties minted in Jaipur. The coin had a jhar mint mark that meant tree in the native language.
- The quarter anna minted in Bhopal by Nawab Sikander Begam in the years 1860-1868 had markings of the Hijri year 1282 on it.
- The Tonk state coins which were minted in 1932 had Urdu inscriptions on them. There were markings which read “Kaisr-e-hind”, “Riyasat Tonk”, “Ek Paisa” and “George Pancham”. The circumference of these varieties had Nawab Mohammad Saadat Ali Khan’s mentioned on it as they were issued by him.
There were many other coins from princely states that were minted and circulated. Today, many of these coins are considered to be rare and are coveted and collected by avid numismatics.
