BENGALURU: A one-mohar gold coin, minted in 1835, fetched the highest bid at an auction organised by the Imperial Auctions at All India Coins Exhibition Natyadarshini 2016.
The coin was sold for Rs 10 lakh to a buyer from Mumbai. The second highest price — Rs 5.5 lakh — was paid for banknote and the third, for a gold coin — Rs 2 lakh. Details of the buyers and sellers are closely held.
The auctioneers had pegged a coin for Rs 3.25 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh, but that went unsold despite its interesting history. It was issued by the Cholas and has an etching of a wedding that was arranged to strengthen the alliance between Cholas and a faction of Chalukyas. Raja Raja Chola I arranged for this wedding, to make common cause with the Eastern Chalukya kingdom. He was worried about the Eastern and Western Chalukya kingdoms uniting, and bringing down the Cholas. This coin remained unsold.
Interestingly, the most expensive coin sold gets its value from a goof-up at the mint. The is an official restrike, that is, not struck from the original die but from a similar one at a later date. When this William IV Gold Mohur was being restruck, or copied, someone mixed up the front (observe) and back (reverse) faces. The front is from an 1835 die and its back, from an 1840 one. Oops!
“The original was issued by the East Indian Company in 1835,” says Mohit Kapoor, Director of the Imperial Auctions, “but restrikes were done even in the 1900s.” So it is difficult to trace the origins of this coin.
The obverse shows the face of William IV and there are no initials of the mint master on the coin. “This was intentional,” says Mohit. The auctioneers have called this “restrike proof” (that is, no copies can be made) because of its lustre of the flan.
The banknote gets its value from its denomination of 2.8 annas, like a Rs 2.5 note. “This unique denomination was issued by the British in 1915 to equate it to the dollar,” says Mohit. “But this did not facilitate trade in India and so was soon pulled out of circulation”.
The gold coin, which sold for Rs 2 lakh, too gets its value from its denomination. It is a fifteen-rupees gold coin, issued in 1918 with a portrait of George V. “This weighs eight grams in gold, which was equal to 15 silver rupees,” says Mohit.
Imperial Cholas, Raja Raja Chola I (985-1014 AD), Gold Pagoda, 4.22 g, 23.02 mm, legends punch-marked Sri Raja Raja around the central punch-mark depicting a seated chola tiger with a long tail.
Rajaraja, thought that it was in the best interests of the Cholas to see that the Eastern Chalukyas did not make common cause with their cousins in the west, for such a coalition would constitute a challenge to the rising Chola power.
He decided to befriend the weaker Eastern Chalukyas against the stronger Western Chalukyas and create the traditional sphere of balance of power in South India.
Rajaraja Chola took advantage of the situation when the sons of the Eastern ChalukyaDanamava, being deprived of their parental kingdom by Jata Choda Bhima, sought
his help. He supported their cause and entered into matrimonial alliance with them.
He gave his daughter Kundavai in marriage to Vimaladitya, the younger of the two princes. This was the beginning of series of diplomatic marriages between these two dynasties.
This coin is probably minted as a commemorative coin on occasion of the marriage alliance.
This coin is minted in the format of Eastern Chalukya Pagoda with several punches in the circular form with a center punch of lion. The centre punch in this coin is a seated tiger with long tail as seen in Cholaunifacefanams.
Estimated: Rs 3.25 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh; Unsold
Hoysalas of Dorasamudra, Vinayaditya (1047-1098 AD), Gold Gadayana or Pagoda, 4.00 g, 16.44 mm, Obv: Mythical Lion or Sardula to the right with two-headed bird Gandabherunda above, lamp before, sun and moon above, Rev: Three line Kannada legend Sri Ma / laparo / luganda.
Gandabherunda is a two-headed bird from Hindu mythology, fabled to possess immense strength. The bird is generally depicted as clutching elephants in its talons and beaks. The story goes that Narasimha, the fourth incarnation of Vishnu, after slaying demon Hiranyakashyap, went on a rampage, destroying whatever came his way. The gods approached Shiva to pacify Narasimha and put an end to the carnage. Shiva incarnated himself as Sardula, a composite physical form of part-lion and part-bird. With his wings, he embraced Narasimha and pacified him. But Narasimha transformed into a more fearful form; Gandabherunda. A a fierce battle ensued between Gandaberunda (Vishnu) and Sardula (Shiva). After 18 days, Vishnu was finally able to overcome his infinite fierce energy, and he regained control over himself. In order to save the universe from Vishnu and Shiva’s fiercest forms (Gandabherunda and Sardula), Vishnu stopped the fight, and Sardula easily tore apart the two-headed bird. This is perhaps the only coin depicting both Gandebherunda and Sardula together.
Estimate: Rs 90,000 to Rs 95,000; Sold for: Rs 1.5 lakh