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OCTOBER, 1899.] THE COPPER COINAGE OF MADRAS PRESIDENCY.
271
I. - Undated Coins.
1. H. No. 24. Ob.- Sri. Rev. - Kumpini (i. e., Tamil for Company).
2. H. No. 25. 06. - Star of eight points.
R. - Kumpini. This eight-pointed star seems to have found favour with the Company. It was revived subsequently. See Nos. 9 and 10.
3. H. No. 26. 06.- Orb and cross.
R. - Sri Ranga. The orb and cross, of which this is apparently the earliest occurrence was the special device of the London Company. The Inscription Sri Ranga on the reverse doubtless is due to the instruction of the Raja of Chandragiri that the Company should retain the image of Vishnu on their coins. Figures of Venkateswara, Lakshmi, and the like are found on the Company's pagodas and fanams, but not on the cash, unless the copper coin in the Madras Museum (C. 5) is a genuine coin, and not, as is far more probable, a sham pagoda.
Some of the specimens of this coin in my collection have a different reverse. The coin is a single cash of about 10 grains weight.
4. T. No. C. 42. 06. - Traces of orb and cross, and of the letters C. C. E.
R. - Sri Ranga. This is the first occurrence of the letters 0. C. E., which are presumably the initials of Chartered Company to the East Indies. One writer describes these two C's as crescent moons. This is, however, a mistake, and does not explain the E.
5. A. 66. 06. - Orb and cross inscribed C. C. E. within a beaded circle.
R. - Indian characters within a beaded cirole. . The inscription on this coin is undecipherable though quite distinct. It is assigned to the reign of George I. (1714-1727). But as it has the device of the London Company, I include it with their coins, though greatly suspecting its genuineness.
II. - Dated Coins.
6. H. No. 27. 0b. - Orb and cross with 78 in the lower division of orb.
R. - Sri Ranga. The 78 on this coin is understood to represent 1678. The Company received a new Charter from Charles II., with permission to coin in 1677, and this coin is probably one of the results thereof. Atkins includes this coin amongst Bombay coins ; but it is clearly a Madras type, and I have obtained two specimens of it out of Madras soil.
7. H. No. 28. 06. - 98 within a circle. R. - Sri Ranga.
