Here is the first addition of a beautiful Maratha coin to my collection - Ankushi Rupaya!
This Silver rupee coin bears the sign of 'Ankush' which is used to control the Elephant. It is said that these coins were first minted at 'Chinchwad' [Chinchur] near Pune. Hence these are also called as 'Chinchuri' rupaya. Later around 1772-73 Narayan Rao Peshwe started coining it at Pune and it was called as 'Ankushi'! After this, it got minted at various other places with varying degree of Fineness in silver content as well as its design.
Till the time of Narayan Rao Peshwe, Maratha forces were reborn from the huge loss of army in the 1761 battle of Panipat and recaptured the control on Mughal empire. This battle was a classic display of Sacrifice for the motherland and valour by Marathas against an invader. Hence, I think probably this 'Ankush' symbolizes the control of Marathas over the Mughal empire once again.
The picture shows the Obverse, Reverse and edge of the coin.
Obverse: Shows 'Ankush' symbol in 'Sa' of word 'Jalus'.
Reverse: Middle section shows the words 'Shah Gha' of the words 'Badshah Ghazi'. This refers to the then Mughal emperor 'Shah Alam II'. He was a puppet emperor for most of his reign in the hands of Marathas.
Edge: The bottom part of the picture shows the marks by Jewelers called as 'Shroff Marks' or 'Saraf marks' on the edge of the coin. This was used to be done to verify its genuineness and purity of silver content.
The unique feature of this piece of coin is that shroff marks are on the edge. Most of the times these marks are found on the sides [Obverse/Reverse] of the coins.
The weight of this coin is 11.15gms.
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