Dec 04
| Madras Province, also known as Madras Presidency, was a province of British India. It was the first territorial region acquired by the East India Company. Officially known as the Presidency of Fort St. George, Madras Presidency included many parts of South India, with its capital at Madras. Madras is now officially known as Chennai. The various places which came under Madras Presidency were Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Lakshadweep. However, soon after India's independence these places became independent states. In 1947, when India became independent, Madras Presidency was reconstituted as Madras State. In the 1670’s the earliest coins of Madras Presidency were issued. These were small silver pieces issued from a factory at Fort St. George. Thereafter, many different varieties of coins were issued and of different denominations. In this article we would discuss about the 1825 {AH 1240} Madras Presidency 2 Pies. The Madras Presidency Pies were issued in 3 different varieties: one pie, two pies and four pies. All of these coins were copper coins. To know more about these coins kindly refer page number 288 of “The Standard Guide to South Asian coins and Paper Money”. The obverse of the 1825 two pies has the arms of the East India Company and date. The reverse of the coin has value in Persian with a 2 above, and AH year 1240 surrounded within 2 wreaths. The weight of this coin is 4.27 gms and the diameter is 22mm approximately. There were no other varieties of 2 Pies issued in 1825. The edge of these coins is plain. Other than the Pies, Madras Presidency issued Pagodas, Dubs and Fanams. Under the Pagoda System came the cash coins with 5 cash, 10 cash, and 20 cash being some of its varieties. Some of these varieties had Persian on one side and Tamil on the other. |