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Auction: 13019 - North East Indian Coins from the Nicholas Rhodes Collection
Lot: 494

Garhwal, temp. Fath Shah (VS 1743-1774; AD 1686-1717), Timasha, 2.51g, imitating a Nisar of the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, of Shahjahanabad, dated AH 1096 year 31, nithar 'alamgir badshah ghazi, 31 at bottom, rev. zarb dar al-khilafa shahjahanabad, 1096 at bottom, has been mounted, very fine, extremely rare, possibly the only known example



Very little is known about the early history of Garhwal apart from a list of rulers and a few records of conquests. Fath Shah ascended the throne in 1684. It is known that he undertook successful military campaigns into Tibet, onto the plains, and into Kumaon. His luck ran out in 1709 when his capital, Srinagar, was captured by the Raja of Kumaon, and he had to withdraw to Dehra Dun for the rest of his reign. It appears that the first coins struck in the state were silver timashas imitating first a nisar of Aurangzeb of Shahjahanabad (cf. KM. 306.7), and then a similar coin of Farrukhsiyar. These latter imitations started off being crudely engraved and became in due course barely recognisable in terms of their prototype. It is probable they began to be struck during the reign of Fath Shah, who was contemporary with the prototypes, and the Farrukhsiyar imitations probably continued to be struck during the reign of his successor, Pradip Shah.

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Estimate
£250 to £300