East India Company, Madras Presidency, Northern Circars: European style coinages, Soho, copp...

The Montagu/Murdoch/Pridmore Pattern Dub, 1793 East India Company, Madras Presidency, Northern Circars: European style coinages, Soho, copper Pattern Dub or Forty-Eighth Rupee, unsigned [by N.-A. Ponthon], type 1, 1793, sicca kampani isavi 1793 [Money of the company 1793], english east india company around, rev. sicca kampani isavi 1793 [Money of the company 1793], english east india company around, edge english . united . east . india . company & · ·, 14.15g/12h (Prid. Bengal 369 [Sale, lot 685]; Stevens 5.153; KM. Bengal Pn. 15). Virtually as struck with a hint of original colour, extremely rare [certified and graded NGC PF 64 BN] £2,000-£3,000 --- Provenance: H. Montagu Collection, Sotheby Auction (London), 3-4 May 1892, lot 126 J.G. Murdoch Collection, Sotheby Auction (London), 21-30 July 1903, lot 231 A.N. Brushfield Collection, Part V, Glendining Auction (London), 2-3 November 1949, lot 186 H.A. Parsons Collection, Part II, Glendining Auction (London) 11-13 May 1954, lot 917 F. Pridmore Collection, Part II, Glendining Auction (London), 18-19 October 1982, lot 685, ticket. Owner’s ticket. Despite local protestations from the Masulipatam administration, the Company entered an agreement with Matthew Boulton to provide a new type of dub coinage for the Northern Circars, coined at the rate of 34 to the pound avoirdupois. The French engraver Noël-Alexandre Ponthon (1769-1835) was charged with working up a number of design concepts in 1793 and early 1794, based on a central motif in relief and the principal legends rendered in letters sunk into a raised outer border, a concept carried forward on the trade tokens issued by the Lancaster eccentric Daniel Eccleston in August 1794. This concept, which Boulton enthusiastically bought into, was shared with the Company and three of Ponthon’s designs were submitted to East India House on 16 July 1794 for approval. A week later the Company approved the final design, but because of difficulties in acquiring the necessary copper, minting did not commence until September 1794. The first shipment, of dubs, left Soho on 8 November 1794 and the last, of half-dubs, on 4 March 1795; the 1797-dated coins were shipped between 15 December 1796 and 9 February 1797. The experience gained by Boulton from striking these two coinages stood Soho in good stead when it came to producing Cartwheel twopences and pennies for Great Britain later in 1797