Agreed
that we do establish a mint and coin sicca rupees with the name of the Moghul
on one side and the Company on the other, to be of the same weight as Muxadvad
rupees and to pass in the town for 2 p cent more
On
the 24th we received a letter from W Watts Esq dated the 18th
instant…That he had the day before [17th April] received a perwannah
for coining of siccas in Calcutta, but as it only mentions Allenagore he
returned it, and hopes to get it altered
-that he is applying for a general perwannah for the currency of our
trade in the three provinces…
[28th
April] The Select Committee lay before the Board Perwannahs for coining siccas
at
The
coiners and others for carrying on the mint business being arrived from
Muxadavad the Board took into consideration the establishing of that priviledge
upon a proper and beneficial foundation, but as it is utterly impossible for
them to judge how it ought to be conducted for the advantage of our Honble
Masters till the method of coining, assaying etc is ascertained and known, the
Board are of opinion that a committee should be appointed to inspect into the
fineness of silver proper for siccas, how much a hundred ounces of the
different kinds of bullion produce and what the charge of coining will be.
This, once known, we can with greater propriety establish the mint under proper
regulations.
Agreed
the President, Mr Frankland and Mr Boddam be appointed to inspect into the
forementioned particulars and report them to the Board as soon as possible
The
Committee appointed for coining of siccas inform the Board a sum of 4000 R has
been coined from
They
likewise lay before the Board the translate of a sunnud obtained of the Nabob
for currency of our business and money
It
being necessary to adjust the batta of siccas in order to pass those we have
received from Muxadavad
Agreed
the underwritten battas continue till the 1st of Nov next as is
hereunder specified
The
first sun siccas at six (6) Arcot
rupees p cent
The
second ditto at eight and half (8
1/2) p cent
The
third ditta at eleven (11) per cent
The
Committee appointed for essaying the coinage of the different sortments of
bullion lay before the Board 50 rupees coined from Dollar silver agreeable to
the Perwannah received from Jaffir Ally Cawn
Ordered
them to be transferred to Muxadavad for a trial, and agreed our mint be
established on the same footing as that at Madrass
The
Committee for essaying and reporting the produce of the different species of
bullion in our mint lay before the Board the following
essays which they have chosen from a medium of different trials viz:
Muxadavad
sonnauts fooley lose 1.10.6
Without
the fooley 5.9
New
Mexico Dollars produce 89.12 for 100 sicca weight of bullion
They
further represent that the charge for coining siccas is greater than the charge
of coining Arcot and Madrass, the standard being finer, and recommend the
expense of coining private silver be settled at 25 per mille, 20 of which being
the real charge of coinage and 15 the duty agreeable to the Madrass collection,
5 whereof is to be paid the Company by the Mint Master or undertakers.
The
Board approving of the above mentioned establishment
Ordered
all private silver pay a duty of 35 per mille for being coined in our mint and
Agreed
that Messrs Frankland and Boddam undertake the coining of siccas and mohurs
Ordered
them likewise to send 3050
Ordered
them likewise to supply the mint with 35000 sunnaut rupees and 805
Ordered
them likewise to supply the mint with 50,000 sunnaut rupees
The
gold received from the Nabob being reasonably valued and will, it is imagined,
turn out to advantage in the mint
Ordered
the Committee of Treasury to deliver it out to the Mint Master as they indent
for it to be coined into Fooley Mohurs
The
Committee of works represent to the Board that it will be extremely troublesome
and inconvenient to pay the cowleys, labourers and
bricklayers, to be employed on the fortifications, in cowries. They recommend
therefore that copper , brass or tutenague tickets may
be stampt of different values for the payment of those people, which shall be
taken back at the value stamp’d on the respective tickets.
Ordered: Mr Frankland to stamp a number of such
tickets.
Translation
of a Sunnud under the seal of Jaffer Ally Cawn,
…
A mint is established in
Treasury
accounts for October, November, December 1757
Many
entries showing large transactions with the mint
Mint
account for December 1757, Jan & Feb 1758
Dec 220,275; Jan 101,337; Feb 243,890.
Submitted by Frankland (Mint Master)
Frankland
resigns
There
being a large quantity of gold mohurs in the treasury which were coined in our
mint with the gold received from the Nabob and being informed they bear an
[advanced] price at Ballasore
Agreed:
one hundered of them be sent to that factory for a tryal
Frankland
provides mint accounts for April & May and is still described as Mint
Master.
At
a Committee meeting called to decide what to do about the letter from the Board
in
We
are of opinion that the orders and regulations relative to the mint be carried
into execution as they stand in the letter from the 124th to the 128th
paragraphs inclusive, without any variation but recommend that the strongest obligation
with a penalty annex’d being taken from the contractor that he shall not debase
the coin and that he likewise agree to send some of the coinage through the
Board monthly to the mint at Muxadavad to be assayed there.
A
few references to mint accounts being refered to the Accounts Committee
Accounts
show William Frankland still Mint Master
Accounts
show William Frankland paid Rs 84.7.2 for 3 months 5 days
Notice
to be given that after the 23rd inst. Five
sun siccas will be rec’d into the Company’s treasury at 13 p cent batta only
and that six sun siccas will be struck & pass current from that day
Salary
accounts show William Frankland has gone
Agreed
that at every fresh issuing of rupees the siccas of the former year be
restamped at the charge of 6 p cent for coinage and Company’s duty to the
proprietor at whose expense the siccas are to be made to their full weight
should they be deficient.
And
as we find that notwithstanding our frequent application to the Nabob
concerning the want of currency of our rupees in the country from whence many
inconveniencies proceed such as their being frequently refused for goods, the
risk of carrying them from place to place to be exchanged (by which a boat
passing from Malda to Murshudabad with 4000 Calcutta siccas for that purpose
was lost in the Great River) & the loss in exchange. Those evils have never
been remedy’d, the only means to effect it is to gain
the Nabob’s consent to our coining Muxadabad siccas in our mint in the same
[way] as Arcot rupees are coined at
And
as the want of Arcot rupees in the place has raised their value to 3 p cent
above the usual currency & that specie is very useful for many occasions of
the Presidency.
Agreed
we coin Arcot rupees of equal weight & fineness with those of Fort St
George.
Translation
of the Nabob’s Pervannah for a mint in Calcutta
To
the Noblest of Merchants, the English Company, be the
Royal Favour. In
Dated
the 11th of the month [Zeehaad] in the 4th year
The
President acquaints the Board he has at last after much solicitation prevailed upon
the Nabob to consent to our coining Murshudabad siccas in our mint.
Agreed
we now establish the mint on the footing directed by the Honble Company in
their commands of 3rd March 1758, that the dollars be valued at the
rate mentioned in the letter of 1st April, but as the bullion of
this country is of no stated fineness arising from the prodigious variety of
coins in the country which are after melted in a heap & offered to be
coined, it is impossible to determine on that.
That
the mint be put up for contract on the same fooring as that at Madras, that is,
the contractor shall bear all the charges of the mint, except the house and
repairs for which he shall receive a certain allowance per cent. & whoever
offers for the smallest allowance, giving sufficient security, shall have the
contract.
The
contractor, there being [no] refin’d standard of bullion in this country, shall
deliver the exact produce of the gold & silver given in to be coined
according to its value by assay, which we shall effect in the best manner we
can for the present.
Agreed
in the meantime we recommend it to the Company to send us out a capable Assay
Master by the first opportunity.
Ordered the Mint Master to prepare stamps for coining
the Muxadabad rupees.
Three sun
siccas having been struck at Murshedabad agreeable to the notice before given
us by the Nabob as per Consultation December.
Agreed that
three sun siccars be issued in out mint and become current the 20th
of next month. That advertisement be made thereof, and that
two suns will be reduced to thirteen per cent and all others to sonauts.
Agreed that
the Committee of Treasury be directed to deliver to the Mint Master all the two
sun siccars to be restamped into three suns and that the Mint Master be
directed to get as many struck as possible against the 20th
February.
Agreed we
write to the several subordinates to acquaint them thereof.
The Mint
Master representing there is a vast quantity of money delivered to himfrom the
Treasury to be recoined in order to prevent the loss of batta, which it is not
in his power to get dome while private merchants send in money daily to be
recoined also.
Ordered
him to defer coining for the private traders till he has finished the whole of
the Company’s money delivered him from the treasury to be recoined.
The Mint
Master sends in the following report of the German Crowns viz
Crowns
marked KB
100 ounces
produces sicca rupees 235.1.6
Batta at 16
per cent 37.9.9
272.11.3
Deduct ½ per
cent for coinage and duties 12.4.3 260.7.
Crowns with
the arms of
100 Ounces
produce sicca rupees 224.9.6
Batta 16 per
cent 36.15
260.8.6
Deduct for
coinage and duties as above 11.11.6 248.13
The mint
Master sends in his report of assays on the 6 sun Arcots from
The Mint
Master acquainting the Board that the chief part of the Company’s money is now
coined
Agreed
the mint be opened to the coining of private silver and refining rupees, but
that no less than 10,000 rupees be received in at a time to be restruck.
Ordered the
Mint Master to purchase whatever bullion he can to be coined into Arcot rupees
for the payment of the troops.
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