The Coins of the Sikhs

Contents: Preface. 1. A sketch of the history of the Sikhs. 2. Genealogical table of the family of Ranjit Singh. 3. The Maharajas of the Punjab or of Lahore. 4. Chronology of the Sikh leaders and the rulers in Delhi and Afghanistan. 5. The Sikh State of Ranjit Singh. 6. The Sikh Misls. 7. The Gurumukhi script. 8. Sikh terms. 9. The Sikh coinage. 10. Coin inscriptions. 11. Dates on Sikh coins. 12. Catalogue. 13. Introduction: 1. Amritsar: a. The coinage of Amritsar. b. The rupees struck at Amritsar. c. Miscellaneous Mohur and rupee types. d. Copper coins. 2. Anandghar. 3. Pind Dadan Khan. 4. Unidentified copper mints imitating coin types of Amritsar. 5. Dera (Dera Ghazi Khan): a. The coinage of Dera. 6. Kashmir: a. The Sikh Governors of Kashmir. b. The mint names on the coins of Kashmir. c. The rupees circulating in Kashmir. d. The copper coins of Kashmir. e. Catalogue of the Sikh coins of Kashmir. 7. Derajat (Dera Ismail Khan): a. The coinage of Derajat. 8. Lahore: a. The coinage of Lahore. 9. Unidentified Sikh Mint D. 10. Unidentified Sikh mint C. 11. Multan: a. The coinage of Multan. 12. A lead imitation of a Sikh coin bearing the mint name Multan (Bela?). 13. Peshawar: a. The coinage of Peshawar under the Sikhs. 14. Patiala: a. The coinage of Patiala. b. Gobindshahi rupees of Patiala. c. Copper coins. 15. Nabha: a. The rulers of Nabha. b. The coinage of Nabha. 16. Jammu. 17. Najibabad. 18. Miscellaneous unidentified Sikh mints. 19. Imitations of Sikh paisas probably struck at Laharu. 20. Undiscovered Sikh Coins: a. The Jassa Singh rupee of Lahore. b. The Ung ruppe of Amritsar. c. The rupee in the name of Hari Singh Nalwa. d. Sikh rupees struck at Saharanpur. e. Sikh rupees struck at Rawalpindi. 21. Counterfeit and fake Sikh coins: a. Counterfeit coins. b. Fake coins and fabrications. 22. Countermarks on Sikh coins. Appendices. Bibliography. Maps: 1. The Sikh State of Ranjit Singh. 2. The salt range. 3. Kashmir. 4. The Derajat and Multan. 5. Mankera and the Sind-Sagar Doab. 6. Peshawar. 7. The Cis-Sutalej Region.

"The Sikh coinage started in the second half of the eighteenth century, reached its apogee during the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and ended abruptly with the annexation of the Punjab by the British in 1849. Although the Sikhs struck coins in about 20 mints, there coinage remained quite uniform until the end. Their rupees bear religious legends and never mention their issuer, but Amritsar, their main economic and religious center, produced the most complex system of mintmarks in modern India. Early observes were often baffled by the first major non-Mughal coinage of Northern India and their descriptions of Sikh coins are commonly full of errors, errors that have all too often survived until today.

In a first part the present book gives a short historical introduction and a general survey of the Sikh coinage. The second part consists of an illustrated catalogue of all the actually known Sikh coin types arranged by mints. Several appendices offer a brief survey of Sikh tokens and medals and a few important numismatic texts in extenso. This book is not only intended as a useful tool for coin collectors, but also as a source of material for historians and students of the economy of the Sikh Empire." (jacket)