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Picture 1: Silver 5 Kori of Kutch in name of Edward VIII The saga of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has parallels to the story of another British royal from almost a century back – Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor, one of the shortest reigning British monarchs. Edward VIII ascended the British throne on January 20th, 1936 and abdicated the throne in less than a year – on 11th December of the same year. Because of his short reign, Edward VIII, unlike the other British monarchs, wasn’t featured on too many coins. The Royal Mint produced a small number,...

Nawanagar was a princely state in the Kathiawar region of Gujarat, with the Gulf of Kutch to its north. The ruler was the Jam of Nawanagar – a Jadeja Rajput and from the same clan as the rulers of Kutch. The town of Nawanagar was founded in 1540 by the first Jam Rawal, who was fleeing Kutch. The Jam Rawal in early 20th century was the well known cricketer Ranjitsinhji. The town of Nawanagar is also much better known as Jamnagar – the site of one of the world’s largest petroleum refineries, owned by Reliance Industries. Another well known port...

Udaipur or Mewar, is best known for Rana Pratap’s resistance against Mughal emperor Akbar. The rulers of Udaipur were called Maharanas – the only ones in Rajputana to be honored with this title. The capital – Udaipur, was established by Udai Singh after the sack of Chittorgarh by Akbar. It was his son Pratap Singh who is now better known as Maharana Pratap. Buy Udaipur Coins Udaipur was one of the larger princely states in the British era, and the ruler was entitled to a 19-gun salute. Post independence, Udaipur was one of the first states to sign the instrument...

Sailana was a princely state in the Malwa region of Central India, and was originally a part of Ratlam (up to 1730). The name of the state derives from the capital town, which was named after ‘shail’ (mountain) and ‘anana’ (at the mouth of). Sailana’s territories were scattered and the state had borders with walior, Indore, Dhar, Jhabua, Jaora, Banswara, and Kushalgarh States. Sailana’s rulers were Rathore rajputs and an offshoot of the ruling house of Ratlam. The ruler of Sailana was entitled to an 11-gun salute. Sailana was a relatively small state, with an area of 450 square miles,...

Bundi was one of the smaller princely states of India, in modern day Rajasthan. In the early 19th century, it accepted British protection – and from 1858 onward, the coins of Bundi carried the name of the local ruler (Ram Singh) together with the British ruler – Victoria, Edward VII and George V respectively. Unlike other coins of modern age, which are milled, coins of Bundi were hammered – making the quality uneven - with the impression not falling on the planchet completely. The silver rupee of Bundi was thicker than the standard British India rupee, with a lower diameter...