Could anyone tell me what this is please?

[Black_knight]

Hello,

I'm from Cornwall, and while helping my Uncle go through some of my Great Grandfathers effects, we found this coin.

As the story went, my Grandfather took a job as a grave digger at a local church and found it. But no one could ever agree it's country of origin or even what the little character was on it.

It looks somewhat like a Lion to me, but all searches for "Lion Coins" don't seem to throw up anything that looks like this.

We would all be very grateful if the mystery could finally be solved.

[TomGoodheart]

As far as I can tell, your 'lion' is a sardula; a mythical lion like beast.

The coin is a 25 Cash of the Indian Princely state of Mysore, made out of copper and dating from between 1799 and 1810.

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=9360.0

It was issued under one of the Wodeyar Rajas, but which one I'm not entirely sure. Hopefully that's enough info for you to search further if you like.

[Black_knight]

As far as I can tell, your 'lion' is a sardula; a mythical lion like beast.

The coin is a 25 Cash of the Indian Princely state of Mysore, made out of copper and dating from between 1799 and 1810.

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=9360.0

It was issued under one of the Wodeyar Rajas, but which one I'm not entirely sure. Hopefully that's enough info for you to search further if you like.

Wow, thank you for the quick reply.

How this obscure Indian coin made it to the grounds of small village church is anyone's guess? Rather than solving a mystery, you may have made an even bigger one for us.

This certainly gives me more to read up about.

Thanks again for the information!

Edited February 17, 2013 by Black_knight

[Peckris]

As far as I can tell, your 'lion' is a sardula; a mythical lion like beast.

The coin is a 25 Cash of the Indian Princely state of Mysore, made out of copper and dating from between 1799 and 1810.

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=9360.0

It was issued under one of the Wodeyar Rajas, but which one I'm not entirely sure. Hopefully that's enough info for you to search further if you like.

Wow, thank you for the quick reply.

How this obscure Indian coin made it to the grounds of small village church is anyone's guess? Rather than solving a mystery, you may have made an even bigger one for us.

This certainly gives me more to read up about.

Thanks again for the information!

Perhaps less of a mystery when you realise the British ruled India until 1948.

[TomGoodheart]

Perhaps less of a mystery when you realise the British ruled India until 1948.

Yes, I'm assuming someone with a military connection brought it back from India. We Brits were the people that put the Princes in power, so presumably had a fair amount of contact. Although it's not terribly clear, the coin even says XXV (25) CAH (in blundered script) on it so the English could see what it is.

[Peckris]

Perhaps less of a mystery when you realise the British ruled India until 1948.

Yes, I'm assuming someone with a military connection brought it back from India. We Brits were the people that put the Princes in power, so presumably had a fair amount of contact. Although it's not terribly clear, the coin even says XXV (25) CAH (in blundered script) on it so the English could see what it is.

Or a civil servant, or an engineer, or a transport expert, or a missionary, or a teacher, or a scientist, etc etc. We really had a finger in every pie!