Item number: A3724

Reference number: KM#422

Year: AD 1820

Material: Gold

Size: 17.5 x 17.5 mm

Weight: 3.88 g recorded

Provenance:

1. Heritage Auctions 2025

2. Heritage Auctions 2011

This is a five-rupee gold coin struck in AD 1820 under the authority of the Madras Presidency of the English East India Company.

The obverse bears at its centre a simplified version of the Company’s armorial emblem, dominated by the St George’s Cross associated with England. In the four quarters formed by the cross, the upper-left contains a worn and indistinct small escutcheon, likely a quartered shield displaying the English lion and the French fleur-de-lis in diagonal opposition, signifying royal authority. The crest above consists of a standing lion holding a cross-topped crown in its forepaw. Around the design runs the English inscription “ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANY·”.

The reverse bears, in the upper right, the Persian inscription “پنجروبيه” (panj rupiye), denoting the denomination “five rupees”. The remaining inscription reads “كمپنى انگريز” (Kampani-ye Angrez), literally “the Englishmen’s Company”, referring to the English East India Company. In the lower-left appears the word “مادر” (madar), which may represent an abbreviated form of “Madras”.

Around AD 1611, the English first established trading contacts on the eastern coast of India, setting up a factory at Masulipatnam the following year. As English influence expanded, the Madras Presidency was formally established in AD 1639 under its first governor, Francis Day, and became, from AD 1641 onward, the Company’s principal base on the Coromandel Coast. Fort St George rapidly developed into the leading administrative, military, and commercial centre in southern India, responsible for customs and port management, fiscal administration, diplomacy, and the stationing of Company troops. Over subsequent decades, Madras evolved from a coastal entrepôt into the most strategically important British city in the region, covering much of what is now Tamil Nadu and neighbouring parts of Andhra Pradesh, and serving as the foundation of British dominion in southern India.

In the early eighteenth century, the Madras Presidency emerged as one of the Company’s three principal administrative divisions—Bengal, Bombay, and Madras—responsible for overseeing military, judicial, commercial, and revenue affairs across southern India. During this period, Madras faced significant challenges from regional powers, particularly the Muslim Nawabs, the kingdom of Mysore, and Maratha forces. Through negotiation, warfare, and a series of treaties, the Company gradually consolidated its authority. The mid-eighteenth-century Carnatic Wars decisively altered the regional balance of power. Using Madras as its main base, Britain prevailed in its contest with France and its South Indian allies, progressively undermining the autonomy of neighbouring Indian states.

Following the defeat of Mysore and the Marathas between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, large tracts of southern India came under the direct control or subsidiary protection of the Madras Presidency. During this phase, the Company introduced significant reforms to the land and revenue systems, including permanent settlement arrangements, systematic surveying, and the standardisation of district administration. The powers of the governor and council expanded, while missionary activity and English education began to take root, producing an urban society in which a European administrative class and an emerging Indian elite coexisted.

By the mid-nineteenth century, the cumulative effects of the Company’s increasingly stringent fiscal, legal, and land policies generated widespread discontent. Although the Indian uprising of AD 1857 occurred mainly in the north, its repercussions resonated across the subcontinent. In AD 1858, the British Parliament enacted the Government of India Act, formally terminating the rule of the East India Company and transferring all its administrative, military, and financial powers to the British Crown. The Madras Presidency was thereby incorporated as a province of British India and subsequently governed directly by the imperial authorities.

物件編號: A3724

參考書目編號: KM#422

年代: 公元 1820 年

材質: 金

尺寸: 17.5 x 17.5 mm

重量: 紀載為 3.88 g

來源:

1. 海瑞德拍賣行 2025

2. 海瑞德拍賣行 2011

這是一枚英國東印度公司的馬德拉斯管轄區於公元1820年所鑄行的5盧比金幣。

金幣正面中央為簡化的東印度公司紋章，主要為象徵英格蘭的聖喬治十字。十字所分割的四個象限中，左上象限有一圖案漫漶的小盾徽，應為四分盾徽，對角線區域分別有英格蘭獅與法蘭西鳶尾花，是為王室象徵。紋章頂飾為爪持十字王冠的人立雄獅。周圍環列英文幣銘「ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANY·」，即英國東印度公司。

背面右上為波斯文「پنجروبيه」(panj rupiye)，即面額「5盧比」，其餘為「كمپنى انگريز」(Kampani-ye Angrez)，直譯為「英國人的公司」，即英國東印度公司。左下似為「مادر」(madar)，可能是馬德拉斯(Madras)的簡寫。

公元1611年前後，英國首次在印度東岸建立貿易據點，並於次年在馬蘇里帕特南設立商館。隨著英國勢力擴張，馬德拉斯管轄區於公元1639年在首任總督弗朗西斯·戴斯的主導下正式建立，並在公元1641年成為東印度公司在印度東海岸的核心據點。聖喬治堡很快成為公司在南印度重要的行政、軍事與貿易中心，承擔著進出口管理、稅務、外交、軍事部署等多重職能。此後的數十年間，馬德拉斯逐漸從一個沿海商港發展為英國在南印度最具戰略價值的城市，涵蓋現代坦米爾那都邦及安德拉邦鄰近地區，成為英國對南印度統治的基礎。

十八世紀初期，馬德拉斯管轄區作為公司治下三大管轄區之一(孟加拉、孟買、馬德拉斯)地位逐漸確立，負責統籌南印度的軍政、司法、貿易與土地徵收。這一時期的馬德拉斯面臨來自當地政權的挑戰，尤其是穆斯林納瓦卜、邁索爾王國與馬拉塔勢力的軍事壓力。英國東印度公司透過與地方勢力的交涉、戰爭與條約逐步鞏固區域權力。十八世紀後半的卡那提克戰爭徹底改變了權力格局，英國以馬德拉斯為據點，在與法國及其南印盟友的競爭中取得優勢，並逐步削弱周邊政權的獨立性。

隨著公司軍隊在十八世紀末至十九世紀初擊敗邁索爾與馬拉塔勢力，南印度大片領土逐漸納入馬德拉斯管轄區的直接統治或保護體制之內。這一階段，公司進行土地制度改革，包括永久地租制度、收入測量、地方行政標準化，使馬德拉斯的行政架構進一步完善，總督與其行政委員會的權力擴大。英式教育與傳教活動也開始在南印度扎根，城市中形成歐洲行政人口與印度精英並存的社會結構。

到了十九世紀中葉，隨著公司在全印度推行更嚴苛的稅制、法治與土地政策，反抗情緒逐漸累積。公元1857年的印度大起義雖主要發生於北方，但其後續影響波及整個英屬印度。公元1858年，英國國會通過《印度政府組織法》，正式終結東印度公司的統治，將其所有行政、軍事與財政權力移交英國王室，馬德拉斯管轄區亦改為英屬印度的一個省，由王室政府直接管理。