The Uniform Coinage of India, British Imperial Period: Patterns, Edward VII, original...

An original 1910 Pattern Rupee The Uniform Coinage of India, British Imperial Period: Patterns, Edward VII, original silver Pattern Rupee, 1910, Calcutta, by F.K. Wezel [after G.W. de Saulles] and P. Brown, crowned and robed bust right, wearing the Order of the Star of India and the Order of the Indian Empire, no initials on truncation, edward vii king & emperor, rev. one rupee india and date, yek rupiya surrounded by ornate scroll containing rose, thistle and shamrock, lotus flowers above and below, edge grained, 11.65g/12h (Prid. 1049 [Sale, lot 195]; SW 7.12; KM. Pn99; cf. BSJ 35, 550). Two tiny spots in obverse field, otherwise brilliant with deep attractive toning, extremely rare as an original Pattern £8,000-£10,000 --- Provenance: A.P. Spencer (London) Collection Sir John Wheeler Collection, Baldwin Auction 22 (London), 2 May 2000, lot 259 [from Spink (London) August 1979]. Owner’s ticket and envelope. Following developments in some of India’s minor coinage denominations from 1904, and a move to incorporate the crowned head of the monarch, a few 1907 pattern rupees were struck (Prid. 1048: not in this collection). A complication arose, in that the 1902 version of the King’s officially-approved crowned effigy for coinage, where he was shown wearing the insignia of the Order of the Garter and of the Order of the Bath, was not strictly appropriate for India. Sir Guy Douglas Arthur Fleetwood Wilson (1850-1940), a member of the Governor-General’s Council and head of the department responsible for the control of mints, is believed to have overseen the introduction of a new effigy bearing the collars of the Order of the Star of India and the Order of the Indian Empire. This was then paired with a new reverse by Percy Brown (1872-1955), but the death of Edward VII prevented its adoption, although the reverse was subsequently utilised for the coinage of George V (see Lot 1204)