Important British and World Coins

India, EIC, Victoria, Proof/Pattern Restrike set, 1854, comprising Double Mohur, Mohur, 10 and 5 Rupees, all 1854, by L.C. Wyon [after W. Wyon], bust left with two plain hair fillets, no initials on truncation, revs. lion standing left beneath palm tree from which fruits hang, all edges grained, 23.31g/12h, 11.66g/12h, 7.79g/12h, 3.95g/12h (Prid. p.16; cf. KM. Pn17, 19, 21, 24, but edges grained; F 1594, 1595b, 1596-7) [4]. Brilliant mint state, a rare set (£5,000-7,000)

At the end of 1853 the matrices, punches and dies for the Indian gold coins, ordered by the Court of Directors of the East India Company from William Wyon in January 1847, were completed and despatched to India. The delay in completing the order was almost certainly due to the death of Wyon in October 1851 and it has been assumed that his son, Leonard Charles Wyon, completed his father’s commission, which would explain the absence of any initials on the truncation or elsewhere on the coins. Specimens dated 1854, in gold and silver, were dispatched with the same shipment; presumably these were the plain edge pieces which very seldom appear on the market. The grained edge restrikes were struck at the Bombay mint during the so-called ‘restrike specimen’ period, c. 1955-70