INDIA, ORCHHA, rupee, 1273 AH year 42

DescriptionOrccha was a Rajput state in the 16th century, then was vassal to the Mughals, then had an arrangement with the Marathas, then had an arrangement with the British. In a period of highly individualized economy, with very local agencies controlling the coinage, copies of the coins of greater power were normal. This one has an impossible date for a deceased Mughal Emperor.The so-called “Native States” of 19th century India were domains of rulers who had obtained independence from the Mughals and then made separate deals with the British after their takeover after 1858.South Asia generally is taken to include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Some people would like to include Afghanistan and Burma, but that’s a minority opinion.By “Modern World Coins” we mean here, generally, the round, flat, shiny metal objects that people have used for money and still do. “Modern,” though, varies by location. There was some other way they were doing their economies, and then they switched over to “modern coins,” then they went toward paper money, now we’re all going toward digital, a future in which kids look at a coin and say “What’s that?” We’ll say: “We used to use those to buy things.” Kids will ask “How?” The main catalog reference is the Standard Catalog of World Coins, to which the KM numbers refer.