Nabha, 04, Bhagwan Singh, VS1928, Gurushahi Rupee

Mule -
Obv. with VS1928 date of Hira Singh with Rev. of Bhagwan Singh
Steve Album Rare Coins, Auction 32, Lot #1978
NABHA: Bhagwan Singh, 1863-1871, AR gobinshahi rupee (11.02g), Nabha, VS1928, Cr-—. Herrli-—. SS-—, in the name of Guru Gobind Shah, nazarana style, EF to About Unc, RRRR. This is the first coin that can be securely assigned to Bhagwan Singh, whose coins have never been confirmed. The earlier ruler Jaswant Singh (1783-1840), and the next 3 rulers, Devindar Singh (1840-46), Bharpur Singh (1846-63), and Bhagwan Singh (1863-71), were all descended from Jaswant. The leaf symbol (aka pipal leaf) was first applied by Jaswant, continued by Devindar and Bharpur, so it would seem logical that Bhagwan Singh would have retained that symbol. He died of tuberculosis on 31 May 1871, which would have been early in VS1928, so that dies for VS1928 were likely produced before Bhagwan's death. Since this coin retains the leaf symbol, it should be an issue of Bhagwan Singh, not his successor Hira Singh later that year. Moreover, Bhagwar died with no heirs, but during his reign he had adopted Hira Singh, not a descendant of Jaswant, whence it seems logical that he would have adopted a new reign symbol, the katar, as the distinguishing feature of his coinage. As for the Nabha mint, its production was probably quite small, and it would have been economically logical to continue to use the gobindshahi obverse dies until they failed. The date appears on the obverse, and the obverse die of this piece was retained for Hira Singh, confirmed by his VS1928 rupee using the same obverse die, but a new reverse die with the katar symbol, that appeared in our Auction 19, Lot 1458 (type Y-2).