India, Madras Presidency, Hindu System, Second coinage, 1808-12, quarter-pagoda, Gōpurum of temple with ten stars (instead of the usual nine) either side, legend correctly spelled and without stops, square buckle unshaded and without cross tongue, rev., Vishnu with bead above head, top left cross with 13 and top right cross with 11 beads, sword in left hand and surrounded by two rows of dotted circles, correct Tamil legend, without stops ,around, 26.4mm, 10.45g (cf. Stevens obv. W rev. VI; cf. Pr. 173), second A of PAGODA weak, very fine and extremely rare Stevens lists four varieties of obverse stars: the usual nine either side, as well as the rarer seven and eight either side, and nine to left and eight to right. The only other recorded example with ten stars either side appeared in the John Rose collection (DNW, 27 February 2020, lot 269), struck from the same obverse die but from reverse die XVIII. From a small, recently rediscovered 19th century Scottish collection.

Estimate: GBP 800-1200