Search in eAuction


CNG Bidding Platform

Information

Products and Services


Use Old Home Page

eAuction
Electronic Auction 591

Lot nuber 701

AFGHANISTAN, Barakzais. 'Abd al-Rahman. AH 1297-1319 / AD 1880-1901. CU Machine Trial for a 5 Rupee (39mm, 31.90 g, 6h). By Greenwood & Bailey at the Albion Works, Leeds. Struck circa 1895-1897. Near EF.


Electronic Auction 591
Lot: 701.

Closing Date: Jul 16 2025 10:00 ET

World, Bronze

Estimate: $ 150

BID NOW

AFGHANISTAN, Barakzais. 'Abd al-Rahman. AH 1297-1319 / AD 1880-1901. CU Machine Trial for a 5 Rupee (39mm, 31.90 g, 6h). By Greenwood & Bailey at the Albion Works, Leeds. Struck circa 1895-1897. SIR T SALTER PYNE C S I MARTIN & CO, G&B monogram / H H ABDUL RAHMAN/ AMEER/ OF/ AFGHANISTAN; crossed British and Afghan flags below first line. Bullmore, “Proving Pieces of Greenwood & Bailey,” in SNC LXXXVII.10 (October 1979), no. 1; KM –. Brown surfaces, minor marks. Near EF.

From the Drewry Family Collection. Ex Coin Galleries (10 November 1987), lot 1626.

In May 1894, ‘Abd al-Rahman ordered a new coining press from Greenwood & Bailey of Leeds, working through the Calcutta based engineering firm Martin & Co. The firm sent Thomas Salter Pyne to Kabul to establish the new mint there. Contemporary accounts note that the presses had to be assembled from smaller pieces than usual, each weighing no more than 300 lbs, as they had to be transported through the treacherous Khyber Pass. The new presses were used to strike the large silver rupees of AH 1314 (see KM 820), for which the present piece was intended as a machine trial, either struck in Leeds or after the reassembly of the press in Kabul.

Closing Date and Time: 16 July 2025 at 13:53:20 ET.

All winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer’s fee.