Shahjahanabad, Silver Nazarana Rupee, 11.12g, in the name of Shah Alam II, AH 1218/ RY 46, royal Umbrella & Lion as a Mint mark on obverse, Persian legend on both sides, Obv: “sikka zad sāhib-i qirān za tāyid ilāh hāmī dīn muḥammad shāh ‘ālam bādshāh” [AH date] (= Struck coin like the second Lord of conjunctions by the help of God, Defender of the faith of Muḥammad, the Emperor Shāh ‘Ālam), Rev: “ẓarb dār al-khilāfa shāhjahānābād [RY] julūs maimanat mānūs” (= Struck at the seat of the Caliphate, Shāhjahānābād, in the [RY] year of his reign of tranquil prosperity) (Not listed in P. Stevens). Marks of removal from loop otherwise very fine+, exceedingly rare.
During the Second Anglo-Maratha War the Maratha armies in north India were decisively defeated by the British under Lord Lake who captured the city of Delhi on 11 September 1803. On 30 December 1803 (AH1218/Ry.46), Daulat Rao Sindhia signed the Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon. Under its clauses, Hisar, Panipat, Rohtak, Rewari, Gurgaon, Ganges-Jumna Doab, the Delhi-Agra region, parts of Bundelkhand, Broach, some districts of Gujarat and the fort of Ahmadnagar were all ceded to the British.
Although technically, Delhi, called Shahjahanabad on the coins, was the nominal capital of the Mughal Empire, it was brought effectively under British suzerainty, as persuasively argued by Paul Stevens and Sanjay Garg, based on government documents preserved in both London and Delhi.
The present coin must have been struck immediately after Lord Lake's conquest of Delhi as it has a small lion, presumably standing for British authority, added to the normal mint marks of Delhi. This is an exceptional variety, as only two or three other coins with the additional lion are known and bear a very differently executed lion on them.