Marathas, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Gold ½ Fanam, 0.12g, Obv: Crude Nagari legend ‘Shri / Raja / Savi’ ??????????? (error for ‘Siva’), Rev: Crude Nagari legend ‘Chhatraa / Pati’ ????????. Very fine, exceedingly rare. The legends on this coin indicate that this was engraved by an artisan who was not familiar with Devanagari script. It is therefore possible that it was issued in the South, where the Maratha presense had been in areas around Jinji and Thanjavur. There are three dots above the word ‘Chhatra’, which may be a mint mark for Jinji – the fortress of Jinji is composed of a triad of hillocks and the ‘three dots’ could well be a representative emblem for such a locale.