Copper Double Pice Pattern, Banaras Mint, in the name of Shah Alam II, AH 1221/ RY 48, with Fish and Trishul marks on obverse and a Trishul mark on reverse (P. Stevens# 7.175, Prid# 299). Very fine+, exceedingly rare. The patterns were prepared by Dr Yeld the Mint and Assay Master of Banaras mint, with a view to make the designs more difficult to copy as he had noticed a problem with the Company’s copper coins being spuriously manufactured in neighbouring territories. He proposed that blanks for the coins should be made in Calcutta and shipped over to Banaras for manufacturing new coins. But the Mint Committee at Calcutta overturned this proposal because they were not sure about the expenses involved in it and suggested that copper coins for Banaras should be supplied directly from Calcutta instead.