1808 - East India Company "Shipwreck Coin"

Dated 1808 and inscribed East India Company on the obverse and depicting two lions on each side of a shield with two flags and a knights helmet and on the reverse at the bottom "X CASH" - the Persian writing translated meaning 'under the patronage of the King and Parliament of England' - this bronze coin is 1" in diameter and is a genuine shipwreck coin from the "Admiral Gardner" which sank on her sixth voyage to the east as a regular East India Company vessel . She was wrecked off South Foreland on the Goodwin Sands on January 25th, 1809. British East India Company influenced India starting in 1611. The coins recovered from the Admiral Gardner are well known and quite common. India used an interesting monetary system at the time of this coin; 10 cash was equal to one dudu, then there were 8 dudus in a fanam and 42 fanams in a pagoda.