Proclamation Coin: Silver Rupee 1793-1818

The ‘exploding sun’ mintmark is on the right hand side of the middle section of the reverse of the rupee. Of the eleven coins listed in King’s proclamation, the rupee may be counted with those to have actually circulated among the general population.

Early colonial New South Wales produced very little in the way of manufactured goods, with the vast majority of goods brought in by ship. With traders often leaving once payment was secured, the colony faced constant shortages in circulating coinage. In an effort to combat this and retain coinage, Governor King issued a proclamation in 1800 whereby fixing the values of certain circulating coinage. This was known as the ‘Proclamation’ and it was done in an effort to stop currency being removed by traders.

The proclamation deemed that certain circulating coinage would have a value above the actual intrinsic or circulating value of the coin itself, with the rationale being that a coin with a higher accepted value was more likely to stay within the colony than to be removed by traders. It was also believed that this would encourage spending in the colony because of its extra buying power.

Values shown are in pounds, shillings, and pence:

Great Britain: Gold Guinea, 1£ 2s
Portugal: Gold Johanna, 4£
Portugal: Gold Half Johanna, 2£
India: Gold Mohur, 1£ 17s
India: Gold Pagoda, 8s
India: Silver Rupee, 2s 6d
Spain: Silver 8 Reales, 5s
Netherlands: Gold Ducat, 9s 6d
Netherlands: Silver Guilder (Gulden), 2s
Great Britain: Silver Shilling, 1s 1d
Great Britain: Cartwheel Copper Penny, 2d