TheMohur is agold coin that was formerly minted by several governments, includingBritish India and some of theprincely states which existed alongside it, theMughal Empire,Maratha Empire,Kingdom of Nepal, andPersia (chieflyAfghanistan). It was usually equivalent in value to fifteen silverrupees. It was last minted in British India in 1918, but some princely states continued to issue the coins until theiraccession to India after 1947. Similar coins were also issued by the British authorities in denominations of2⁄3 mohur (10 rupees),1⁄3 mohur (5 rupees) and the double mohur (30 rupees), and some of the princely states issued half-mohur coins (equal to 7 rupees and 8 anna).
Themohur coin was first introduced bySher Shah Suri ofSur Empire during his rule in India between 1540 and 1545 and was then a gold coin weighing 169 grains (10.95 grams). He also introducedcopper coins calleddam andsilver coins calledrupiya that weighed 178 grains (11.53 grams).[3] Later on, theMughal emperors standardized this coinage of tri-metallism across the sub-continent in order to consolidate the monetary system.
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The wordmohur ormohor (from the Persian wordmuhr, which means "seal" or "signet ring"[6]) iscognate with theSanskrit wordmudrā, which in turn comes frommudraṇam, which also means "seal".[7]
Gold mohurs issued by the Mughal Empire,Imperial India, the BritishEast India Company or theBritish India are valuable collector items and sell in auctions for high prices. The double mohur (minted between 1835 and 1918) with a value of 30 rupees is the highest denomination circulating coin issued till date. An 1835 double mohur was sold at aBangalore auction for ₹11.5 lakhs making it the highest ever coin bid in India.[8]
