Nawab of Bengal Alivardi Khan Azimabad Mint Silver Rupee AH 1166 RY 6 INO Ahmed Shah Bahadur

Nawab of Bengal, Alivardi Khan, r. 1740-1756 CE, Azimabad (Patna) mint, Denomination: AR Rupee, Composition: Silver, Issued in AH 1166 / RY 6 / 1752-1753 CE, (in the name of Ahmed Shah Bahadur), Struck at Azimabad then under the control of the Nawab of Bengal, Trident (Trishula) mint mark on Reverse, Weight: 11.43 grams, Diameter: 21.03 mm, Grade: Almost UNC, Rarity: Extremely Rare, Unpublished/New Regnal Year Discovery.

Obverse: Ahmad Shah Bahadur Badshah Ghazi.

Reverse: Zarb Azimabad sana julus 6 Ry.

This rupee was struck at Azimabad (Patna) during the governorship of Nawab Alivardi Khan of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa. Though the coin bears the name of Mughal emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur, real political and fiscal authority rested with Alivardi Khan, who maintained firm administrative and military control over Patna even during Maratha pressures. Patna functioned as the key revenue, trade, and minting center of the Bengal Nawabate, making Azimabad issues among the most historically significant eastern Mughal silver series.

All published auction records and catalogues so far list Azimabad rupees of this type only from RY Ahad to RY 4. This AH 1166 / RY 6 specimen is previously unrecorded in major catalogues, making it a new regnal-year discovery and justifiably extremely rare in the Azimabad–Alivardi corpus.