A gold mohur minted in Mysore under the reign of Hyder Ali in the mid to late 1700s is the star lot of Baldwin's Indian Coins auction in London on May 8.
Ali ruled a large swathe of southern India from 1761 to 1782, putting up a strong fight against the encroachments of the East India Company.
 Hyder Ali ruled a large swathe of southern India |
He was succeeded by his son, Tipu Sultan (the Tiger of Mysore), whose defeat at Seringapatam in 1799 spelled the end for Indian independence in the colonial era.
The coin was struck soon after Ali's forces took the kingdom of Bednur during his northern campaign and is one of only a handful of recorded examples.
It carries an estimate of ?�10,000-15,000 ($16,861-25,291).
A 14th century gold tanka, minted in Madura in the Tamil Nuda region of India under the rule of Jalal al-Din Ahsan Shah, could make ?�8,000-10,000 ($13,488-16,861).
An inscription on the obverse describes Ahsan as "lord of both worlds", a title usually reserved exclusively for Allah, while on the reverse he is named "father of the weak and destitute".
Islam flourished in the region for a brief period before it was crushed by the rise of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire.
In September last year a gold pagoda coin from the era of Tipu Sultan made $29,000 in Baldwin's high profile sale of the David Fore collection.
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