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Auction: 1011 - Ancient, English & Foreign Coins, Commemorative Medals & Numismatic Books
Lot: 535

India, Gold Medal commemorating Guru Gobind Singh, the Guru nimbate, wearing turban decorated with sarpech, carrying bow and sword, and holding falcon on left wrist, on richly caparisoned horse galloping right, an attendant, also armed with bow and sword and carrying a peacock feather fan or morchal, walking behind, a hound running below, the Guru´s title in Gurumukhi script above, rev. legend in six lines of Gurumukhi script quoting a prayer from Sikh scripture, decorative border both sides, 9.73g, 32mm., extremely fine Estimate £ 1,000-1,500 Guru Gobind Singh (c.1675-1708), was the last of the ten great Gurus of the Sikhs. The year of his birth is unknown, but in about 1695 he enters public life. Of his early years William Irvine surmises ´...his period of obscurity, during which he is said to have occupied himself with hunting, shooting and the chase, may have been spent in the Kiyarda Dun or the adjoining hills.´ The Guru´s fortunes in local warfare were mixed and by the time of his death the influence of the Gurus was clearly on the wane.He is said to have died as a result of some fresh and only partly healed wounds bursting open while he was straining to draw his bow. (see William Irvine Later Moghals, two vols. reprinted in one, New Delhi 1971)

Sold for
£3,400