ABSTRACT
Coins have always played a significant role in the history of mankind. During the era of metallic currency, an effective and efficient coinage meant an effective and efficient currency system, which in turn meant an effective and efficient government, and this was also true in the reverse order. James Prinsep arrived at Calcutta on 18 September 1819. Immediately he joined the Calcutta Mint in a double role as an Assistant Assay Master to the then Assay Master, H. H. Wilson, and as Assistant Mint Master ‘whenever his services may be required in that capacity’. The mints of the East India Company were placed under the twin charge of the Mint Master and the Assay Master. The Mint Master served as the production manager while the Assay Master was responsible for determining the purity contents of the metal, which was brought to the mint for coinage and thus had to act as the quality control manager.
