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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;bgarg, post: 847132, member: 1876&quot;]Found this in my notes! </p><p><br /></p><p>It was a message from Aman Ur Rahman, a well know mughal coin collector. I am sure you must have seen his recent book on first mughal emperor, &quot;Zahir-uddin Muhammad Babur - A Numismatic Study&quot;. I am quoting his message below written in Oct 2004. In first paragraph he mentioned about the two coins assigned to Spink.</p><p><br /></p><p>Message from Mr. Rahman:</p><p>&quot;The Hapsburg coins, both the 9 Kilo piece and the 2 kilo one were given for private placement to Spinks and Son sometime around 1985-86.&nbsp; I was shown the single copy of a book written on the two pieces by Spinks; this leather bound book was the most beautiful numismatic publication ever and, apart from the color plate on each individual part of the poetic couplet on it, had quite some historical notes quoting original sources on such types of Gigantic Coins. </p><p><br /></p><p>The note that I found most interesting was the claim of the author that the piece had been in the family of the present owner [who remains anonymous to this day] the resources of whose family were such that they found no need to sell the piece through the several centuries of invasions and war in all parts of India. [Hence the speculation that it was the Nawab of Hyderabad] Since Spink were probably unsuccessful, the coins were taken over by Hapsberg to be put to auction. A very lovely 2 page `catalogue&#039; was produced by Hapsburg for this purpose.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>My recollection is that soon after the &#039;catalogue&#039; was published and before the auction date itself, the Indian Government sought a stay on the auction from the Swiss courts on the auction, claiming that these pieces constituted part of Indian heritage and were illegally taken out of the country. The plea was rejected when Hapsburgs were able to produce Bank Documents proving that the two pieces had been in Swiss Vaults since well before WW II. My further recollection is that $20 million was kept as a reserve price for the larger piece and remained unsold as the highest bid was several million Dollars lower.</p><p><br /></p><p>The actual story can only be told by the Hapsburg people. The second most&nbsp; knowledgeable person would be my friend Andre de Clermont, formerly of Spinks, who worked very closely on this with Hapsburg.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cheers</p><p>Aman ur Rahman</p><p>&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Regards,</p><p>Ballabh Garg[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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