| Product
Code |
: |
PUD NO_893-5_AR |
| Subject | : | Zoroastrian Girls School - S.S. Bengalee |
| Size | : | 38.5 mm |
| Metal | : | Silver |
| Year | : | 1893 |
| Description | : | obv. Bust of Bengalee with Parsi hat and wearing badge of Order of Indian Empire, around upper border : SORABJEE – SHAPOORJEE – BENGALEE – C.I.E. Signed : ALLAN WYON SC, rev. In centre lion, right, on plinth with date below : 1893, around border : ZOROASTRIAN – GIRLS – SCHOOL – ASSOCIATION * Gujarati inscription above lion. Signed : A. WYON.
Usually found with a suspension. Bombay Mint records accessed indicate it was made in silver and copper but gold is known from the same dies.
The Zoroastrian Girls School is at Novisari (or Navsari) in Gujarat, where many of the Parsis originated. The object of the school was to impact instruction in Gujarati, the three R’s and music, drawing and needle-work to Parsi girls at Navsari. The official name of the institution was the ‘Bai Navajbai Tata Nowsari Zoroastrian Girls School’. S. Shapoorjee Bengalee was a journalist, author, social reformer and friend of the laboring classes. He worked for the introduction of European women doctors in Bombay and, due to his exertions, the Indian Factories Act of 1881 became law. He died in 1893 at the age of 62. |
