Extremely Fine, Extremely Rare.

Awadh was declared an 'independent kingdom' on 9th October 1819 and Ghaziuddin Haider, the Nawab-Wazeer was now conferred with the title of 'King' by the East India Company. His coronation marks a break from the Indian courtly culture. He chose to adopt European symbols of kingship and was the first Indian king to do so. Thus, his crown and coat-of-arms have a clear European design. The designs for this medal and Ghaziuddin Haidar's coinage were made by court artists Roshan Lal and Jamiyat Rai. The latter chose to sign his work with the letter 'Jim' which is not present on this piece, so this must have been the artwork of Roshan Lal. For further reading, see article by Richard Burn, "The coronation medal of the first king of Oudh", Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, Vol. III, part 2, 1941, pp.113-114.