Madras fanam

Fanam also Panam is the name of a coin, which was common in many parts of South India and Ceylon / Sri Lanka. The origin of the coin is about the 9th century. She is tiny and was minted in gold. My weight was about 0.35 g, which is the weight of a seed of the red sandalwood tree ( Tamil manjadi, latin Adenanthera pavonina ) corresponds.

The peak of the distribution of the coin was about the 16th century. Since then it has been minted in silver, sometimes alloyed with copper and a low content of gold. The prevailing European colonial powers such as England, France ( in Pondicherry, known there as Fanon ), the Netherlands and Denmark ( in Tranquebar, Fano referred to ) marked the coin in silver.

With the 1835 performed unification of the Indian system by the British colonial administration of Fanam lost its importance and was replaced by the Indian rupee.

Until 1946 Fanams silver were minted in Travancore.

• Gold coin
• Silver coin
• Economic History (India)