Chapter SIAM to SICCA of S by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

the Kingdom: And the Names of Pegu, Lao, Mogul, and most of the Names which we give to the Indian Kingdoms, are likewise National Names.”—De la Loubère, E.T. p. 6.

SICCA, s. As will be seen by reference to the article RUPEE, up to 1835 a variety of rupees had been coined in the Company’s territories. The term sicca (sikka, from Ar. sikka, ‘a coining die,’—and ‘coined money,’—whence Pers. sikka zadan, ‘to coin’) had been applied to newly coined rupees, which were at a batta or premium over those worn, or assumed to be worn, by use. In 1793 the Government of Bengal, with a view to terminating, as far as that Presidency was concerned, the confusion and abuses engendered by this system, ordered that all rupees coined for the future should bear the impress of the 19th year of Shah ’Alam (the “Great Mogul” then reigning), and this rupee, “19 San Sikkah,” ‘struck in the 19th year,’ was to be the legal tender in Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. This rupee, which is the Sicca of more recent monetary history, weighed 192 grs. troy, and then contained 176·13 grs. of pure silver. The “Company’s Rupee,” which introduced uniformity of coinage over British India in 1835, contained only 165 grs. silver. Hence the Sicca bo re to the Company’s Rupee (which was based on the old Farrukhabad rupee) the proportion of 16:15 nearly. The Sicca was allowed by Act VII. of 1833 to survive as an exceptional coin in Bengal, but was abolished as such in 1836. It continued, however, a ghostly existence for many years longer in the form of certain Government Book-debts in that currency. (See also CHICK.)

1537.—“… Sua senhoria avia d’aver por bem que as siquas das moedas corressem em seu nome per todo o Reino do Guzerate, asy em Dio como nos otros luguares que forem del Rey de Portuguall.”—Treaty of Nuno da Cunha with Nizamamede Zamom (Mahommed Zamam) concerning Cambaya, in Botelho, Tombo, 225.

1537.—“… e quoanto á moeda ser chapada de sua sita (read sica) pois já lhe concedia.”—Ibid. 226.

[1615.—“… cecaus of Amadavrs which goeth for eighty-six pisas (see PICE). …”—Foster, Letters, iii. 87.]

1683.—“Having received 25,000 Rupees Siccas for Rajamaul.”—Hedges, Diary, April 4; [Hak. Soc. i. 75].

1705.—“Les roupies Sicca valent à Bengale 39 sols.”—Luillier, 255.

1779.—“In the 2nd Term, 1779, on Saturday, March 6th: Judgment was pronounced for the plaintiff. Damages fifty thousand sicca rupees.

„ “… 50,000 Sicca Rupees are equal to five thousand one hundred and nine pounds, two shillings and elevenpence sterling, reckoning according to the weight and fineness of the silver.”—Notes of Mr. Justice Hyde on the case Grand v. Francis, in Echoes of Old Calcutta, 243. [To this Mr. Busteed adds: “Nor does there seem to be any foundation for the other time-honoured story (also repeated by Kaye) in connection with this judgment, viz., the alleged interruption of the Chief Justice, while he was delivering judgment, by Mr. Justice Hyde, with the eager suggestion or reminder of ‘Siccas, Siccas, Brother Impey,’ with the view of making the damages as high at the awarded figure as possible. Mr. Merivale says that he could find no confirmation of the old joke. … The story seems to have been first promulgated in a book of ‘Personal Recollections’ by John Nicholls, M.P., published in 1822.”—Ibid. 3rd ed. 229].

1833.— * * *

“III.—The weight and standard of the Calcutta sicca rupee and its sub-divisions, and of the Furruckabad rupee, shall be as follows:—

	Weight. Grains.	Fine. Grains.	Alloy. Grains.
Calcutta sicca rupee	192	176	16

* * * * *

“IV.—The use of the sicca weight of 179·666 grains, hitherto employed for the receipt of bullion at the Mint, being in fact the weight of the Moorshedabad rupee of the old standard … shall be discontinued, and in its place the following unit to be called the Tola (q.v.) shall be introduced.”—India Regulation VII. of 1833.