in the countryside and a residence in the city of Paris where he lived until his death in 1880. A very useful overview of Court's life in India is found in Jean-Marie Lafont's book Indika: Essays in Indo-French Relations, 1630-1976 [New Delhi, 2000]. Lafont presents an enormous amount of new information of the 'French Generals" serving in Lahore in the 1820s-30s as well as the intellectual interest France showed in all things Indian in the 19th century. Interest in Numismatics Court was one of the first Europeans to become interested in the coins of South Asia, which he collected from 1829. Part of the collection was described in Revue Numismatique in 1839 and Court talks of his coin collection in his valuable Memoires published in Paris in 1856-57. Court died in Paris in January 1880 leaving his heirs his rich coin collection. We know almost nothing of its fate since then until three albums came to light in an English book sale. They contained 627 coin rubbings, allowing many of Court's coins to be identified. These had been bought by a coin collector, Alexander Cunningham, whose collection was acquired by the British Museum in 1888–94. Cunningham may also have owned the albums. See also Paolo Avitabile France-Asia relations Fauj-i-Khas Ranjit Singh References French mercenaries History of Sikhism History of Punjab Military history of India Mercenaries in India