British Colonial Coinage And Some Extras

Thanks jbuck....Ive spent a fair few days researching, cross referencing and putting together this presentation so I hope people find it user friendly and can follow this denomination breakdown..Paul

Super looking coin Director!...Beautiful rainbow toning! Thanks for sharing..
I didn't know if you'd posted this as a challange? So I took a closer look..
Some of the letters and numbers have breaks in them Top of R and left of A in VICTORIA..Top of E in ONE and bottom of 1 and 8 in the date but I wouldn't class these as a variant just a die blockage..

There is just one detail I cant clearly see in the photo, is there a back line of the bodice from neck to shoulder or is it floating? There is a variant referenced with this detail..

A/II 0/6 Minted in 1868.....

I'll be posting the dot series soon,but one area I'm having difficulty in finding references for, is the mint dates of the top dot varieties. Do you know of a good online reference?...Thanks Paul

Sorry Director I didn't make myself clear.... I meant on the coin, as there is a rare variant of this type where there is no finish line on the bodice to the right..


Yes JF I have used but he doesn't have mint year dates...The only one I've found is Chiefa and just wanted to cross reference the dates...Thanks anyhow..

Glad I got this one right..that makes us 1-1

1862 1 Rupee..The reverse dot varieties..
Why the dots?
This explanation was released by the Bombay mint in 1893 in the Bombay Times of India-


From 1862-1873/4 all coins were dated as 1862 and basically the mintage year was signified annually by adding a dot... 1 dot above the bottom flower indicated it was struck in 1863..4 dots indicated 1866 etc..Or so you would think!...
Why did they do this?! All the other denominations did not adopt this dating system on the 1862 series...And why was this system only officially announced nearly 20 years later!....
These coins were highly detailed yet the dots seem to have been created by an 8 year old with a Dremel, a diamond bit and no sense of symmetry!
There seems to have been some confusion as to where the dots should be placed in the first couple of years and then it becomes a bit more plausible(the 1 year = 1 dot statement) until the last 2 years when the dot placement becomes disorderly again...

The referencing format for these coins are as follows..eg B/II 2/4 = Bust B/Reverse II 2 top dots/4 bottom dots.

First here are the 3 basic bust types used,these are the same as the non dot varieties posted before See Ref# 1..
Note there is another very rare bust type which I'll present in the next post..

Variations of the basic Bust..Please note these variations are not necessarily akin to a particular Bust type..See Ref#2

Only 2 types of reverse were used on the dot varieties see below..

The reverse top dot positions are as below..As you can see with both the 3 dot types one of the dots is very small this is usually referenced as micro dots..I am personally sceptical about this...Is this a 3 dot type or a 2 dot type with a control mark? Maybe to indicate the run-over into the next year?Just a thought...

The reverse bottom dot positions are as below..Again micro dots are visible on some..

Checklist..
1863..A/II 0/1..B/II 1/0
1864..A/II 0/2..AII/ 2/0..B/II 2/0..B/II 3/0
1865..B/II 0-3..B/II 2/3
1866..A/I 0/4...A/II 0/4..B/I 0/4...B/II 0/4..A/II 2/4..B/II 2/4
1867..A/II 0/5
1868..A/II 0/6..B/II 0/6
1869..A/II 0/7..B/II 0/7
1870..A/II 0/8
1871..A/II 0/9
1872..A/II 0/10..A/II 1/7(top dot normal position)..A/II 1/7(top dot in top flower).
1873..A/I 0/11...A/II 1/1..A/II 1/10(top dot normal position)..A/II 1/10(top dot in top flower).
1874..A/II 0/12..A/I 1/2..A/II 1/2..C/I 1/2..C/II 1/2..A/I 1/11

Here is an example coin randomly taken from ebay..



As you can possibly tell I am a bit sceptical about the initial statement from the Bombay Mint..There are a lot of different suggestions from various collectors regarding the dot formations and their purpose (I have my own)..I would be interested in hearing other peoples opinions...

In the next post I am going to present a challange to all you viewers with 3 examples that hopefully you will be able to attribute...They will all be standard types...Lets see if you can...... Paul

And have you seen or do you have a example of 1864..A/II 0/2 dots?

Thanks scopru I'm glad your finding it interesting and hopefully your ready for the challenge in the next post?


In that case you have a rare variety coin in lovely condition ...Great find!


Whilst living in India I saw only two, both from big time collectors along with other extremely rare coins...IMO the A/II 0/2 coin is one of the rarest coins in the 1862 series...Here is one that is supposedly this coin!?
Baldwin...Item No. 149196
BRITISH INDIA: AR rupee, 1862-(b), KM-473.1, S&W-4.61, Prid-72, obverse H/reverse II, 0/2 beads, choice EF.



In my humble opinion this is a A/II 1/2...But I'm interested in your opinion? Look at the dot black mark above the N in ONE?

Director I do collect Spanish coins but all are pre Franco mostly 19th century but I have a friend nearby who collects big time...PM me with your question and I'll see if I can help....Paul