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 Replies: 249 / Views: 28,911 |
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Pillar of the Community
 Spain
2752 Posts |
I've been collecting colonial coins for about 25 years now and thought I'd start up a running thread detailing some of them which hopefully will be interesting and informative to newbie collectors in this area. All the coins that will be shown are from my own collection unless stated otherwise... Contents
British India George VI 1940 set..........Pages 1-2
Princely states Bahawalpur 1940...........Page 2
British India Queen Victoria 1862 set.....Pages 2-8
British India George v 1919 set...........Pages 9-11
British India Edward VII 1907 set.........Pages 12-14
British India George VI 1946 set..........Pages 14-15
British India George VI 1947 set..........Pages 15-16
British West Africa George VI 1947 set....Page 16 The first set of coins that I'm going to show and discuss are from British India 1940.George VI was crowned king in May 1937 and the first coins of India with his effigy were minted in 1938. After the outbreak of WWII in 1939 the price of silver increased to such an extent that the face value of the One, Half and Quarter Rupee was less than the price of its 0.917 silver content. This led to the reduction of the amount of silver used in subsequent coins to 0.500. The engraver of the 1940 coins was Percy Metcalfe (1895/1970) A graduate from the Royal College of Art, London. His accreditations include The Barnyard Collection. Irish Free State Currency. King George V and King George VI portraits. Along with the George Cross medal. Also an array of different kings and rulers from all over the world commissioned him to design their portraits including King Farouk of Egypt, King Faisal I and King Ghazi of Iraq.  There were two mints used in 1940 those of Kolkata (Calcutta) and Mumbai (Bombay). The Kolkata biulding has an imposing frontage and was a design based on the Temple of Athena in Athens.Both buildings are closed now and are under renovation.   There were two types of head used the three differences between them are detailed below..  1 Rupee = 16 Annas = 64 Pice Coin 1..1/2 Pice ( 1st Head ) KM-528 Bronze 2.40/2.50 g....21.10/21.40 dia. Only minted at Kolkata (No mintmark) 23,769,600 The lowest denomination minted in 1940  Will post more coins from 1940 over yhe next few days..Paul Edited by Palouche
10/06/2018 5:34 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 Spain
2752 Posts |
There were three types of 1/4 Anna (1 Pice) minted... Bronze..4.83/4.91g.....25.20/25.50mm Coin 2 ...1st Head (Mumbai Mint) KM=530 Coin 3 ...2nd Head (Mumbai Mint) KM=531 Combined Mintage of the Mumbai mint 116,720,919 You can see the Mumbai Mint has a raised dot above the N of ONE on the reverse. Coin 4 ...2nd Head (Kolkata Mint) KM=531 No mintmark...Mintage 140,409,600  Edited by Palouche
10/06/2018 6:24 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5029 Posts |
Very interesting thread. I hope you continue adding more to it.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
2752 Posts |
Thanks scopru... One Anna...Copper-Nickel...3.88g....21.00mm / Scalloped with 12 notches. Along each outer side of the reverse is the value written in one of the four native languages Urdu, Telugu, Nagari and Bengali. There were four types of One Anna minted 1st Head Kolkata Mint KM-536...60,945,000..Coin not shown. 1st Head Mumbai Mint KM=536 see below.....Coin not shown. Coin 5....2nd Head (Kolkata Mint) KM-537...76,392,000 Coin 6....2nd Head (Mumbai Mint) KM-537...144,712,054 (inc KM-536) Mumbai Mintmark a raised dot below the date. Please note that on some Mumbai coins there can be a tiny raised diamond below one of the letteres of EMPEROR..Probably control marks.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2133 Posts |
On coin 5, the second 'E' in 'EMPEROR' appears not to have any horizontal bars. Is this always the case for 2nd Head (Kolkata Mint) or are there other 2nd Head (Kolkata Mint) where the second 'E' in 'EMPEROR' has horizontal bars ?
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
2752 Posts |
@ Pertinax.....LoOking at the coin up close there are horizontal bars on the 2nd E albeit very faint, maybe slightly clogged die?...I know of no variants referenced for the 2nd head Kolkata Mint, but thats not saying there aren't. For any collector who likes to collect coins with tiny variations within the same year or across a decade, British Indian coins have plenty to keep you busy.... As I mentioned on coin 6 you can just make out the raised diamond control mark below the E..  |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
Looking good! |
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
2752 Posts |
Thanks jbuck... 2 Anna...Copper Nickel...5.83g...22.3 / 25.5mm... Within each scallop of the quatrefoil on the reverse, is the value written in one of the four native languages Urdu, Telugu, Nagari and Bengali. 1st Head.... Mumbai Mint KM-540 Unlisted Date... Not ShownFor those interested in variants, there are four minor variants of the Mumbai Mint.. Running from 1940-1947 1.One small raised diamond below any letter of the word EMPEROR. 2.One small raised diamond above the 2nd N of ANNAS + One small raised diamond below any letter of the word EMPEROR. 3.One small raised diamond above the 2nd N of ANNAS + 2 Small raised diamonds at different places below any letter of the word EMPEROR. 4.Two Small raised diamonds above the 2nd N of ANNAS in different places + One small raised diamond below any letter of the word EMPEROR. Just to confuse things even more there are 3 variants of 1940 Mumbai Mint related to the four flowers shown in each corner on both sides.. A. No incuse flower on either side. B. Incuse flower on portrait side. C. Incuse flower on date side.  Coin 7...2nd Head.... Mumbai Mint..KM-541... 50,599,037 Inc all four types. Mumbai Mintmark.. two raised dots either side of the date.(Variant 1/B) Coin 8...2nd Head.... Kolkata Mint..KM-541...37,636,000..(Simple, no Mintmark and no variations)  Below shows the small raised diamond variant 1 on coin 7  |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
Fascinating! Thank you for sharing your knowledge here.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
2752 Posts |
Next up is the 1/4 Rupee. There were three types minted with reduced silver content at 0.500.... Coin 9...1st Head...Only Mumbai Mint..KM-544a..24,635,000 Coin 10..2nd Head..Mumbai Mint..KM-545..28,946,956 Mumbai Mintmark, a raised dot/bead below the lotus flower at the bottom of the date side near the edge. Coin 11..2nd Head..Kolkata mint..KM-545..68,674,901..(No Mintmark)  |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
Well done. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5029 Posts |
Beautiful coins Palouche |
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Valued Member
Spain
112 Posts |
Those are really nice coins, I especially like the square ones. What is the silver content of these types of coins?
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
2752 Posts |
Thanks for following...And glad your interested.. @Volvicch...The square (quadrangular) coins aren´t made of silver they´re made of Copper Nickel.British Indian coins pre 1940...1/4 ,1/2 and One Rupee coins are made of 0.917 Silver.From mid 1939 to 1947 the silver content was reduced to 0.500 for the 1/4,1/2 and One Rupee coins,the 2 Anna was minted in Copper Nickel..On the 24th May 1947 a new Rupee was minted slightly smaller in dia and made of pure Nickel,only minted at Mumbai and Lahore with a different reverse design... Something extra on the 1940 1/4 Rupee coins, below the date is written in Urdu 4 Annas = (1/4 Rupee)..Paul  Edited by Palouche
10/16/2018 8:13 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Lovely coins!
I have a large number of colonial Indian coins, but have yet to get that part of my collection organized - so far it's just random coins I pulled from larger lots. What are your collection goals for the series? I've been toying with the idea of making a type set, but I haven't gotten much past collecting the rupees and some assorted base metal coinage.
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
2752 Posts |
Thanks Steve, Quote:
What are your collection goals for the series? Basically to collect full year sets as complete (pocket allowing) as possible. When I´ve finished posting the 1940 set I will start to show my Victoria 1862 set...Paul |
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Replies: 249 / Views: 28,911 |
Posted 10/07/2018 09:09 am
