Does Anyone Collect India?

Bacchus2 You have a very nice collection. I presume you have studied the coinage of India.

I have a couple questions for you, if you do not mind.

How often do you run into Counterfeit Indian coins? Were local forgeries of state coins ever common at any period in history? I am wondering if there were periods of monetary crisis like the ones that happened in the US when counterfeits circulated extensively?

You may wonder why I am asking.

I am negotiating to purchase an 1840 Portuguese India GOA Rupia in a very high grade. But it is a counterfeit. It has been slabbed by NGC as original. The owner who bought the coin from a reputable US dealer has no suspicions about the slab being altered or tampered with. The coin sold for $460 last year. I has a known provenance having appeared earlier in a major auction sale.

But recently experts in the field of Indian coins (including one professional) contacted the owner and they are certain it is a forgery. To prove this, they have have supplied several pictures of identical coins NOT in slabs. The slabbed coin has identical die breaks and even apparently identical "post strike damage".

Based on what I have seen to date - I believe it has to be a forgery. But I am leaving a little wiggle room because I am not familiar with how the Portuguese Indian coins were made or how the dies were made and stored. All of the dings and bumps could POSSIBLY be the result of die damage which has been transferred to the coin. There are examples of the coin that show progression in the die breaks so not all copies are 100% identical.

The coin is being shipped to me so that I can do a microscopic analysis.

As an example of a slabbed counterfeit it is a rather rare item. This is especially true of the top tier graders. Up to now my two examples of ANACS slabbed forgeries are my best. A slabbed forgery done by NGC would be a real prize. NGC is very good at spotting forgeries and I have not seen a counterfeit in one of their holders. So the expert consensus that this coin is "Modern Chinese" bothers me considerably.

I was wondering if you ever ran into a "Contemporary Circulating Counterfeit" coin from Portuguese India? Specifically the 1840 GOA Rupia.

I was also wondering if you had any reference materials that would shed any light on die manufacture in 1840 India and any other data on day to day mint operations?

For me, I would be more "forgiving" of the experts at NGC if they slabbed a Contemporary Copy as opposed to a very recently made Chinese knock off. That seem almost beyond belief.

And finally, are you aware of a Modern Chinese copy of the 1840 GOA Rupia?

Bacchus2 Thanks Malcolm for the help.

I do not care for slabs - since some of the key facts (edge) are obscured in even the best holders. But I do like PROOF that their experts also fail at times. NGC in particular will attempt to buy back any known examples of encapsulated forgeries to keep their reputation intact.

The US hype over encapsulated coins is an investor driven phenomenon that I wish had never started.

Thanks for the link I will use it once the coin arrives to see if it will help to determine authenticity.

I'm sure everyone knows this but if you click on the image - the end of the ID line will give the identification of the coin.


A few more

Portugese India














Pudukkottai




Sikh Empire













Sind - British Occupation

Hi.

For most of these pictures if you click on the image and look at the reference line there's some "blurb" at the end.

For this one it's

CashKM612gBirmingham1889-1906mintage5000000200

So it's a a 1 cash - KM612, minted in Birminghan between 1889 and 1906 - with a huge mintage.

I hope this helps

Malcolm

Bacchus2- Amazing collection! Are Indian coins easy to find in dealers' shops in your area? In my neck of the woods in the US Indian coins from the Mughal and British colonial period are very scarce. So I have really been drooling over your pics.

Also, what can you tell me about that 1877 British rupee struck for Alwar? Are they fairly scarce?

Hai Bacchus2,you really inspired me load a few pictures of Gujarat sultans.They are a selected few and I hope will help.

A great collection from that state drnsreedhar ... and well photographed too.

Archraz - yes definitely Jhodpur - though I actually think it's a quarter anna from George VI.

A few more

Kutch

















Mathra Confederacy









Mewar










Mysore