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 Replies: 26 / Views: 7,369 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
This is a friend's coin I'm re-posting for another collector of British India coins.  This 1921 India Rupee has an interesting amount of retooling on the reverse. It appears that a heavily worn die was reworked with a limited range of tools--notice how "curves" were made with a rectangular punch in the detail photos? :? The normal reverse, as on a 1920 Rupee. Notice the curved serifs and the date.  The retooled reverse with crude, blocky serifs--shot in a PCGS (MS64) slab:  Details:   Doesn't it appear that a lot of time was put into this re-tooling? And isn't it odd the Bombay mint did not have better-shaped tools to accomplish this? Why not simply rehub the reverse? One explanation might be the dies were made in the UK, and shipped to Bombay, and this was the best they could do? :? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2605 Posts |
Very interesting! I'm assuming you're sure it's not a forgery, modern or contemporary. Looks like it was scrubbed with a wire brush!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4000 Posts |
Very interesting. That is the most extreme example I've seen yet, not that I've seen many, mind you.
No doubt I would have picked that up and asked you guys about it.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10045 Posts |
Isn't it cool?  I seem to recall this coin is slabbed. The scratches you see are raised...they were on the die. |
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Valued Member
United States
451 Posts |
Wow! It's a very interesting coin! Thanks so much for posting the coin. Wonder why anyone would go through the trouble of doing all this tooling. What grade did the TPG give for this coin? |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Isn't fascinating to consider why they retooled the die this way? A die shortage perhaps? I wonder how many were struck?
I just looked through my notes, and see this coin was slabbed by PCGS as MS64.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2605 Posts |
Is there a chance to see the entire coin? Both sides!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Slav,
It's not my coin, but from a friend's collection. Those are the only pics I have.
I would like to see more pics too--contigent on him having the time to do so.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1040 Posts |
Yes, the coin is slabbed MS64 by PCGS. I will get some pictures taken later today (sorry, will be well into the night over there before I can get them) and post them.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4000 Posts |
I have coffee.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1040 Posts |
Here is another picture I still had on photobucket. I thought perhaps there might be a chance I had the whole coin there, but sorry it isn't there. I think from memory this was one of the first coins I used my USB microscope on and pictures of the whole coin were a little blurry around the edges. For whole coins, a camera still works best in my opinion.  You can see more evidence of the deteriorating die with the cracks here. With the number of errors, die cracks, clashes etc. you can find on British Indian coins, they worked them to death and sometimes even a little bit beyond. And it seems everything was allowed to escape the mint, I have seen more Indian brockage coins than from any other country. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4000 Posts |
That's good to know. Now I know not to get too excited if I find one - LOL!
That's a pretty nice crack on that one.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Great to see another pic of this coin!  That was one worn die. I'm curious why they would go to such lengths to retool the die. Perhaps there were a shortage of Rupee dies for that year?  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1040 Posts |
1921 is one of the harder dates, especially in higher grades, it has a small mintage of only about 5 million with 1922 being the smallest mintage of only 2 million. Compare that to some mintages of over 200 million for EACH mint per year. 1918 and 1919 were huge years for mintage, nearly 900 million rupee in those two years alone, with another 100 million in 1920. Perhaps the mint believed there would be enough coins already minted to meet demand and didn't have enough dies prepared?
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1040 Posts |
Here are the pics as promised.   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Wow...the lettering on the reverse really stands out! The obverse die looks very worn too.
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Replies: 26 / Views: 7,369 |
Posted 02/12/2011 7:51 pm
