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 Replies: 26 / Views: 3,747 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
Roughly three years ago, I purchased a collection of 90 Indian Rupees and other "similar coins" (with writing I can not read) to save them from being melted. At the time I paid spot silver by weight with the assay calculated at 800 fine. I have tried to gauge interest in these coins before with only minimal success. So I thought I would try again to see if anyone is interested in this kind of thing.
Each coin was attributed on the original 2x2 holder but some of the writing is not very clear and I really have no idea of what the coins are really worth. The collection dates to 1979-1983 based on the notes on the holders.
Most of the hand hammered types are worn to Fine/Very Fine levels but they are fairly clear. The milled coins tend to be just slightly better but some have been cleaned.
Here is a breakdown by Country/State and denomination - I do have pictures of each of the coins in their original holders but transferring them here would be time consuming and probably of very little interest. So I will just list them for now.
Please pardon any spelling errors I am way out of my normal area of interest. Here are about half....
Afghanistan - Tatta Rupee AH 1186-1207 (1772-1793)
" - Kashmir Rupee AH 1222/5 (1803-1808)
" - Kabul Rupee AH 1293 (1876)
" - Rupee AH 1304 (1887)
" - Rupee AH 1313
" - Multiple Dirhem AH 388-421
" - " " Samanids AH 366-387
" - " " Samanids date ?
" - " " Ghaznavids date ?
India - Baroda State - Ahmadabad mint - Rupee AH 1234
India - Assam Kingdom - Rupee SE 1685 (1763)
India - Bikianir State - Rupee VS 1916 (1859)
India - Gwalior State - Bajranggan mint - Rupee yr29 (1827)
India - Bhopal State - Rupee AH 1292 (1875)
India - Bikianir State - Rupee AH 1202-1244 (1788-1828)
India - Bhopal State - Rupee AH 1298 yr 13 (1875)
India - Bundi State - Rupee SE 1934 (1877) Victoria
India - Bundi State - Rupee SE 1958 (1901) Edward VII
India - Bundi State - Rupee SE 1966 (1909) Edward VII
India - Bundi State - Rupee SE 1979 (1922) George V
India - Bundi State - Rupee SE 1981 (1924) George V
India - Chhatardur State - Rupee AH 1192 yr 25 (1803) frz
India - Datia State - Rupee AH 1188 (error) 1178 frozen
India - Datia State - Rupee AH 1282 yr 46
India - Datia State - Rupee AH 1313 yr 24
India - Delhi State - Rupee? copper? AH 857 (Tanka?)
India - Gujrat State - Half Tanka AH 863-917
India - Gwalior State - Ujjain mint - Rupee - AH 118?
India - Gwalior State - Bhilsa mint - Rupee - 1827?
India - Gwalior State - Dalalit mint - Rupee - AH 1313 y 37
India - Hyderabad State - Rupee - AH 1308
India - Hyderabad State - Rupee - AH 1294
India - Hyderabad State - Rupee - AH 1285
India - Hyderabad State - Rupee - AH 1241
India - Hyderabad State - Rupee - AH 1309
India - Hyderabad State - Rupee - AH 1279
India - Indore State - Maheshwar mint - Rupee - AH 1217
India - Indore State - Rupee - ca 1890 (2 copies)
India - Indore State - Indore mint - Rupee - FE 1296
India - Jaipur State - Rupee - year 7 1886
India - Jaipur State - Rupee - AH 1233 year 13
India - Jaipur State - Rupee - year 10 - Victoria
India - Jaipur State - Rupee - AH 1232 year 12
India - Jaipur State - Rupee - year 18 - Victoria
India - Jaisalmir State - Rupee - AH 1153 year 22 frozen
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2669 Posts |
I would be, Bob.. but need to mention this would have to be moved to the for-sale forum. I'm sure there would be others interested, as well. If you'd like help getting the photos on here, let me know.
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Moderator
 Australia
16832 Posts |
"Indian states" coins don't have too many fans amongst Western coin collectors. Even OFEC collectors are reluctant to enter the field - they're just too "strange", or "primitive" ,and since the countries that issued them don't exist any more, there's little perceived need to "collect one from each state". That being said, there are some there that stand out as being worth considerably more than bullion content. The early coins, notably the multiple dirhams of the Samanids - I'd hate to see thousand-year-old Islamic coins treated as bullion. Even with the flood of these coins coming to the West after a decade of contact with Afghanistan thanks to the war there, you should still find a buyer for them, especially if someone's already gone to the trouble of dating them. I paid $95 for this one from a local dealer, which seems to be a typical price for the on ebay too. They're great for posting in a "largest circulating coin" competition.  One can usually find a buyer looking for the exotic, and the eight-sided coins from The Eight-Sided Kingdom of Assam certainly are that. I paid $25 for mine. I don't have any coins from Chhatarpur state. It's listed in the 1700s Krause but not the 1800s book, even though most of the coins bearing the "1192" date were struck during the 1800s with that date frozen. We'd need to see the Dehli coin to confirm the ID, but if it looks coppery and is called a "tanka", I'd assume it's a billon tanka. The Sultanate of Dehli was unique among world coinage in issuing coins of billon side-by-side with coins of gold, silver and copper, all to the same weight standards - a tetrametallic monetary system - though by AH 857 (AD 1453), the sultanate was in trouble and the gold and silver coins had all but dried up. The Goron & Goenka catalogue of Dehli coins rates billon tankas of Bahlul Shah Lodi, the sultan at the time, as "very common", but still worth far more than the measly amount of silver it would contain - "billon" at the time typically containing only about 15-20% silver. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1040 Posts |
Any that xshift is not interested in, I would be. I can't get on here as often as I would like at the moment, so please feel free to PM me after xshift has had her pick. I would be happy to take all that she doesn't want if no one else is interested.
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Valued Member
United States
451 Posts |
I am a big fan of Indian coins! I would be interested in all of them after what the other who posted above me have taken!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
I'm also a fan of these coins; if there are some left after others take a look--I would like to see pictures.
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Pillar of the Community
Czech Republic
803 Posts |
Thank you for a very informative post, Sap!
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5362 Posts |
Well it certainly sounds as if there is some interest now. I will probably post pictures a few at a time and if I could establish fair prices for them I could simply post them for sale and move this to the sale part of the forum.
I just didn't want to see these melted - they are far too old for that to be their end. Even if I can't read them at all.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Swamperbob- I too would be GREATLY interested in hammered Indian coins. In my neck of the woods even modern Indian coins are hard to come by. In fact, in the past 4 or 5 years only 3 have flowed into local shops.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Mexico
1304 Posts |
Not to hijack the thread...but I'm seriously goign to miss the simple "for-sale" section...  I'd like to see these listed on there with photos...I'm sure I'd be tempted by a few! |
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Moderator
Australia
16832 Posts |
The four multiple-dirhams are listed in the Stephen Album checklist as follows. Album doesn't give prices, just a relative rarity scale. Here's my semi-educated guess as to what you've got, based on the notes on the tags:
#1: Ghaznavid, Mahmud, Anderaba mint, AH389 (AD 999) - Album rates it as "common", noting this date and mint in particular are by far the most common for this coin type, thanks to a hoard of 30,000 of them dug up in 1967. A#1608.
#2: Samanid, Nuh II, Kura Badakhshan mint, can't read the date (somewhere in the range AH 366-387). Album rates it as "rare", though there's also a more common variety from this mint that names the local Banijurid governor. I assume the original descriptor would have mentioned that if it were present. A#1469.
#3: Samanid, basically the same as #2, except naming the Caliph al-Ta'i' narrows the possible date range to 366-381. The warping will bring the value down.
#4: Ghaznavid, basically the same as #1, as far as I can tell. They all have different "M" numbers; I don't know if that's a catalogue number or just a collection number.
For values, I'm thinking "double the ticketed price" sounds fair, except for #3; given the damage, I can't see $100 being a reasonable ask. Maybe $60 or so?
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
Philippines
1156 Posts |
Oh yes! Very interesting, looking forward to your posting at the auction section w/PIN. As an OFEC collector I stll don't hve any from Afghanistan, so if there's one that measures near 38mm, that would be very interesting
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
That sound fair - the prices posted on the holders were from what we could figure out the price paid as of the date the coins were originally purchased in 1982.
So since I am not at all familiar how to go about posting these - and how the whole thing works I would really appreciate it.
I hate to just plunk them out there with the first person that speaks up winning? Or is it the first to pay or how does it work? I have quite a few of the silver salvaged coins that I could post but don't want to hurt any one's feelings. So if I knew better how to go about to be fair to those not in my time zone ...........
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Valued Member
United States
451 Posts |
@Swamperbob : May be you could just list them on CCF auctions with the reserve price as the price you bought them at. Should give enough time for people on all timezones to compete for it.
P.S: I miss the gud ol Sell section too !
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Pillar of the Community
Luxembourg
588 Posts |
Indian Princely States are also one of my favorite themes.
I have somehow abandoned a bit while concentrating on the French coins.
I would also be interested into some of these coins.
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Replies: 26 / Views: 3,747 |
Posted 07/15/2011 04:06 am
