Facts on Coins of British India

By Shri. Jagdish Agarwal | Courtesy: Shri. Prem Pues Kumar

• Queen Victoria came to throne on 20th June 1837. But Bombay mint struck 1835 rupee of King William IV up to 31st March 1841 and Calcutta mint struck up to 10th November 1840. 
  
  
• William IV 1840 Rupee coin is called Mule coin. By mistake a reverse die , prepared for the forthcoming Victoria issue was paired with the obverse die of William IV.
  
  
• Gold and Silver coins of Queen Victoria dated 1840/41 were struck up to 1862.
  
  
• In 1856-57, due to political disturbance , it was not possible for the mints to strike copper coins. Therefore, in July 1857 a British firm (R Heaton & Sons) was given order to struck 1857 dated Quarter Anna copper coins. So 47,040,000 pcs of 1857 Quarter Anna were struck by them and 300 tons of Copper was used.
  
  
• Madras Mint struck 1862 Victoria rupee up to 1869. The mint was closed in August 1869 and sold to Hyderabad State.
  
  
• Several die varieties exists in 1862 Rupee coins. There was rumour that dot coins are fake. The following explanation was released by the mint in 1873 in the Bombay Times of India- " The Mint adopted the plan of adding dot to its dies in order to indicate the exact year of minting in between 1862 -74. " Thus one dot means it was struck in 1863 and 11 dot means it was struck in 1873.
  
  
• As there was sufficient rupee coin in the market, the mint stopped striking rupee coins in 1893. But in 1897, Bhopal and Kashmir state agreed to stopped striking their coin and accept British rupee as their coin. To meet this new demand Rupee coin of 1897 & 98 were struck and supplied only to these 2 states.
  
  
• On 12th December 1911, rupee coin of 1911 was issued. The Muslim became angry, as per their version a pig is shown  (on the collar of the Most Eminent Order) on the coin. According to mint it is elephant not pig. Ultimately the coin was withdrawn from the circulation and in 1912, the die was slightly altered ,the figure of elephant was now more clear.
  
  
• The Nickel 8 annas issued in 1919-20, was withdrawn from circulation from 1st October 1924. As lot of clever forgery appeared in the market.
  
  
• The Calcutta mint sent 3600 mound copper, 180 mound tin, 90 mound zinc to Hyderabad State mint during August - September 1918 to strike 1919 Quarter Anna on their behalf. The Hyderabad State Mint struck 12,646,400 pcs of India 1919 quarter anna.
  
  
• As there was sufficient supply of rupee coins in the market, no rupee coins from 1923 -37 were struck. But during World war in 1939, the price of silver metal rose, people began to hoard silver coins and the silver coins began to disappear from the market. The Calcutta mint sent their die of 1938 and 1939 rupee coins to Bombay mint to strike coins. It was stuck by Bombay mint in Jan, 1940.
  
  
• Before 1873, Indian one rupee was equal to 2 shilling  (10 rupee was equal to one Pound) of Great Britain . In 1873, the rupee became equal to 1 Shilling 7 Pence.. In 1885 , the rupee became equal to 1 Shilling 3 Pence. In 1899, the rupee became equal to 1 Shilling 4 Pence. The Pound became equal to 15 Rupee. Which continued for several years.