2020-02-10 Mon

In August 1861 the die for the one rupee designed by L.C Wyon was dispatched to India. This dies has technical inadequacies with regards to the technology available at Indian mint, especially the Calcutta mint. This new coinage was approved by Calcutta Act 13 and with effect from 1862, they were circulating.

To indicate the year of manufacture the Bombay mint had used a number of dots; e.g., to indicate the year 1863 they had used one dot to mention the year 1873 eleven dots were used. Some unusual errors like 2 dots above letter 'ONE'/3 dots above flower at the bottom and 2 dots above 'ONE'/4 dots above the bottom flower. These are considered as mint errors reason being old dies used for minting these coins!

The one rupee was issued in the year 1862 with the bust of Queen Victoria on the obverse side of the coin. The reverse side of the coin is inscribed as ‘ONE RUPEE INDIA 1862’.

The weight of the coins is one Tola = 11.66 grams, parallel axis, the planchet die was 30.5 to 31.0. Image Courtesy: Todywalla Auction