2018-02-21 Wed

This silver peacock coin of Burma is a beautiful specimen which was issued by the Burmese King Mindon Min.

This attractive coin’s face value is 1 Kyat which is equivalent to one Indian rupee or 16 annas. The coin depicts the personal emblem of the king, a peacock with a fanned out tail on the obverse side. The date depicted on this coin is 1214 CS Burmese era (1853 AD). The reverse side of this coin depicts denomination within the wreath. It was widely circulated in Burma and was often called as ‘peacock rupees’.

The machinery for producing these silver coins was imported from Birmingham, England. These peacock coins were issued from the Mandalay Mint. The copper 1/4pe with the same peacock design was also issued from the same mint. In 1878, new bronze and gold coins with lion design were issued by Mindon’s successor Thibaw. Thus, this silver rupee's production stopped.