Coins of British India Since 1835

7/28/2019 Coins of British India Since 1835

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Coins of British India since 1835

Lalita Mathur

The epoch-making reform of British Indian coinage took

place in 1835. On the recommendation of James Prinsep,

the father of Indian paleography and numismatics, the

weight, size and fineness of coins of all metals and

denominations were standardised in that year. Thus the

mohar in gold, the rupee in silver and the quarter- anna

in copper were all struck in a uniform weight standard.

Previously there were in use numerous coins of varying

weights, sizes and fineness that were prevalent.

A chronological study of minting activities in India

from 1835 to 1947, that is, from the days of King William

1V to George V1, shows that during this period the rupee,

Indias standard monetary unit, gained international

popularity, so much so that rupee coins were being struckeven in places far away from India, such as German East

Africa, Italian Somaliland, Java, Mauritius etc..

WILLIAM IV

William IV ascended the throne of England on June 26,

1830. Though he had very little to do with the actual

government of the Indian territories, since the Board ofDirectors of the East India Company were exercising real

power, coins in India were struck in his name under the

auspices of the East India Company. It was during his

reign that Indian currency saw its most remarkable

reform.


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Coins were minted in three metals gold, silver and

copper. The gold and silver coins were milled ( machine

made ), while the copper ones were unmilled. Coins of all

metals bore the date 1835, though, struck between theyears 1835 and 1839.

There were different designs for coins of different

metals. While the obverse of both gold and silver coins

bore the effigy of the King, that of the copper coins

depicted the companys Coat-of-Arms.

On the other hand, the reverse of the gold coins had

the figure of a Lion, while that of the silver and copper

coins bore a laurel wreath , The Companys Coat-of-

Arms consisted of a crossed shield with two supporting

Lions on the left and right and a crest lion on the top

flanked by two Union Jacks. A scroll below the shield had

the Companys motto written in Latin. AUSPIGIO REGIS

ET SENATUS ANGLIE ( Auspicious Reign and English

Senate or Council).

The reverse of the gold coins bore the figure of the

lion, an appropriate type of sovereignty, completely

localized by the ever flourishing Palm, an Asiatic, though

ancient, emblem of perpetuity. The reverse of the silver

and copper coins had, in the centre, the value of the

respective denominations in English and Persian,encircled by a laurel wreath above which was inscribed

EAST INDIA COMPANY.

VICTORIA ( 1819 1901)


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Three series of coins were minted in India during

her long reign of 64 years. The First Series of

Victorian coin (1840 to 1861) were issued under

the auspices of the East India Company andfollowed the pattern of the William IV coinage. The

types were Bust and Lion for gold, Bust and

Wreath for silver, Coat-of-Arms and Wreath for

copper.

The Second Series were struck 1862 to

1876. Irrespective of the metal, they bore theQueens Crowned Bust with the legend written in

two parts VICTORIA to the left and QUEEN to the

right. The name of the East India Company

disappeared from the reverse, and instead the

name of the issuing country, INDIA. was

introduced. The value and dates were written inEnglish only, within newly designed floral wreaths.

Two new denominations in gold two-third and the

one-third mohars equivalent to 10 and 5 rupees

respectively, were introduced in 1870.

Rumour has it that certain microscopic dots

were seen on the rupee coins of 1862. It wasbelieved that a master forger had most

meticulously minted a few lakh rupees and put

these dots as his private marks, each dot denoting

each lakh of coins he had counterfeited. The


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actual position was cleared in 1939, when it came

to be known that all these 1862 coins had been

produced by government mint between 1862 and

1873. The dots were the secret marks of the mintsto denote the particular years of minting. Coins

struck in 1862 itself did not bear and dots, while

those struck in 1863 bore only one dot, those in

1864 had two dots, those in 1865 had three dots,

and so on. This curious but secret arrangement

evolved from the system of the Sonat Rupees(or, rupees of years from which the mints of Indian

Princes derived their profits). New rupees were

apparently issued at a premium, which diminished

annually for a few years and eventually became

Sonats (or of standard value). From 1874 the

practice of putting dots on rupee coin for denoting

the actual year of mintage was discontinued.

The Third Series of Victorias coin started with

her assumption of the epithet, EMPRESS, on

January 1st 1877. Irrespective of metals, coins of

this series were exactly like their Second Series

counterparts. The only change was with regard to

the epithet, which was now empress instead of

Queen.

EDWARD VII (1901 1910)


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No gold coins were issued during his reign. There

were four denomination in silver and three in

copper. But a coin in a new metal and of a new

denomination was issued in 1907. This was thecupro-nickel one-anna coin with a scalloped edge,

composed of 75 percent copper and 25 percent

nickel.

GEORGE V ( 1911 1936)

George V had two coronations one in Londonon June 22, 1911, and again, in December of the

same year when he visited India, a Coronation

Durbar was organized at Delhi. Coins were struck

in the name of George V from 1911 to 1936. A

special gold 15 rupee piece was issued only once in

1918 for paying the price of wheat purchased from

the Punjab. Interestingly, the thrones used by King

George V and Queen Mary at the Delhi Durbar

were cast in silver at the Calcutta mint. 96,000 old

rupees were melted for the purpose.

All the coins of George V bear his crowned buston the obverse. Only the reverse designs call for

special attention. The floral design of the 15 rupee

gold coin was new, while that of the silver coin was

adopted from the floral design of 1910 pattern


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rupee of Edward VII. The reverse design of the

cupro-nickel coins followed the pattern of the one

anna coin of Edward VII, the respective values in

English were enclosed in square scrolls, on the fourouter sides of which were also written in Urdu,

Hindi, Bengali and Telugu.

While the wreaths of the gold and bronze coins

were merely ornamental, that of the silver coins

represents the interlacing of the three floral

emblems of the United Kingdom of Great Britain,Scotland and Ireland The Rose of England, the

Thistle of Scotland and the Shamrock of Ireland

all surrounded by the floral emblem of India the

Lotus.

EDWARD VIII

No coins were struck in his name because he

abdicated before his coronation in 1936.

GEORGE VI (1895 1952)During the reign of George VI India attained

freedom from British rule on 15th August, 1947,

after which date British coins were discontinued.

During the brief sway of George VI prior to


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Independence several experiments were carried

out with coining metals. While no gold coins were

issued, silver coins of the denomination of rupee,

half-rupee and quarter rupee bearing the kingscrowned head and floral design were sparingly

minted with the date 1938. All these coins had

straight milling like their counterparts issued since

1835. Besides English and Urdu, Hindi was also

used to express the value of these coins.

With the issue of the 1946 47 periodultimately came the end of British coinage in India,

but its legacy continues, and the government of

free India started issuing in 1950 a new series of

coins in precisely the same metals and of the same

denominations, only with suitable changes in the

obverse and reverse designs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

E J Rapson: British Museum Catalogue of

Coins, (Reprint) New Delhi, 1975.

C J Brown: The Coins of India, London, 1962.

J Allan: Catalogue of the Coins of India in the

British Museum, London, 1914.


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A Cunningham: Coins of Alexanders

Successors in the East.

V A Smith: Catalogue of Coins in the IndianMuseum, Vol.I (Reprint) Varanasi, 1972.

R B Whitehead: Punjab Museum Catalogue

Vol.III

K D Bajpai: Indian Numismatic Studies, New

Delhi 1976.

A N Lahiri: Corpus of Indo-Greek Coins,

Calcutta 1965.

JOURNALS

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of GreatBritain and Ireland.

Journal of Numismatic Society of India.

Journal of Indian History.

Numismatic Notes and Monographs

(Numismatic Society of India)

The Numismatic Chronicle.

The British Numismatic Journal - 1909, 1913


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WEBSITES

Jfcampbell.us/india/links.htm

www.bharatcoins.com/britishindia _coins

www.rbi.org.in/currency/museum

www.angelfire.com.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Indian_coins. www.indian-coins.com

British India Coinage

Coins of William IV

Description Obverse Reverse
http://www.bharatcoins.com/britishindiahttp://www.rbi.org.in/currency/museumhttp://www.angelfire.com/http://www.indian-coins.com/http://www.rbi.org.in/currency/museumhttp://www.angelfire.com/http://www.indian-coins.com/http://www.bharatcoins.com/britishindia


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Rupee One, Silver

Half Rupee, Silver

Quarter Rupee, Silver

Half Anna, Copper

Quarter Anna, Copper


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Half Pice, Copper

Coins of Queen Victoria (Young Bust)


Two Annas, Silver

Quarter Rupee, Silver

Half Rupee, Silver

One Rupee, Silver


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One Mohur

Coins of Queen Victoria (Mature Bust)


One Twelfth Anna, Bronze

Half Pice, Bronze

Quarter Anna, Bronze

Half Anna, Bronze

Two Annas, Silver


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One Fourth Rupee, Silver

Half Rupee, Silver

One Rupee, Silver

One Mohur

Coins of Queen Victoria (Empress)




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Half Pice, Bronze

Quarter Anna, Bronze

Half Anna, Bronze

Two Annas, Silver


Half Rupee, Silver


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One Rupee, Silver

Coins of Edward VII



Half Pice, Bronze

One Quarter Anna, Bronze

One Anna, Copper-Nickel

Two Annas, Silver


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Half Rupee, Silver

One Rupee, Silver

Coins of George V

Denomination Obverse Reverse

1/12 Anna (One Pie)


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1/2 Pice

1/4 Anna (1 Pice)

One Anna

Two Annas

Quarter Rupee

Half Rupee

One Rupee


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Fifteen Rupees

Major Design Change

Two Annas

Four Annas

Eight Annas

Coins of George VI

Denomination Obverse Reverse

1/12 Anna (One Pie)


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1/2 Pice

1/4 Anna (1 Pice)

Half Anna

One Anna

Two Annas

Quarter Rupee


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Half Rupee

One Rupee, Silver

Major Design Changes

One Pice

One Rupee, Quaternary

One Rupee, Nickel


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Coins of British India Since 1835

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