Interesting Facts

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 Interesting Facts about Indian Coins

  1. From 1950 to 1968, the One Rupee coins were issued only in 4 years (1950, 1954, 1962, and 1964).Each of them is recognized as a type by Krause.
  2. From 1969, the One Rupee is issued every year. 
  3. The Standard One Rupee coins for the years 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974 are found only with the proof sets. These are amongst the most expensive one rupee Coins.
  4. The Standard 3 Paise coins were last minted in 1971 for general circulation. However from 1972 to 1980 the Standard 3 Paise coins were part of proof sets.
  5. The proof sets from 1971 to 1980 had apart from few coins carrying commemorative themes had all the other standard coins not carrying the commemorative themes included in the proof sets.
  6. The Rs 2/- coin was first time introduced as circulation commemorative in 1982. The same theme was then used as standard for Rs 2/- coin from 1990 to 2004.
  7. There are quite a few commemorative themes that are available only as proof sets and UNC and never minted for regular circulation. The vice versa is also true, there are quite a few commemorative themes that are available only as circulation commemoratives and were never minted as proof sets or UNC.
  8. Normally if a theme is made available as proof set and circulation commemorative; then all the coin denomination in usage are made available as circulation commemoratives. The exceptions being;
    • 1985 Rs 2/- coin to commemorate Golden Jubilee of Reserve Bank is available only in the proof set. However the 50 paise coin is available in both.
    • 1991 Rs 5/- and Rs 2/- to commemorate Tourism year is available only in the proof set. However the Rs 1/- is available in both.
    • 1991 Rs 5/- to commemorate Common wealth Parliamentary conference is available only in the proof set. However the Rs 1/- is available in both.
  1. Only one Pie Fort Coin issued. The 1981 Rs 100/- to commemorate International year of Child
  2. The most mysterious coin in Indian history is the Rs 2/- 1992 to commemorate “National land Conservation” Most list do not mention this coin. Krause has now numbered this coin as KM# 323. The coin was released by Mr. Sharad Pawar on 18th November 1993 when he was the Minister for Agriculture.
  3. The Rs 2 Cross Coins were issued from 2005 to 2007. The strangest aspect of the 2005 coin compared to the 2006 & 2007 is the orientation of the Reverse design. The Cross in 2005 coin is perfect “X” mark and the one on the 2006 & 2007 is more like “+”. In other words the design is same in all three coins, but the Orientation is at an offset of around 40 Deg. This is not realized by quite a few dealers who sell the 2005 coin as die rotation error coin.
  4. The Rs 10 Coin released on the occasion of Birth Centenary of Homi Bhabha has a strange date of 2008 -2009. Normally most of the centenary coins have a date of “Birth Year – Centenary Year”. There are few exceptions like the centenary coin of Mahatma Gandhi & Perarignar Anna, it has a date of “Birth Year – Death Year”. In case of Homi Bhabha the year 2008 – 2009 has no meaning. If it’s a financial year of death, even then it should have been 2009 – 2010 as Homi Bhabha was born on 30th October 1909. This was pointed out by several numismatists, however there is no clarification as to what the date means, nor a notification that it is an error. In the past the Rs 2 Coin on Birth Centenary of Bose released in year 1996 was withdrawn after it was pointed out that the year should be 1997. The error on 10 paise coins “Marat” instead of “Bharat” was recognized as error but was not withdrawn.
  5. The Rs 150 Coin was for the first time introduced in the 2010 Rabindranath Tagore proof set.
  6. The Rs 1000 Coin was issued for the first time in 2010 “1000 Years Brihadeeswarar Temple” commemorative Proof set.
  7. A Rs 60 coin was issued for the first time in 2012 “60 Years of Kolkata mint” celebrations.


Interesting Date Information

  1. The only coins without any date are the 2 coins issued in 2006, the Rs 5 Jagath Guru Shree Narayana Gurudev and Mahatma Basaweshwar.
  2. The Centenary / Anniversary coins have quite a few different type of date conventions
    1. Birth Year to Death Year [As in Gandhi and CN Annadurai coins]
    2. Birth Year to Centenary Year [As in most coins]
    3. Only Centenary Year [As in Bose Coin]
    4. Celebration Years only used for Homi Bhabha Rs 10 Coin [ie 2008 – 2009]
  3. The only coin to have a Month is the XIX Asian Games that as a date with day and month.


Interesting Shape & Size & Weight of Indian Coins

  1. The Indian Coins used a variety of shapes viz Circular, Scalloped [8 & 12], Square, Hexagon and Hendecagon. The Hendecagon was used only on one coinage or Rs 2. 
  2. By 1990 all the coinage had converted into Circular shape except for the Rs 2. The Rs 2 got converted into circular shape with the introduction of stainless steel design in 2004.
  3. Circular is the most popular shape. Except for 2 paise and 5 paise all other denominations were at some point in time available in the circular shape.
  4. The smallest diameter in the coinage at 16 mm is shared between 1 Naya Paise / Paise from 1957 to 1964 and 10 Paise Stainless Steel introduced from 1988 to 1998
  5. The Largest diameter in definitive’s at 28 mm goes to Big One Rupee coins minted from 1950 to 1982 popularly called Dubba Rupaye along with Rs 2 minted in the year 1990.
  6. In the Circulating Commemoratives the distinction goes to the Rs 5 coins with size of 31 mm. These were minted to commemorate the Death of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and then Birth Centenary of Nehru in 1989.
  7. In terms of weight, the lightest coin obliviously goes to the One Paise Aluminum at 0.75 g. 
  8. The heaviest coin in definitive’s would go to the Rs 5 thick coin minted from 1992 to 2004. The weight was 9 gm. 
  9. In Circulating commemoratives the Rs 5 minted to commemorate the Death of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and then Birth Centenary of Nehru in 1989 weigh 12.5 g.
  10. The 3 Paise is the only coin that was minted in one design.
  11. The 50 paise coin has the distinction of being minted in 8 designs so far till 2012.

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