not sure whether to post this in here or world coins, but i have 2 india rupees in question. the first one has an odd dot that the other coin does not have. not a professional here on rupees, so all i know this is some mint marking of sorts. the other looks like a severe lamination error, but i'm not sure how rupees are contructed. can anybody help me out identify these oddities? thanx
According to Krause, a dot below the date is the mint mark for the Noida Mint, which is not listed as a source for the 1985 rupees. London, which is indicated by a diamond under the first digit of the date, is listed, so perhaps the corniers on your coin's mint mark have been worn away. Total mintage for KM#79.1 is listed at 444,516,00 at Bombay (diamond under date), Calcutta (no mark), Heaton (H) and London. They are all listed at 25¢ VF, 40¢ XF and 75¢ Unc.
Roy,Heaton's Mint & the Royal Mint have never struck Rupees for India,either before or after independence.These mints have struck coins for independent India; Bombay. Hyderabad. Madras. & Mexico City. I have never heard of the Noida mint.Could you please post some more information? Aidan.
Aidan, my primary source of information on Indian coins is Krause, which strongly disagrees with you. On page 1073 of the 2006 33rd Ed., it lists the following mint marks for Republic of India coins, in addition to those you mentioned: (Krause puts a mintmark in parenthesis when it is something other than a letter of the alphabet and a plain letter when that is the mint mark.) C - Ottowa (1985 25 Paise; 1988 10, 25 & 50 Paise) (C) Calcutta, no mint mark H - Birmingham (1985 Rupee only) [My apologies for not reading carefully and jumping to a conclusion about "H" standing for Heaton.:goof:] (K) - Kremnica, Slovakia, MK in circle London, diamond below first date digit (N) - Noida, dot (P) - Pretoria, M in oval (R) Moscow, MMD in oval (T) - Taegu, (Korea), star below first date digit. While I am the first to admit that Krause is not prefect, I really, really, find it hard to believe that it is so far off base about Indian coins as to list nine mints that never produced coins for a single country. Three different mint marks are listed for Bombay, two for proofs at different times, and one for circulation issues minted there. According to this Indian Government site the Noida Mint was the first one created after Independence. It's only been around for a couple of decades, so the 1985 Rupee which Krause says was minted there would have been one of it's very first products.
Roy,in this instance,'H' is actually the mintmark of the Hyderabad mint.It is very odd that Indian coins were struck at such mints as the South African Mint in Pretoria,& the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa.I have got a 1997Mo. 1 Rupee,which I know straight away as having been struck at Mexico City. Aidan.
Either you or Krause are wrong again. As I posted, Krause clearly states that a letter "H" mint mark was used for Birmingham, on the 1985 Rupee only. Krause reports that Hyberdad used mint marks other than letters of the alphabet. Listing codes, and the actual mint marks, are shown as: (H) - Hyberdad, star (1963-) (Hd) - Hyberdad, diamond split vertically (1953-60) (Hy) - Hyberdad, incuse dot in diamond (1960-68) If you are certain that Krause is wrong, please tells us what authority you are relying on.
Roy,the 'H' for Heaton's mint was last used as the mintmark on Hong Kong coins in the early 1970's.Krause is wrong to state that 'H' on Indian coins is the Heaton mintmark.I can say that it is definitely the Hyderabad mintmark.You should read that Indian mint website link. Aidan.
Aidan is right. 'H' is actually the minkmark of Hyderabad Mint. Also, the Noida Mint started production only in 1988.
Hey guys, don't hassle me about errors in Krause - notify them at michaelt@krause.com so they can make corrections in the next edition.
First of all, I'd offer my apologies to Satooco... I was wrong about this one... Actually, the 1985 Rupee coin with 'H' below the date was indeed minted at Birmingham.. The Hyderabad mint has got the star mint mark. Only the proof coins will have the first letter of the Indian mint below the date. I'm almost certain that there are no proof coins minted from Hyderabad or from Noida. All the proof coins are minted either from Mumbai ('M' or 'B') or from Calcutta ('C')... But before 1970, even the proofs dont seem to have the alphabetical mint marks..
These various mintmarks on Republic Indian coins are always confusing and cause trouble. Well, I think most of the confusion was caused because of far outdated reference book Aidan is using. The 1981 edition Krause won't say anything about those coins which were minted on contract basis by various mints or by newly established Noida mint. In fact Noida city didn't existed before 1982. It's a newly built city just outside of New Delhi. Regarding coins of 'Republic of India' in Krause, my experience is that their listing is fairly accurate and reliable. I had noticed that they are missing only one mint, Royal Mint, London. In 1999, a 2 rupees coin was minted at this mint with a different mint-mark, sometime referred as "tower" mint-mark. Regards Ballabh Garg
So we can now say that the 1985H 1 Rupee was the last coin that was ever struck bearing the Heaton's mintmark.I have got one of those. Aidan.
