All temple tokens from India that bear East India Company name with Half or One Anna (monetary value) are recent forgeries. On one side they purport to be be Religious Tokens while on the other side they purport to be monetary coins. These are what is called Tokoins (a *******ized synthesis between tokens and coins), first produced by a business enterpriser to take advantage of the growing numismatic market in India. The Tokoins are discussed in detail in my forthcoming book Indian Religious Tokens and Tokoins. The book will be announced at http://www.IndianCoins.org (The site already contains some free eBooks on other topics)
There were more than 500 Princely States in India, and most of them had their own coins. So no single book can do justice to the subject. Such a book has never been written. On the other hand, many have written independent books on many of these states and that is your best option.
Indian temple token Hi here is my Indian temple token. Any ideas whether is a copy or an old original please. Also any info on both the coins would be gratefully received, thank you.
I have I believe i have an original brass ramatanka. I have a trio on the reverse. I cannot seem to find many of these. The few I gave found are being sold as "extremely rare" ! Doubtful. My father found it in a cellar when digging foundations out on a building site in London 60 years ago, which I would hope is indication its not a reproduction! I would love to know more and an approximate value. Thanks M