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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Finn235, post: 4210170, member: 98035&quot;]The rupee denomination was introduced in the 1540s by Sher Shah Suri and was a ~80% fine coin of ~11g from that time until the start of WWII, when it dipped to .500 fine, and then silver was cut entirely after the war. Some people claim the rupee is an ancient denomination (the oldest coins of India were silver bars that weighed a little over 11g) but the lack of any sort of continuity I think disproves that claim.</p><p><br /></p><p>The rupee essentially replaced the Tanka, also of Islamic origin, and originally ~10 but it had become debased to low purity billon by the mid 16th century. Prior to this, the coinages of India were the Indo-Sassanian Damma (of Hunnic/Sassanian origin, and of Attic weight standards), the Bull-and-Horseman jital (of Turkic origin), and a hodgepodge of localized currencies, mostly small and weighing less than 5g.</p><p><br /></p><p>In terms of manufacture, except for a few exceptions, all Indian coins were hammered, from antiquity until the 1700s. The British (more specifically the East India Company and their puppet governments) set up the first modern mints in India, although the mints in the minor Princely States mostly produced hammered coins until the mid-late 1800s. The last hammered coins in India AFAIK were the hammered silver rupees from Bundi state, which made fascinating coins inscribed in English on the obverse (naming Victoria, Edward VII, or George V) and the ruler&#039;s name and VS date in Devanagari on the reverse. These were made until 1932:</p><p><a href="https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces47842.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces47842.html" rel="nofollow">https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces47842.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>I have a disjointed collection of Indian rupees - they are a lot of fun to collect![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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