An interesting tidbit

"From the Royal Mint:

In 1945 the Government of India came under pressure to introduce a new coin for use by the poor of a denomination smaller than the pierced coin, the Pice. Mint officials at Bombay were asked to find a solution and the result, worked out and produced in less than a week, was the Pie, made from the circular disc punched from the centre of the Pice. The intention of making such a small coin was to ensure that its metal value would not exceed its face value but with such a small diameter it would have been a difficult coin to use and the idea, together with the pattern pieces, was shelved.

This specimen found its way into the Royal Mint collection as a gift from the aptly named Major Money, one of the senior officials at the Bombay Mint in the 1940s. He visited the Royal Mint in the early 1990s and his excellent memory of the time has helped provide the background to how this tiny coin came to be made. It was an ingenious idea, hit upon by Major Money himself, to make use of the otherwise redundant centre of a pierced coin. It also provides a charming example of how a national collection can be built up through acts of kindness as well as through deliberate accessions policies. "

I have never seen this 1PIE before. So thanks for sharing it

Thank you for sharing. There was a stage between the anna and the pie and that was the paisa. As if things were not complicated enough!!

1 Rupee = 16 anna
1 anna = 6 paisa
1 paisa = 2 pie

Inflation was almost non-existent in pre-independence India except in WW2 where prices more than doubled between 1939 and 1945 and a lesser burst of inflation in WW1. A pie in 1945 would have had the same buying power as a 50 paisa coin today and in 1939 it would be like a rupee coin today. But given that our per capita was so much lower the meaningfulness of a pie to folks back then would have been more than a 50 paisa coin is to even a less well off Indian today.

Idea wasn't shelved, they did produce it for many years before stopping it.

Ah, that makes sense. When I showed the image of pie to mom, she said it wasn't that big. She said it was so difficult to handle because of the tiny size. Easy to lose too.

Yeah, my mom says one had to be very good in arithmetic before 1 rupee became 100 paisa. BTW, it was pice, not paisa.

:-) Pice in English and Paisa in Hindi as written on that coin. Thank you for sharing that picture. Interestingly rarely does anyone call 50 paisa as eight annas now. When I was younger, at least in North India, it was very common to use the phrases eight annas and four annas in Hindi for 50 and 25 paisa respectively.

Same was the case until the 80s in the KA. We used to say Nalk anne, Yent anne in Kannada for 25 and 50 paisa coins.

I used to have a collection decades ago while in school, but not much of it remains now. Two from my small collection.

Kollavarsham 1116 (1940) Travancore Bala Rama Varma 1/2 rupee. Composition 50% silver.


1940 King George VI India 1 Rupee. Composition 50% silver.

Apologies. This is not the oldest Indian coin in my collection. I actually have 3 more coins older than this belonging to the 19th century.

Quarter Anna, British Bombay Presidency, 1833


1/12 Anna, East India Company,1835


One Quarter Anna, India, 1884


Excuse me, I just couldn't choose only 5 coins
I have added a few more. Here they are-

50 Centavos, Chile, 1975


5 Cents, Australia, 1970


Few coins of the European Nations


Biggest coin(dimensionally) in my collection. The coin is 1.5 inch in diameter.


2 Cents, South Africa, 1976


10 Kon, Soviet Union, 1955


1 Drachma, Greece, 1962


2 Dollars, Hong Kong, 1975


1 Rupee SILVER coins, India, 1916 and 1940


4 Anna's, India, 1920


Portuguese-India coins
I believe they were in circulation in the Portuguese colonies of India even after our country gained independence!

Thank you for the photo display. Never seen a Portugese India or USSR coin ever before.

Received from the Bombay Mint yesterday - a Guru Nanak Sahib commemorative silver coin - 44 gms, silver, 2019





Another commemorative on Dr Homi Bhabha, father of our atomic energy and rocket programmes.

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Some from my collection:








And if this qualifies:

Indian Air Force 75th anniversary in 2007. Commemorative coins of Rs 100/- and Rs 2/- with a silhouette of the Sukhoi Su-30MKI on the obverse side. Rs 100/- coin made of an alloy of 50% silver, 40% copper and the rest nickel and zinc. The scratchiness visible in the photo of the Rs 2/- coin is the plasticc over on top.

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75th anniversary of the Food & Agricultural Organization {FAO}. Last of my current crop of purchases. Tempted to invest some more. This one came in good quality plastic which shows through in the clarity of the photos. I hope some great grand child of mine in 2091 will appreciate these as investments to value!!!

Folks, I'm on the look out for some top dog coin dealer whom I can occasionally buy coins from. Interested in old Indian coins, British India coins and the recent history era of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. If you know some one in India please do PM me. I pay my bills on time and never seek credit. I might haggle a bit.

India, 2020, Rs 75/-, FAO commemorative coin

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I am fascinated with the commemorative coins but wondered whether it was good as an investment rather than merely as a hobby. What would be the mintage of our commemorative coins, both UNC and Proof? Does anyone know?

Btw sir you are building a nice collection of commemorative coins

Sankar, thank you for your kind words. After all an old man has got to stay busy. What does UNC and Proof mean. Sorry I am not clued in. The "investment" bit is just a small joke. Like my aircraft scale model collection this is for the joy of it.

UNC = Uncirculated coins
Proof sets = Coins made to a higher quality from higher quality blanks and double striked.

The commemorative silver coins are uncirculated or proof although most of them carry a rupee face value and sometimes have a mule coin (circulated coin with low metal value) with same design motif Eg: 5rs Vaishno Devi Shrine, 2Rs Louis Braille, 5rs Homi Bhabha etc. So knowing the mintage of the high value proof/unc helps with assessing the value of one of these coins will hold into the future.

Hello.

I am a collector of misprints / errors of Indian currencies since 1993.
The 10/- note which you have posted has a very good value in today's market. I will easily value it around 4 - 5K.

I will post some notes from my collection soon.

Regards,

Kavissh