1947 One Rupee Coin minted under King George-VI (possibly pre independence)

My grandmother and I happened to visit an old family friend the other day. As we got to talking, he mentioned that his son used to collect coins and he showed me some of the coins from the collection.

That's where I saw this: a (possible pre-independence) One Rupee Coin from 1947 with a Bombay Mint (evident from the Diamond motif below the date) with a Copper-Nickel composition.

All in all, this is an extremely rare find. When I commented on the coin, our family friend generously offered the coin to me and I just couldn't pass up the offer.

Having done some due diligence after getting the coin back home, here are some interesting facts about this One Rupee Coin:

Place of Minting and year of minting: Bombay Mint, 1947. The diamond-shaped mint mark signifies the Bombay mint. Metal: Copper- Nickel. Shape: Round. Engraver (Obverse): Percy Metcalfe. Engraver (Reverse): P. W. M. Brindley. Comments: India gained independence from Great Britain on 15 August 1947. So its difficult to tell if this coin is pre-independence. In any event, most coins minted between 1947-1950 are part of what the Reserve Bank of India calls- the 'Frozen Series'. Basically, these coins represent the currency arrangements during the transition period upto the formal establishment of the Indian Republic.

The monetary system remained unchanged during this time. In other words, between 1947-1950, One Rupee consisted of 192 pies. Here is a helpful chart to calculate.

1 Rupee = 16 Annas 1 Anna = 4 Pice 1 Pice = 3 Pies

This post is dedicated to the late Samant Uncle and his wonderful family.