Travancore

The princely state of Travancore was founded as a kingdom in 870 and existed till 1949. Thiruvananthapuram was the capital of the kingdom. The state spanned most of central and Southern Kerala. In the early 19th century Travancore became a prosperous princely state of British India. The last ruler of Travancore was Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma II.

Travancore Bala Rama Verma Coppers

Bala Rama Verma 4 cash

 Obv: conch shell flanked by sprays

Rev: BRV(short for Bala Rama Verma) in a dotted circle, flanked by the denomination.

Metal: Bronze

Year: 1938 - 1949

Bala Rame Verma chukram

Obv: portrait of the king Bala Rama Verma

Rev: Conch shell flanked by wreaths

Denomination: One chukram

Metal: Bronze

Year: 1938 - 1949

Bikaner state silvers

 Bikaner nazrana rupee, Ganga Singhji bahadur

Presenting one from the portrait coinage, having the picture of the king Ganga Singh bahadur on one side and crowned monogram "GS" on the other.  Bikaner was a state in Rajasthan, founded in 1465 and known for the Bikaneri style of painting. On the call of Vallabh bhai Patel in 1947, Bikaner became one of the first states to accede to the Indian union.

Maharaja Ganga Singh ji Bahadur of Bikaner

Jaora state coppers

Jaora was a subordinate state of Indore state and was made an independent state in 1818. 

It was founded by Abdul Ghafur Mohammad Khan who was the first Nawab of Jaora.

Jaora 1 paisa

I haven't posted in a long time, so I thought I would post a nice item. Here is the Jaora state 1 paisa. Obverse reads his highness the Nawab of Jaora 1893, and within the circle we can read "sarkar jaora zarb", with Zarb meaning mint.

The Reverse reads sarkar Jaora, with the date at the bottom and In the circle, we can see "ek paisa": the denomination, Flag of Jaora and Hijri Date 1310.

CWG mule

Now, first the question comes: what is a mule?
A mule is a cross breed of a horse and a donkey.

In coins, a mule is a coin with the obverse of one coin and a reverse of another. Usually such coins are scarce to rare and command a premium over normal coins and may also be qualified as an error coin.

Usually the mule coins can only be spotted with a trained eye. In republic India , the mules are like lion variants with a different type of lion from another coin.
Eg. the water for life type B lion.

We also have a variant in which we have different borders on two sides of the coin. Eg. the jagad guru copper nickel mule coin has a dotted border on one side and no border on the other side.

But what I am talking about here is something different. In the common wealth games mule, it so happened that we got the lion from a definitive coin on one side and the commonwealth games symbol on the other side. So, voila! There is no denomination in this coin.

At first sight this seems like a fantastic and fake mashup of different coins, but I assure you this coin is very much real and I can even show it to you if you happen to visit my place in Delhi. 
Part of my collection.

Kutch state Jay hind

Lettering: महाराउ श्री मदनसिंहजी 

२००४

कच्छ

Translation: 

Maharao Shri Madansinghji 

2004

Kutch

Reverse

Legend in Devnagari: "Jai Hind, Kori Ek, Bhuj"

Lettering: 

जय हिन्द 

कोरी एक 

भुज

Translation: 

Victory to India

One kori

Bhuj

This coin was issued by MadanSinghji when India gained independence from British rule. Every patriot will appreciate the humongous impact of these two words on the coin because in British rule no one could even say Jay hind or undergo imprisonment. Kutch was the only state which minted coins with Jay hind and must have made the owners extremely proud in that era. This was circulated till 1948 when Kutch became a part of the independent India.

Maharajadhiraj Mirza Maharao Sri Madansinhji Vijayaraji Sawai Bahadur (12 October 1909 – 21 June 1991) was the last official ruler of Princely State of Cutch from 26 February 1948 to 1 June 1948.

Brief: Maharaja Madan Singh 

Madansinhji was born as Meghraji and was the eldest son of the Maharao Shri Vijayaraji and Maharani Shri Padmakunwar Ba Sahiba. He was called and named as Yuvraj Sahib Meghraji and was educated at Rajkumar College, Rajkot. He was married to Maharani Rajendra Kunverba, daughter of Lt.-Col. Umdae Rajhae Buland Makan Maharajadhiraja Maharaja Sir Madan Singh Bahadur of Kishangarh in 1930, and had issue. He became heir apparent with the title of Yuvraj Sahib Meghraji on 15 January 1942, when his father succeeded to the throne of Princely State of Cutch upon demise of his grandfather Maharao Shri Khengarji III.

He was left to administer the state, whenever, his father Maharao Sri Vijayaraji Khengarji was away. In 1947, upon independence of India, it was he who, on behalf of his father, Maharao Shri Vijayraji (who was away for medical treatment at London), signed the Instrument of Accession of Kutch, on 16 August 1947, on his behalf, as Heir Apparent for the Princely State of Kutch.

He was President of Cutch State Council from 1943-1948. He acceded to the throne, upon death of his father of 26 January 1948 under the new name and style of Madansinji and ruled for a short period of till 4 May 1948, when the administration of Princely State was completely merged in to Union of India.

Madansinhji belonged to a new breed of Royalty, who placed their education, contacts and skills at the disposal of the new India. As the last ruler of Kutch, he was very close to Jawaharlal Nehru. He joined Indian Foreign Service in 1953, served as Hon Minister-Counselor at London 1953-1956, Ambassador to Norway 1957-1960, and Chile 1960-1961. In 1962 his brother Himmatsinhji became the member of the Lok Sabha representing the Kutch community.

On 1 January 1977, Maharao Madansinhji, the last ruler of Kutch, founded "Maharao of Kutch Aina Mahal Trust". Madansinhji Museum was made under this trust. This museum has two parts. One part is the Kala Atari Picture Gallery and another part is a marvelous old palace called Aina Mahal.

He was a tennis player, who was active in the 1930s. He represented India at the Davis Cup in 1936. In 1937, in Wimbledon, he met Franjo Kukuljevic, with whom he played doubles and from that point, they became lifelong friends.

He died on 21 June 1991 in London and his eldest son Pragmulji III inherited title in pretence as scion of Jadeja dynasty as Maharaja of Kutch.There were some disputes leading to court case, which started during his lifetime and continued after his death towards his estate worth millions.

Kutch state coppers

The state of kutch was largely what is now Gujarat. These are the pre independence coins of Kutch state in copper.

Kutch Dokdo, George V, 1919

 

Kutch Dhabu, 1943

 

Kutch Dhinglo, 1943

Kutch Adhio, 1945

Five rupee coins - XI

5 rupee, comptroller and auditor general of india

5 rupee, 100 years of civil aviation

5 rupee, 1000 years of brihadeshwara temple

Five rupee coins - X

5 rupee, C. Subramaniam

Chidambaram Subramaniam was the man who ushered in an era of self sufficiency in food production in india. He was commonly referred to as the “Father of the Green Revolution” after he introduced a new variety of wheat seed that transformed Indian agriculture and helped the country achieve self-sufficiency in grain production. Subramaniam received a degree in physics from Presidency College, University of Madras, and a law degree from Madras Law College. In the early 1940s he was imprisoned by the British authorities, and after India gained independence (1947) he was a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Indian constitution. Subramaniam was elected to the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament), held various ministerial offices in Madras state and in the national cabinet, served (1990–93) as governor of Maharashtra state, and published a multivolume autobiography, Hand of Destiny (1993). In 1998 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.

5 rupee, Platinum jubilee of RBI

This coin was issued on the occasion of 75 years or platinum jubilee of the reserve bank of India which performs the following functions:

1)Monetary Functions in India: Formulates, implements and monitors the monetary policy – to ensure price stability and optimum flow of credit to productive sectors.

2)Regulatory and supervisory functions in India: Prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country's banking and financial system operates - to maintain public confidence in the system, protect depositors' interest and provide cost-effective banking services to the public.

3)Management of Foreign Exchange in India: Manages the Foreign Exchange - to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India.

4)Issuance of currency in India: Issues and exchanges or destroys unfit currency and coins - to cater the public with adequate quantity of supplies of good quality currency notes and coins. 5)Developmental functions in India: Performs a wide promotional functions to meet national objectives.

6)Other Related Functions: Banker to the Government of India: performs merchant banking function for the central and the state governments; also acts as their banker. 

5 rupee: 60 years of parliament 1952-2012

This one is to commemorate 60 years of the Indian parliament , which started in 1952. It has two houses: the upper house or the Rajya Sabha, and the lower house or the Lok Sabha. The members of the lok Sabha elect our prime minister by way of voting, who is then invited by the President to form his own government. There is also an elected speaker for the house. The Lok Sabha has members elected by the common voters, whereas the Rajya Sabha has members who are well known in their own fields and generally have some distinguished achievement. The members of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha together are responsible for making new laws as well as making amendments in the existing laws.

One rupee coins - XII

RBI 1 rupee

This one rupee coin was released in 2010 to commemorate the platinum jubilee of the Reserve Bank of India.  Among its other functions, the RBI also distributes coins to the general public. The lion and palm tree on the reverse is symbolic of the RBI.

1 rupee 1982, small

Just could not resist putting up this one. Any average collector would be able to tell you that this looks different than the normal 1 rupee circulated coins. In fact, this is probably the rarest circulated coin of republic India, that is if you are not counting the pattern coins in republic India. The large 1 rupee (8gm) was minted till 1982, and the small one rupee was started from 1983. But before the first mass circulated issues in 1983, this one was struck in small quantity as an "experimental issue". There are also many fakes in this item which may be difficult to identify for the uninitiated, but once you see the original item it may be easily identified. The '2' in the date 1982 is slightly different from how it appears on other issues and it has been a cause of several controversies. Rather, the fake coins in this item are tooled forgeries where they tool the '3' in 1983 to make it look like 1982. But that can be easily identified as the lion and the legend on the obverse on this one is significantly larger than the other issues and that leaves lesser space on the border. This creates a distinctive hexagonal shape as can be seen on the coin and that is what it makes this item definitely very unique and the object of desire for every collector!

Variants in Victoria 2 anna

Victoria 2 anna, 1862

Weight: 1.46gm

Silver: 91.7%

Type: A/I

Obverse types:

See the Victoria bust on obverse. See the number of horizontal panels in the dress on the left end of the bust. The number of  panels gives us the type of the bust design

Bust A(4 panels): 

Bust B(3.5 panels)

Reverse details:

Type I

Note the curved and wide bud pattern.

Type II

Note the tall and narrow bud pattern at 12 o'clock

Variants in Victoria quarter rupee

Victoria 1/4 rupee, 1862

Weight: 2.92gm

Silver : 91.7%

Type: A/I

Obverse types:

See the Victoria bust on obverse. See the number of horizontal panels in the dress on the left end of the bust. The number of  panels gives us the type of the bust design

TypeA(4 panels)

Type B(3.75 panels)

Type C(3 panels)

Reverse types:

Look at the bud on reverse at 12 o'clock 

Type I

Note the bud pattern, which is a little curved. B incuse is for Bombay mint

Also look at the line between 1 and 4. The first type has a longer line.

Type II

 Note the flat bud design.

Note the shorter line between 1 and 4

Variants in Victoria half rupee

Victoria half rupee, 1862

Weight: 5.83gm

Silver: 91.7%

Type: C/II (Wyom's variety)

Obverse Bust details:

See the Victoria bust on obverse. See the number of horizontal panels in the dress on the left end of the bust. The number of  panels gives us the type of the bust design.

Type A(4 panels)

Type B (4.25 panels)

Type C (4.75 panels)

Reverse details: 

See the bud on reverse at 12 o' clock.

Type I

Note the curved design of the bud.

Type II

Note the relatively flat design. The B mark is for Bombay mint.

Queen Victoria 1862 silvers

Victoria 2 anna, 1862

Weight: 1.46gm

Silver: 91.7%

Type: A/I

Victoria quarter rupee, 1862

Weight: 2.92gm

Silver : 91.7%

Type: A/I

For details on the Victoria 1/4 rupee variants, click here

Victoria half rupee, 1862

Weight: 5.83gm

Silver: 91.7%

Type: C/II (Wyom's variety)

For details in the varieties in Victoria half rupee, click here

Victoria one rupee, 1862

Dot variety: 0/4

Reverse type: II

Weight: 11.66gm

Silver: 91%

obverse: type C(3.5 panels)

For dot variety, look for the number of dots above the 'N' in "ONE RUPEE". You can see zero number of dots there so the 0, and then see the dots below the date which are 4, so the 4. For the obverse and reverse variety see the following:

Note that these are the variants in Victoria one rupee only,  variants in fractions are little different.

Obverse types(One rupee):

See the Victoria bust on obverse. See the number of horizontal panels in the dress on the left end of the bust. The number of  panels gives us the type of the bust design 

Type A (4 panels)

Type B (4.25 panels)

Type C (3.5 panels)

Reverse types:

Type I

Type II

Type III

Type IV