Coins I Love...!

It has been a tight schedule both on personal front as well as official front. Though I am keeping on getting new and new coins thanks to my friends, there was hardly a time when any update has happened with my collection perspective.

There was a big backlog, and I have decided to start one step at a time. Starting with a rare coin, which I purchased in ebay.in.

Only today the coin was delivered, in nicely packed postal cover. I had been eager to get this coin for so long and it only materialized today. It costs me a lot, but I think its going to be worth.

5 Rupees coin, Unity in Diversity (Cross Coin) 2007

I have to thank my wife for this, for I have not been keeping my promises of not buying any coins. I could not resist this though :)

In India there are four mints:
1. Mumbai (Bombay) Mint
2. Kolkatta (Calcutta) Mint
3. Noida Mint
4. Hyderabad Mint

The circulating coins bear the marks below year:

1. Diamond shape below year - Mumbai Mint
2. No marks below year - Kolkatta Mint
3. A dot below the year - Noida Mint
4. A star below the year - Hyderabad Mint

The Proof coins/uncirculating coins bear differ in the marks shown, but these above are the marks from Mints in India.

Homi Jehangir Bhabha, (Hindi: होमी भाभा; October 30 1909 – January 24 1966; FRS) was an Indian nuclear physicist, founding director, and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Colloquially known as "father of Indian nuclear programme", Bhabha was the founding director of two well-known research institutions, namely the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Trombay Atomic Energy Establishment (now named after him); both sites were the cornerstone of Indian development of nuclear weapons which Bhabha also supervised as its director.


In January 1966, Bhabha died in a plane crash near Mont Blanc, while heading to Vienna, Austria to attend a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Scientific Advisory Committee.

After his death, the Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour. In addition to being an able scientist and administrator, Bhabha was also a painter and a classical music and opera enthusiast, besides being an amateur botanist. He is one of the most prominent scientists that India has ever had. Bhabha also encouraged research in electronics, space science, radio astronomy and microbiology. The famed radio telescope at Ooty, India was his initiative, and it became a reality in 1970. The Homi Bhabha Fellowship Council has been giving the Homi Bhabha Fellowships since 1967 Other noted institutions in his name are the Homi Bhabha National Institute, an Indian deemed university and the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai, India.

Read more about Homi Jehangir Bhabha and his life.


The Rupees 10 Bimetallic coin in honour of the eminent scientist was in 2010.

Read RBI Press Release here.





Shape and outside diameter - Circular 27 mm (Bi-metallic)
Metal Composition -
Outer Ring : (Aluminium Bronze): 
Copper - 92%, Zinc - 6%, Nickel - 2%

Centre Piece: (Cupro Nickel): 
Copper - 75%, Nickel - 25%

I got the coin with plain edge.

There is a general misconception regarding the date printed in this coin. Years 2008-2009 is printed in this coin. Though the year 2009 is the centenary of Homi Bhabha. But RBI has issued this coin as 2008-2009 because it is celebrated as centenary year. 


Just because 2008 is printed it is not an error coin. Check the RBI Press release for more details of the coin.

The Indian rupee sign is the currency sign used for the Indian rupee, the official currency of India. It is relatively new, the design only having been presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its selection through an open competition among Indian residents. Before its adoption, the most commonly used symbols for the rupee were Rs, Re or, if the text was in an Indian language, an appropriate abbreviation in that language.

Upon the symbol's adoption in July 2010, the Indian government said it would try to adopt the sign within six months in the country and globally within 18 to 24 months. The Indian rupee sign is now used in all leading newspapers and can be seen on price tags for products, and for various articles in papers where currency is used, this new sign being adopted instead of previous sign (Rs). Major banks have also started printing cheques with the Indian rupee sign where the traditional "₨" sign was used. The Indian Postal Department has also started printing postage stamps with the Indian rupee sign, when it issued the Commonwealth Games commemorative stamps on 3 October 2010.

In his budget speech on 28 February 2011 the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announced that the sign will be incorporated on future coin issues. Coins of denomination of Rupees 1,2,5 and 10 with the new Rupee Symbol have been put into circulation. As of January 2012, the new Indian rupee sign has been incorporated in the currency notes in the denomination of s 10, 100, 500 and 1000.

The new sign is a combination of the Devanagari letter "र" (ra) and the Latin capital letter "R" without its vertical bar (similar to the R rotunda). The parallel lines at the top (with white space between them) are said to make an allusion to the tricolor Indian flag and also depict an equality sign which symbolizes the nation's desire to reduce economic disparity. The final selected symbol was designed by D Udaya Kumar, a B.Arch and student of visual communication at the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay. The thoughts and philosophy behind the design can be seen in a presentation.

The Rupees 5 information is as below:

Country	India - Republic
Year	2011
Value	5 Rupees 5 INR = 0.10 USD
Metal	Nickel-brass
Diameter	23 mm
Shape	Round
Orientation	Medal alignment ↑↑

Information Courtesy: Wikipedia, Coin Information Courtesy: Numista

The coin series Unity in Diversity was intended to be defining coin series one would have had from this country. Unity in Diversity is an important theme in history of India Republic wherein varied cultural and linguistic regions was united to call a single nation called Republic of India.

However the outcry of the design behind the theme "Unity in Diversity" coins bore a cross which was described by RBI to symbolize "Four parts of the country coming together under one banner and identifying as one nation". The outcry was mainly from the political parties aligned with Hindu thoughts. They opposed the coin and due to this the coin series was put to rest.

The coins were minted between 2004 and 2007.

"Press Release for Re. 1, Rs. 2, Rs. 5 and Rs. 10."

Re. 1 and Rs. 5 had one cross with four dots on each side of the cross. Whereas Rs. 2 and Rs. 10 had two cross with four dots on each side.

The following in this series are rare:

• The Re. 1 of 2004 
• The Rs. 5
• The Rs. 10 of 2007

If anyone has these coins, grab them. I love the Rs. 5 design most importantly the font in which 5 has been minted is what I love in the coin set as a whole.

I have collected from circulation Re. 1, Rs. 2, Rs. 5 & Rs. 10.

I bought this coin from Sapna Book Store , Bangalore. This coin was pasted to a board with information.

I must confess I bought this coin when I was just a novice (well I am still a novice but just knows to buy coins in good form not a pasted one). This one is intended for school-students to teach our rich history.

From my understanding (of various websites) this is not such a rare coin. It can be easily procured for Rs.50 from even ebay website.

It is very good for us to educate our new generation of such coins minted in past, particularly the British Indian coins. This will make learning of history very easy, and make our future generation understand the importance of our history.

This particular coin was minted in Mumbai mint (as it does not have a mint mark), the same coin was also minted from Calcutta (dot mark below the year).

The coin contains observe with portrait of George V King Emperor who was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War (1914–1918) until his death in 1936.

Country	India - British
Year	1912-1936
Value	1 Anna (1/16)
Metal	Copper-nickel
Weight	3.9 g
Diameter	20.5 mm
Engraver	Edgar Bertram Mackennal (obverse)
Shape	Scalloped (12 notches)
Orientation	Medal alignment ↑↑
Demonetized	yes

Coin Information Courtesy: Numista

This coins is also from my fathers coin collection. Below mentioned are its features:

Country	India - British
Year	1942-1945
Value	1/2 Anna (1/32)
Metal	Nickel-brass
Weight	2.92 g
Diameter	17.3 mm
Engraver	Percy Metcalfe (obverse)
Shape	Quadrangular
Orientation	Medal alignment ↑↑
Demonetized	yes

I exactly do not remember how I obtained this coin. It could be from my father's collection, or from some coins I bought from book store.


The following gives the complete information about the metal and make of the coin:

Country	India - Republic
Year	1950 - 1955
Metal	Copper Nickel
Weight	2.85 g
Edge	Smooth
Shape	Quadrangular (4-Sided)
Orientation	Medal alignment ↑↑
Observe	Lettering: HALF ANNA in English and Hindi with Year 1950 in circle around a bull.
Reverse	GOVERNMENT OF INDIA in circle around the Ashoka Symbol

Information Courtesy: Numista

Though this coin is called PICE, my father vouched that they used to call the coin "Chilli Kaasu". This probably meant the lower denomination post Indian Independence.

This is one of the coins which were issued by Government of India after 1950 when India became Republic. This coin was minted during 1950-1955.

It should be noted that the coin was introduced when Indian Coinage was not decimal in nature. 64 Pice constituted 1 Rupee. The Pice was equal to 1/4 Anna which was in circulation.

The following are the details of my coin:

Country	India - Republic
Year	1950-1955
Value	1 Pice = 1/4 Anna = 1/64 Rupee (1/64)
Metal	Bronze
Weight	2.95 g
Diameter	21 mm
Shape	Round
Orientation	Medal alignment ↑↑
Demonetized	yes
Mint	Calcutta (No Mint Mark)
Observe	Three lions emblem, Lettering: GOVERNMENT·OF·INDIA
Reverse	Prancing horse facing left, Lettering: ONE PICE * एक पैसा 1951