Republic India fakes - 3

RBI 1/4 rupee, 1952

This one does look like an old and valuable coin, but its not. Fact is, the first commemorative to be released in India was released as late as 1964, and that was on the sad occasion of the death of our first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru- 1 rupee and 50 paise coins were released bearing the picture of Nehru. No commemorative was ever released before that in India post independence. Also, the reserve bank was founded in 1935 and in 1952 it completed 17 years, so there was no occasion or reason to releasing a commemorative on the RBI in 1952. A noteworthy point would be the release of coins on RBI showing this lion in 1985, on the occasion of golden jubilee of the founding of the bank. And RBI coins are also going to be released this year in 2010, on the platinum jubilee of the bank. The coins would include a first ever 75 rupee coin as a part of UNC and proof sets.

50 paisa with rhino, 1992

Don't know about you, but i can tell this one is a fake on first look. We did have a 25 paisa with rhino on it but no such 50 paisa coin was ever made. The mint mark (star below the date) is too big in this coin. Not a neat forgery by my standards.

Big 1 rupee coins: 1971-74

Do you I think I have made a mistake by putting these coins here as fake? Do they look real to you? Are you someone who has spent some amount on these? To tell the truth, these look like real to me and not some forgery. I do not know about some experienced collector, but I cant seem to find a fault with them, I think these are very good fakes and look like normal circulated coins.

But there is only one problem: The big one rupee coins of 1971-1974 were never circulated. Rather, they were released as part of the proof sets released by the Bombay mint in those years, and the proof coins of Bombay mint bear the mint mark 'B'. So if you see a 1 rupee coin of these years without the 'B' mark, it is safe to assume that it is fake. Now some of you may say that these would be in the UNC set also, and hence some may not bear that proof coin mint mark. But then that's the very point: The UNC set did not have any 1 rupee coin. The proof sets of those years had one or two big silver coins- in denominations of 10 and 20 or 50, and also a strip from 1 rupee to 1 paisa, and the UNC set was just a 2 coin set, having either 10 rupee and 20 paisa or 50 rupee and 10 rupee coin, no 1 rupee coin. Moreover the proof coins were never circulated so they should not look like normal circulated coins. If some wear and tear is there, then it should be fake as its probably made from some circulated big one rupee issue.