Fake East India company coins

These East India Company coins are known to be fakes. Whatever is written about the mintage or origin of the coins is just make believe stories to make things interesting. The one anna coin shown here has the same design, material and size with different dates written on it. Apart from the coins shown, I recently came across similar coins with date of 1616 and also 1939 written on it! Apparently the faker forgot the period for which the East India Company ruled India. We know that 1616 was in the Jahangir era and the East India Company did not rule India then, though it did set up trade. And in 1939, we know very well that in 1939, George VI was the emperor of India and India was very close to getting its independence. So there is no way these coins had been in circulation in the East India company era, that is established beyond doubt. The deities on these coins are worshipped, but the East India Company never had any reason to mint coins having these deities on them , and never did so.

Very soon I will be putting up the coins that were actually in circulation during the rule of the East India company, the real Mccoy.

This picture is used to show the size of a one anna coin circulated in 1818 by the East India Company. An Indian one rupee coin minted in 1988 by the Indian Government is used as a scale. This one rupee coin is slightly larger than the one rupee coin minted currently. 16 annas make one rupee, so i think that just goes to show the effect of inflation here.

Half anna , 1717

The reverse of the 1717 half anna circulated by the East India company. About Good(AG) condition. We can see a crack in the middle of the coin. This may be an error in the production of the coin.

The obverse shows hanuman, the devotee of Rama.He wields a mace and symbolizes devotion and strength. He does various feats like crossing a sea and locating sita in the enemy territory. Also, during the battle a certain herb, the sanjivani is needed for the wounded lakshamana. Hanuman goes to find it but does not know which herb is it. So he shows his strength in lifting the entire mountain, and brings the sanjivani along with the mountain.

On the right we can see "shree shree 1007" written in hindi. Rest is quite worn out so it is hard to read.

East India company one anna, 1839 - Rama

The reverse of the 1839 one anna coin used as currency by the East India Company.

The obverse of this coin shows Lord Rama in the centre, holding his bow and arrow (which was a question to Jamal Malik in the movie Slumdog Millionaire). To our right is his wife Sita, to the left is his brother Laxmana, and the one bowing is the devotee, Hanuman. Rama was a legendary king in ancient India with his capital at Ayodhya, and he was one of the avatars of Lord Vishnu, one who supports, sustains and governs the universe. The four in the above picture are the central characters in the Hindu epic Ramayana, composed by Valmiki. In the epic, Rama battles Ravana and this battle symbolizes the battle between good and evil.

East India Company one anna , 1818 - Saraswati

The obverse of this coin is showing Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, music and arts. She has been identified with the river Saraswati. The most prominent theory regarding the now extinct Saraswati river is that it was formed of the present Yamuna river, which flowed West instead of East after Paonta Sahib, and flowed roughly parallel to the Indus river. The Harappan civilization flourished between the Indus and the Saraswati. Between 2000 B.C. and 1700 B.C., seismic activity caused the waters of the river's two main sources to change course.The Sutlej moved course westward and became a tributary of the Indus River. The Yamuna moved course eastward and became a tributary of the Ganges. The tremendous loss of water which resulted from these movements caused the once mighty river to become sluggish and dry up in the Thar Desert without ever reaching the sea. Without any water for irrigation or transportation, the dense population of the river basin soon shifted east with the waters of the Yamuna to the Ganges River valley. Late Vedic texts record the river as disappearing at Vinasana (literally, "the disappearing"), and as joining both the Yamuna and Ganges as an invisible river. Some claim that the sanctity of the modern Ganges is directly related to its assumption of the holy, and supposedly life-giving waters of the ancient Saraswati.

Of late, vestiges of the great river have been found through satellite imaging.

East India Company one anna , 1818 - Shiva

East India Company 1818 one anna. The obverse of this 1818 east india company has the lord shiva on its obverse. shiva is revered as the destroyer in Hindu mythology. shiva is usually worshipped in the form of Shiva linga. In images, he is generally represented as immersed in deep meditation or dancing the Tandava, the dance of destruction. He also has a wife, Parvati, also called Uma, and two sons, Ganesh and Karthikeya.

He has many other names like Mahadeva (great lord), maheshwara (great lord), parmeshwara (supreme lord), trayambakam (three eyes), neelkantha (blue throat), chandrashekhara (crescent moon), gangadhara (holder of the ganga river), bhairav (lord of terror), bholenath (kind hearted lord), bhooteshwara (lord of the ghosts), digambara (ascetic without clothes), jagadish (master of the universe), kailashnath (lord of mount kailash), mahesh (supreme lord), nataraja (king of the art of dancing), pashupati (lord of all living beings), rudraksh (having eyes like rudra) and mahakal (lord of all times).

Republic India fakes - 1

5 rupee with wave design, 2007

A number of such 5 rupee coins were in circulation, which were actually fake. The only visible pointer of this coin being a fake is the fuzziness of the design. If you want to know more, then I can tell you that this coin is made of iron, and hence magnetic. If you leave such a coin in moist air for sufficient period of time, then it would also rust. In contrast, the genuine 5 rupee with same design was made of stainless steel.

I also came across similar 5 rupee coins which were made from the commemorative coins of SBI(state bank of India) which were also in circulation.

Indira Gandhi 1 rupee

Another bad, bad fake of Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi coin never came out in 1 rupee denomination in the first place. Moreover, on the five rupee the Indira Gandhi image shows the left face but here the right face is being shown. Also, the image looks totally atrocious even at first look.

Indira Gandhi 1 rupee with mala

The Indira Gandhi 1 rupeee is a bad forgery and I believe that even a layman should be able to tell this is a fake. Any Indira Gandhi coin was never minted in the 1 rupee denomination, and also no Indira Gandhi coin showing the front face has been minted. I have no idea how someone got the idea of putting a mala(necklace) in Indira Gandhi's neck.

BR Ambedkar 2 rupee

This BR Ambedkar 2 rupee is perhaps the best fake in republic India that I have come across so far. The Ambedkar 2 rupee was never minted by the government, only the one rupee was. The obverse with the denomination looks perfectly fine, though an experienced numismatist knows that the style of the '2' in the 2 rupee coins has been changing ever since its inception. If you have knowledge you would know that the '2' in the 1990 2 rupee coin differs from the '2' in the 2000 two rupee coin(Ambedkar centenary was in 1990). The '2' design on this coin is the same as the design on the 2 rupee coins of 2000-2004, meaning that this coin was made some 5-6 years back, and not in 1990. Now moving on to the reverse, we see the Ambedkar figure. The coin is shining but the figure is a little worn out. The shine tells that the coin is freshly minted. But this contradicts the story told by the wear and tear, which suggests that the die used for this forgery was made from a worn out coin. The pronounced features are also pointers of a forgery.

Republic India fakes - 2

Subhash Chandra Bose

Does this picture look funny to you? The Subhash Chandra Bose face has been made out to be very roly poly, and his cap is very small and squat; whereas in the original his person looks good. This one is also a "wrong denomination" fake. Subhash Chandra Bose coins were released in denomination of 2 rupee and not in 1 rupee. Also noteworthy is the spelling of 'Bose" in this one: the 'e' is missing.

Fisheries 1 rupee

One of the few fakes which can be recognized on the basis of wrong denomination. Fisheries commemoratives were released in 20 paisa and 50 paisa denominations, but never in the 1 rupee denomination. I would not say that this one rupee fisheries coin is ugly, but all the same it is not a neat forgery. Someone with a limited knowledge of coins or someone who is a beginner as a numismatist should be able to declare this one as a fake.

1971 food for all 20 paisa

Very ugly fakes. These 20 paisa coins are once again very poor forgeries as they are ugly enough to be easily recognized. How they came to be, is an interesting story. The 1970 sun and lotus 20 paisa brass coin acts a little pricey for its face value as a number of the brass 20 paisa coins were melted as people thought them to be made of gold. In 1971, the sun and lotus 20 paisa was not released for circulation but was only in the UNC and proof sets. The UNC set had a 10 rupee coin and a 20 paisa coin and is now valued at above 13,000 rupees. The proof set had the fore mentioned two and also lower denomination coins from 1 rupee to 1 paisa. Some of those UNC sets were broken and the 10 rupee and the 20 paisa coins were also sold loose. I estimate the value of 1971 10 rupee food for all to be about 4000 rupees and the 20 paisa coin would cost about 1000 rupees if sold loose. Such high valuation may have caused some people to fake this one.

Personally, I would not like to buy that 20 paisa coin as it was not in circulation. Nor would I buy that set at that high a price.

'1972' food for all 20 paisa with sun and lotus

Another bad fake. Unlike the 1971 food for all 20 paisa shown before this one, the 1972 food for all 20 paisa showing the sun and the lotus was never released by the government mints, either for circulation or in any UNC or proof sets. So, if and when you happen to come across a food for all 20 paisa showing the sun and lotus with the date reading as 1972, IT IS UNDOUBTEDLY A FAKE, no matter how good the forgery may be or how neat and clean it may look.

The set released in 1972 was on the occasion of 25 years of independence and it had nothing to do with food for all.

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.

British India fakes - I

Victoria rupee, 1879

Edward rupee, 1906

Fakes are highly prevalent in the British coins domain, and the above coins are just a couple of instances of the forgeries. The Victoria rupee is minted in silver, and the Edward shown here is not in silver. A good percentage of the fakes can be identified with just basic knowledge, like the date on a George coin should not be in the 17th century, or sometimes the coin is so ugly that anyone can tell its a fake. But there are some fakes which are made with the help of an original coin and are hard to identify. This is because all the details of such a coin are correct. A die is first made from an original coin, and then the fake is forged from this die. But the experienced person would still know how to differentiate the original from the fake. Here are some pointers:

1)If a coin has been circulated, the wear and tear is always at the highest point. In the forgery, the edges are raised, though sometimes in the original also they can be raised. Remember that if a coin has been used, then its edges are bound to be worn out as they are the highest points.

2)Sometimes a coin which has been worn out to some extent is used to make a die and then a fake is forged. If the original coin is worn out, then the coin forged through this process would also be worn out. If the coin you are looking at is worn out(like the ones shown above), but still looks new and lets say has some luster also, that means its a forgery.

3)If the coin is kept on a glass table face down and then given a spin, and it does spin, that means its a fake. This is because the central part of the coin is the highest point and in the original that part is bound to be worn out. But if the coin is freshly minted, then the centre is a high point and it spins or rotates.

4)If the metal is silver, it can be tested for purity very easily as silver makes a distinctive clinking sound when tossed or when it hits the ground. If the metal is not silver and we are aware that the metal should be silver, then its safe to say that its a fake.


P.S. ujala test and all such things are just bullshit. They use some chemical to turn the blue water colourless and say this coin is original. Do not be fooled by such stupid claims. Also note that I have given the logic for telling the fakes as well. If you start thinking in this manner, then you would not be fooled.

George V fakes

Fake 1911 rupee George V

The 1911 rupee is also scarce and famous and has good value and its fakes are quite common. The shown 1911 rupee is one of the freshly minted 1911 1 rupee coins.

Fake 8 anna, 1919

Even though we keep coming across fake silver rupees at jewellery shops now and then, we know that they have a fair amount of genuine items for each fake. But the 8 anna coin is so highly forged that you would see 10 fakes for 1 real coin, and in fact I got to see my first real 8 anna coin more than 1 year after I saw the fake one, and I was thinking that the first 8 anna shown here is the real 8 anna. I know that very few of you know this, so understand now that the George V 8 anna was minted in nickel and is grey in colour. The implication is that if you come across a yellow 8 anna coin like the one shown above, then you can tell for certain its a modern forgery. I am not saying that if the colour is grey, you can be assured its genuine, but 60% of your task is done. Even in the grey 8 anna, we have many old forgeries. At that time, we usually had silver coinage and when the nickel coinage was introduced for the first time, people tried to forge their own coins and circulated them since the nickel coins were cheap to forge. These old fakes would also be worn out to some extent and will be hard to identify.

In the second coin shown here, if you have a look the lettering on the obverse is too spread out and that indicates that probably the original coin from which the die was made was worn out in those areas and so the fake made from it was not good enough and turned out like this.

The George V portrait is usually the key to knowing if its a fake as there would be some difference in the face of George V in the real and the fake one. This holds for most of the silver rupees also.

Fake 1939 rupee

The 1939 rupee is the most highly valued rupee of British India so it is easy to see why it is one of the most forged. The one shown above is a horrible fake simply because in 1939 the ruler was George VI and not George V. The obverse had a different portrait. The obverse is also worn out although the coin seems to be freshly minted. This one is rather a poor forgery going by the high standards of some fakes I have seen in George VI 1939 one rupee, and even a novice should be able to tell this one is a fake just by having proper knowledge of the date and the ruler.

Note that in each of the shown coins, the face of George V is different. The face of the ruler is a good indication whether it is a genuine or forged coin.