British Colonial India 1940.

[Spaniard]

The next year set I'll present is George VI 1940..

Lets start......George VI was crowned king in May 1937 and the first coins of India with his effigy were minted in 1938. After the outbreak of WWII in 1939 the price of silver increased to such an extent that the face value of the One, Half and Quarter Rupee was less than the price of its 0.917 silver content. This led to the reduction of the amount of silver used in subsequent coins to 0.500.

The engraver of the 1940 coins was Percy Metcalfe (1895/1970)
A graduate from the Royal College of Art, London.
His accreditations include The Barnyard Collection. Irish Free State Currency.
King George V and King George VI portraits. Along with the George Cross medal.
Also an array of different kings and rulers from all over the world commissioned him to design their portraits including King Farouk of Egypt, King Faisal I and King Ghazi of Iraq.

There were two mints used in 1940 those of Kolkata (Calcutta) and Mumbai (Bombay).
The Kolkata biulding has an imposing frontage and was a design based on the Temple of Athena in Athens.Both buildings are closed now and are under renovation.

There were two types of head used, the three main differences between them are detailed below.

1 Rupee = 16 Annas = 64 Pice

First coin ....

1/2 Pice ( 1st Head ) KM#528
Bronze 2.40/2.50 g....21.10/21.40 dia.
Only minted at Kolkata (No mintmark).
The lowest denomination minted 23,769,600 in 1940.

My example..

Second coin..

There were three types of 1/4 Anna (1 Pice) minted.........Bronze..4.83/4.91g.....25.20/25.50mm

Coin A ...1st Head (Mumbai Mint) KM#530
Coin B ...2nd Head (Mumbai Mint) KM#531
Combined Mintage of the Mumbai mint 116,720,919
You can see the Mumbai Mint has a raised dot above the N of ONE on the reverse.

Coin C ...2nd Head (Kolkata Mint) KM#531
No mintmark...Mintage 140,409,600

Here are my 3 examples..

[expat]

Beautiful layout and informative too. 

[Spaniard]

Next we move into the Copper-Nickel denominations...

One Anna (1/16 Rupee)...Copper-Nickel...3.88g....21.00mm / Scalloped with 12 notches.
Name of country, denomination, date below within floral pattern. Along each outer side of the reverse is the value written in one of the four native languages Urdu, Telugu, Nagari and Bengali.

There were four types of One Anna minted

1st Head Kolkata Mint KM#536...60,945,000..Coin not shown.
1st Head Mumbai Mint KM#536 see below.....Coin not shown.

Coin A....2nd Head (Kolkata Mint) KM#537...76,392,000

Coin B....2nd Head (Mumbai Mint) KM#537...144,712,054 (inc KM-536)
Mumbai Mintmark a raised dot below the date.
Please note that on some Mumbai coins there can be a tiny raised diamond below one of the letteres of EMPEROR..Probably control marks.

2 Anna (1/8 Rupee)....Copper Nickel...5.83g...22.3 / 25.5mm...
Within each scallop of the quatrefoil on the reverse, is the value written in one of the four native languages Urdu, Telugu, Nagari and Bengali.

1st Head.... Mumbai Mint KM#540 Unlisted Date...Not Shown

For those interested in variants, there are four minor variants of the Mumbai Mint..
Running from 1940-1947
1.One small raised diamond below any letter of the word EMPEROR.
2.One small raised diamond above the 2nd N of ANNAS + One small raised diamond below any letter of the word EMPEROR.
3.One small raised diamond above the 2nd N of ANNAS + 2 Small raised diamonds at different places below any letter of the word EMPEROR.
4.Two Small raised diamonds above the 2nd N of ANNAS in different places + One small raised diamond below any letter of the word EMPEROR.


Just to confuse things even more there are 3 variants of 1940 Mumbai Mint related to the four flowers shown in each corner on both sides..
A. No incuse flower on either side.
B. Incuse flower on portrait side.
C. Incuse flower on date side.

Coin A...2nd Head.... Mumbai Mint..KM#541... 50,599,037 

Inc all four types.
Mumbai Mintmark.. two raised dots either side of the date.(Variant 1/B)

Coin B...2nd Head.... Kolkata Mint..KM#541...37,636,000..(Simple, no Mintmark and no variations)

Below shows the small raised diamond variant 1 on coin A.

Next I'll breakdown the silver denominations...

[Spaniard]

Ok, now into the silver denominations...

First up 1/4 Rupee = 4 Annas.....2.92 grams....20mm diameter...Milled edge.

Below the date is written in Urdu 4 Annas = (1/4 Rupee).

There were three types minted with reduced silver content at 0.500....

Coin A...1st Head...Only Mumbai Mint..KM#544a..24,635,000

Coin B..2nd Head..Mumbai Mint..KM#545..28,946,956
Mumbai Mintmark, a raised dot/bead below the lotus flower at the bottom of the date side near the edge.

Coin C..2nd Head..Kolkata mint..KM#545..68,674,901..(No Mintmark)

 

Here's my examples...

Following on with the Half Rupee..
There were two types minted in silver 0.500.....5.83g / 24.0mm dia.
Below the date reads, Hasht Aanay = 8 Annas in Persian..

Coin A...2nd Head...Kolkata Mint...KM#550a...32,897,926 (No Mintmark)

Coin B...2nd Head...Mumbai Mint....KM#550a...17,811,326
Mintmark,small dot/bead below lotus flower..see inset detail.

My 2 examples..

And to finish off the 1940 series is the One Rupee...

Only one type was minted at Mumbai in silver 0.500...11.66g / 31.0mm dia
Below the date reads, Yek rupiya = One Rupee in Persian..
The 1940 Rupee had a security edge opposed to the reeded edge of the 1/4 and 1/2 Rupees..See inset photo..

Coin A...2nd Head..Mumbai mint...KM#556....153,120,002
Mintmark,small dot/bead below lotus flower..see inset detail..

 

Here's my set..