World Coin Clinic: Mint Marks from Around the World
Reader questions explore elusive Peruvian colonial coins, mint marks on modern Indian issues, foreign-struck coinage, and the legacy of East India Company money.
A Peruvian 2 reales with assayer initials IR, struck by the Royalists in Callao before their final capitulation to the patriots in 1826, was the last Spanish colonial coin produced in the New World. I have never seen any sign that this coin has ever appeared at auction. Does it really exist?
The Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins lists the Peru 1826LIMAE-IR 2 reales coin as KM# 115.3 with values in several grades. The NGC website copies these prices, yet it has never certified an example. The American Numismatic Society doesn’t have this coin in its data bank either. I’m not saying such a coin can’t exist, but unless a reader comes forward with such a coin, I would question its existence. Having said that, there are appanage Russian denga coins illustrated by line drawings in an 1898 book by Oreshnikov, which were argued not to exist until they appeared at a Bonhams auction in 1996. This coin could likewise still exist.
Can you identify the mint marks on modern Indian coins?
The Kolkata Mint facility does not use a mint mark. A diamond, B, or M (after 1996) appears on coins of the Mumbai Mint. Hyderabad uses a five-pointed star, a split diamond, or a dot in the diamond. Noida uses a round dot below the date.
I understand that, due to chronic coin shortages, India has had some of its coins struck abroad. What mints and mint marks are involved?
Coins of 1985 depicting a star below the date are from Daegu, South Korea; those with a diamond were issued by the British Royal Mint; the H is from the Heaton Press Mint; and the C is from the Royal Canadian Mint. Coins struck in Seoul, South Korea, in 1997 depict a star at right and below the date, while those struck at Mexico City depict a small O above an M. Coins of 1999 struck at the Tower Mint depict a castle outline mint mark. Those struck at Kremnica depict an MK under a circle, while those issued from Pretoria, South Africa, carry a fancy M. Moscow struck coins in 2000 with a script MMD mint mark.
What can you tell me about the East India Company’s coins in India?
The East India Company received a royal charter in 1612, the same year it established a settlement in Surat. Coins were issued later in the century but were not widely accepted outside the company’s jurisdiction. This changed when, in 1717, the British received permission to strike rupee coins in the name of the Mughal emperor.
Why don’t the later coins of the East India Company carry the company name?
Great Britain took direct control of all its possessions in India in 1857 following the Great Mutiny of 1857. Between 1862 and 1947, when India and Pakistan received their independence, coins were struck under British rather than under company authority.
I understand the British monarch has final approval authority on all new coin designs. Are there monarchs elsewhere in the world who hold the same final stamp of approval?
Thailand comes to mind, but I am unaware of any others. Perhaps readers can assist? There are a number of authoritarian governments where the dictator has the final say.
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