One Rupee of King Edward VII in 1903

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Following the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901, her eldest son, King Edward VII, ascended the British throne, ushering in a new chapter in the coinage of British India. Indian coins bearing his portrait were struck from 1903 to 1910. One of the most distinctive features of the Edward VII series is the uncrowned portrait of the King. Although he became monarch in 1901, his coronation did not take place until 9 August 1902. As the master dies for the Indian coinage had already been prepared before the coronation ceremony, the portrait depicts Edward VII without the Imperial Crown, making this series unique among British Indian issues.

The 1903 One Rupee is particularly significant for numismatists because it exhibits an exceptional range of mint and die varieties. Based on my study, at least five distinct varieties can be identified for this year alone. Rupees were struck at both the Calcutta and Bombay Mints. Calcutta issues bear no mint mark, whereas Bombay issues are known with a raised "B", an incuse "B", and a more conspicuous raised dot on the stem of the lotus bud at the lower right of the reverse. According to D. Chakravarty in Coins of India, the lotus-stem dot was intentionally introduced as a practical mint identifier. He further noted that from 1906 onwards there appears to have been an attempt to eliminate the incuse "B", although traces of the letter often remained visible. Consequently, the lotus-stem dot became the most reliable diagnostic feature for identifying Bombay Mint rupees.

Another remarkable variety occurs on certain 1903 Calcutta Rupees, where the Persian inscription on the reverse displays an abnormal arrangement of three dots instead of the normal five. This rare die variety is generally attributed to an engraving error during die preparation, most likely because the engraver was unfamiliar with the Persian script and inadvertently omitted two dots. The error was recognised and corrected shortly after production commenced, restricting the variety to a limited number of the first year's issues. Today, this Three-Dot Rupee is regarded as one of the most sought-after die varieties in the Edward VII series and serves as an important example of how minor die preparation errors can create major numismatic rarities.

Calcutta minted rupee of 1903 with no mint mark is shown in below figure-


Bombay issued rupee with a small incuse B is shown in below figure-


Bombay issued rupee with a small raised B is shown in below figure-


Bombay issued rupee with a "dot" on the stem of the lotus-bud in below figure-


Calcutta minted rupee of 1903 with two missing dots.





I love to collect coins, specially British Indian coins

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