Six Types One Rupee of King Edward VII in 1903

King Edward VII ascended the throne on 1901 was the elder son of Queen Victoria. The Edward VII series of coins of India are dated from 1903 to1910. Coins of the King Edward VII are distinct in that the head is uncrowned. Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901 and Edward's coronation was not held till 9 August 1902. The master dies were created before the coronation; therefore, his coins were not shown wearing the crown. The Rupee of King Edward VII was minted in both Calcutta and Bombay. I found total six types of minted rupee in 1903. There was no mint mark for Calcutta in 1903, but the Bombay issues had a small incuse and raised "B" in 1903. Another Bombay issued had a more prominent mark, a "dot" on the stem of the lotus-bud (lower right on reverse). According to the book of D. Chakravarty, "Coins of India", this was intentional. He said, "Since the 'dot' itself was found adequate to distinguish the products of the mint, and there was no need to have a conspicuous mint-mark, as an incuse 'B', from 1906 onward there was apparently an attempt to erase the 'B', but not very successfully." Various traces of the 'B' may be seen but use the 'dot' on the lotus-bud stem to identify the mint. There was another interesting variety on the reverse of some 1903 (C) Rupees. The normal configuration of five dots was missing the lower dot. The explanation seems to be that the engraver was not familiar with Persian script, so he made a mistake and left out two dots. This was soon rectified, so this rare error exists only on the first year of issue.

Calcutta minted rupee of 1903 with no mint mark and 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-


There was an interesting (and scarce) variety on the reverse of some 1903 (C) Rupees. The normal configuration of five dots was missing the lower dot. The explanation seems to be that the engraver was not familiar with Persian script, so he made a mistake and left out one dot. This was soon rectified, so this rare error exists only on the first year of issue.


 Another variety of Calcutta minted rupee of 1903 with two missing dots was also found.


Therefore, six types of one Rupee found in 1903. (1) Calcutta minted rupee with no mint mark, (2) Bombay issued rupee with a small incuse B, (3) Bombay issued rupee with a small raised B, (4) Bombay issued rupee with a "dot" on the stem of the lotus-bud, (5) Calcutta minted four Dots Rupee and (6) Calcutta minted three Dots Rupee.

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