Rare Half Anna of George VI in 1943

Albert Frederick Arthur George was familiar as George VI. He was the King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 1936 until his death in 1952. He was concurrently the last Emperor of India until August 1947, when the British Raj was dissolved.

During the period of George VI, half Anna was minted in Calcutta, Bombay and Lahore. Nickel-Brass half Anna was minted from 1942 to 1945 and Copper-Nickel half Anna was minted on 1946 and 1947, last two years of British Raj in India. Shape was square with rounded corner. Edge was plain. Obverse was crowned head of the king facing left. It was surrounded by the lettering of the legend GEORGE VI KING EMPEROR within a serrated circle. INDIA AN1/2NA Year was within an ornamental square was at Reverse. Value of the coin was expressed in four different languages, Bengali, Urdu, Telugu and Nagari at four corners of the Reverse.

It was found from different sources that half Anna was minted only in Calcutta on 1943. In Calcutta mint half Anna, there were dots by India and dashes by year. On 1943, there were two varieties of Calcutta mint. One was as regular like above definition and another was with additional dot over first N of AN1/2NA; it was rare among those two varieties. But I found a half Anna of 1943 having similar dot as rare variety; additionally, it has another one diamond shape dot below second N of AN1/2NA. Generally, diamond shape dot below second N of half Anna was found on 1944. This new finding can add additional value in British Indian coin studies.



 


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