Unusual Four Annas of George V in 1920

George Frederick Ernest Albert commonly known as George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 6 May 1910 until his death on 1936. He was born during the reign of his grandmother Queen Victoria. He was the second son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.

During British period, “4 annas” minted during the period of George V from 1919 to 1921. It was made of copper-nickel compositions. It was minted in Calcutta and Bombay. It was scalloped octagon in shape and plain edge. Weight was around 6.8g with dimension of 24mm. Obverse was with crowned head of George V facing left, English legend surrounds and reverse was with denomination within square, 4 annas in Urdu, Bengali, Telugu & Devanagari. There was no mint mark for Calcutta and the Bombay issues have raised dot below the bottom of Telugu script. Colour was almost silver. Reference to Numista (en.numista.com), some of these coins contain high percentage of ferrous metal, therefore it was not unusual for the to tarnish to rust brown colour.

But I found 4 anna of 1920 with golden colour. It looks like the composition of nickel and brass. Weight of this coin was 6.02g with dimension 24mm and thickness around 1.5mm. May-be it was an OMS! Weight of this coin is almost 0.8g less than regular weight. If it is composition of nickel-brass metal, obviously its weight would be less than regular composition of nickel-copper. Also, it had no mint mark like Calcutta mint! Though some part of that coin was scratched but lettering was same as regular coin. Minor visual damages would not be a considerable reason for 0.8g weight difference considering shape and metal of that coin.



 

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