BRITISH PERIOD - KING EDWARD VII (1903-1910) - One Rupee

KING EDWARD


Edward VII - One Rupee coin

The Edward VII series of coins of India are dated 1903-1910. No Gold coins were issued during the reign of Edward VII. There are four silver coins (Rupee, 1/2 Rupee, 1/4 Rupee and 2 Annas) and three copper coins (1/4 Anna, 1/2 Pice and 1/12 Anna). A cupro-nickel 1 Anna coin was introduced in 1906.

Coinage of Queen Victoria had the Queen's bust facing left, following the British practice of making the effigies of successive sovereigns face opposite directions,the coins of Edward showed the king facing right.

On 01 Aug,1906, the copper coins were replace by bronze issues with the same obverse and reverse designs but a thinner plancet due to the rising international prices of copper. The 1906 coins come in both varieties.

Another special feature of the coinage of this period was that,in all the silver coins the inscription was in both English and Persian, compared to Victoria coins that showed only English. In 1 anna cupro-nickel coin, the value was shown in five languages- English, Persian, Hindi, Bengali and Telugu.

There were over 263 million of these Indian 1 rupee coins featuring King Edward VII (1901-10) minted at Bombay and Calcutta. It contains .3438 of an ounce of silver. There is no mint mark for Calcutta. The Bombay issues have a small incuse "B" (the 1903 Rupee also has a raised "B" variety). The "B" mint mark can be impossible to see but a "dot" on the stem of the lotus-bud (lower right on reverse) is a more prominent mark.