MINT MARKS ON REPUBLIC INDIAN COINS

Indian Coins were minted both in Indian Mints and in foreign mints. Below given are the different mint marks used by Indian Mints.

MINT MARKS OF INDIAN MINTS

KOLKATA MINT: Kolkata mint struck coins will have no mint mark on them.

KOLKATA MINT: NO MINT MARK

MUMBAI MINT: Mumbai mint struck proof coins were initially having mint mark 'B' placed below the midpoint of the date, but later on after Bombay was renamed as Mumbai, the mint mark was changed from 'B' to 'M'.

Only -Jawahar Lal Nehru Centenary - UNC sets have the Mint mark 'U' placed below the midpoint of the date which were minted during the year 1989.

In case of the coins which were struck by Mumbai mint, for the purpose of general circulation, diamond (Rhombus) shaped mint mark was placed either below the midpoint of the date (as in case of most of the coins), or on the right side of the date (e.g. Rajeev Gandhi One Rupee).

MUMBAI MINT: 'M' MINT MARK

BOMBAY MINT: 'B' MINT MARK

 BOMBAY MINT: 'U' MINT MARK

MUMBAI MINT MARK: DIAMOND SHAPED MINT MARK

HYDERABAD MINT: Hyderabad Mint initially placed split diamond (as shown in below given image) as a mint mark just below the midpoint of the date, but later onward it started place dot within a diamond as its mint mark. From 1964 onward it is using the 5 pointed Star as a mint mark which will be placed just below the midpoint of the date in most of the coins (in Rajeev Gandhi One Rupee we can see mint mark being placed on the right side of the coin).

HYDERABAD MINT: SPLIT DIAMOND MINT MARK

HYDERABAD MINT: DOT IN DIAMOND MINT MARK

HYDERABAD MINT: STAR SHAPED MINT MARK

NOIDA MINT: Noida mint uses -round dot- shaped mint mark placed just below the midpoint of the date.

NOIDA MINT MARK: ROUND DOT

FOREIGN MINT MARKS ON REPUBLIC INDIAN COINS

In the decades of 1980's, 1990's and in the year 2000 Indian coins were minted even through foreign mints based on the requested orders from Govt. of India. Indian coins were minted in Seoul Mint, Ottawa Mint, Heaton Press Mint, The Royal Mint (Llantrisant), The Royal Mint (Tower Mint), Mexico Mint, Pretoria Mint, Taegu Mint, Moscow Mint and Kremnica Mint. Below given are the Mint marks of these foreign Mints in which Indian coins were minted.

FOREIGN MINT MARKS ON INDIAN REPUBLIC  COINS

SEOUL MINT, SOUTH KOREA: Seoul Mint also uses 5 pointed star mint mark similar to that of Hyderabad Mint but the star mark is placed below the first numeral of the date, whereas in Hyderabad mint struck coins the star shaped mint mark will be placed just below the midpoint of date.

SEOUL MINT MARK: STAR BELOW FIRST NUMERAL OF THE DATE

TAEGU MINT, KOREA: Taegu Mint struck coins will also have the 5 pointed star Mint mark but this star mark will be placed below the last numeral of the date.

TAEGU MINT MARK, STAR BELOW LAST NUMERAL OF DATE

BRITISH ROYAL MINT LLANTRISANT, UK: This Mint also uses the diamond shaped mint mark similar to that of Mumbai mint, but the mint mark is placed below first numeral of the date, whereas in case of Mumbai mint the diamond shaped mint mark is placed below the midpoint of entire date.

LLANTRISANT MINT MARK: DIAMOND BELOW THE FIRST NUMERAL OF THE DATE

HEATON PRESS MINT, UK: This Mint uses the alphabet 'H' and is placed below the last numeral of the date.

HEATON PRESS MINT MARK: ALPHABET 'H' BELOW THE LAST NUMERAL OF DATE

ROYAL CANADIAN MINT, (WINNIPEG): Winnipeg Mint struck Indian coins will have the alphabet 'C' placed below midpoint of the date. Some catalogue mention these coins to be minted in Ottawa Mint, but in fact they were minted in Winnipeg Mint.

ROYAL CANADIAN  (WINNIPEG) MINT MARK: 'C' BELOW THE MIDPOINT OF DATE

OESCHGER MASDACH & CO, MEXICO CITY MINT: Mexico City Mint struck coins will have alphabet 'M' with a small 'o' placed above it.

MEXICO CITY MINT MARK: SMALL 'o' ABOVE ALPHABET 'M' 

MOSCOW MINT, RUSSIA: Moscow Mint stuck coins will have the alphabet set 'MMD' written in a peculiar style below the date- as shown in the below given image.

MOSCOW MINT MARK: 'MMD' WRITTEN IN A PECULIAR STYLE

KREMNICA MINT, SLOVAKIA REPUBLIC: Kremnica Mint struck coins will have the alphabet set 'MK' written within a circle just below the midpoint of date

KREMNICA MINT MARK: ALPHABET SET 'MK' WRITTEN INSIDE CIRCLE

PRETORIA MINT SOUTH AFRICA: Pretoria Mint struck coins will have the alphabet 'M' written within a semi-circle just below midpoint of the date.

PRETORIA MINT MARK: ALPHABET 'M' WRITTEN WITHIN A SEMICIRCLE

BRITISH ROYAL MINT, TOWER MINT, UK: Tower Mint struck coins will have the alphabet 'U' written in a peculiar font just below the midpoint of the date.

TOWER MINT MARK: ALPHABET 'U' WRITTEN BELOW THE DATE

NUMISMATICS AND COINS: FOR BIGGINERS

WHAT IS A COIN?

Any piece of hard material (mostly a metal/alloy) that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a medium of exchange or legal tender.

WHAT IS NUMISMATICS?

Numismatics is both a hobby and field f academics. As an academic field it deals with study of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While as a hobby it is the collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects.

WHAT ARE THE OBJECTS THAT FALL UNDER CATEGORY OF NUMISMATICS AS A HOBBY?

It includes the collection of it is the collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects like  other payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF COINS (ANATOMY OF THE COIN)?

In the below given image you can see the different parts/regions of a typical Coin of Republic India. The details of each part are given below.

OBVERSE SIDE:In Republic India's coins the obverse side refers to the side on which, Lion Capital along with the motto 'Satyamev Jayate' is struck.

REVERSE SIDE: It is the side on which the designs changes either based on definitive series type or commemoration type. For example, in above shown coin we can see the United Nations' logo; this side of the coin makes the reverse side. Generally obverse side design remains unchanged except minor changes and all the time it bears the lion capital and the motto 'Satyamev Jayate', whereas reverse side designs are changed constantly from  one commemoration to other commemoration issue.

LION CAPITAL: It is the Emblem of India and derived from the Ashoka Pillar, as a symbol of sovereignty and indigenous motifs of independence.

DENOMINATION: It refers to the value of the coin mentioned on it either in terms of rupee or in terms of Naya Paise/Paise/Pice.

MOTTO: Republic Indian's coins bear the motto "सत्यमेव जयते" meaning Truth Alone Triumphs. This motto was derived from Mundaka Upanishad Mantra 3.1.6 (सत्यमेव जयते नानृतम् सत्येन पन्था विततो देवयानः । येनाक्रमत् मनुष्यो ह्यात्मकामो यत्र तत् सत्यस्य परं निधानं ॥)

YEAR: This refers to the year of commemoration in case of commemorative coins and year of minting in case of definitive coins.

LEGEND: Legend is the written alphabetic script on the coin which generally indicates the details of Commemoration or any other details related t coin but it will be in terms of alphabetic and numeric script. 

FIELD: This is the any flat/Plain area of coin which is free from any designs or which is not raised.

RELIEF: This is portion of the design that has been raised.

MINT MARK: It is generally given below the date, but in some cases at the top of the vertical axis of the coin. It indicates the mint in which coin was minted. In India there are four mints, namely; Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Noida Mint. Kolkata mint doesn't use any mint mark, whereas Mumbai mint have diamond shaped (Rhombus), Hyderabad mint have Star shaped (or Dot in Diamond) and Noida have Round Dot shaped mint mark. In addition to these, India also got its coins minted through foreign mints during 1980s and 1990s. Mint mark 'B' and 'M' were used by Mumbai mint on proof sets where as Mint mark 'U' was being used on UNC sets issued by Mumbai Mint.

EDGE: The edge is the actual side of the coin, and shouldn't be confused with the rim. Edge can be either Plain, Milled/Reeded or Security edge.

1989 ONE RUPEE: JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU CENTENARY: OBVERSE AND REVERSE DIE VARIETIES

There are total four types which arise out of combination of two type of reverse and three types of obverse dies. The details of types of obverse and reverse dies are given below.

Obverse-I :  Lion with thin outlined legs.
Obverse-II: Lion with filled legs and shorter beak of Digit '1'

Obverse-III: Lion With filled legs and longer beak of Digit '1'
Reverse-I: Nomal sized Nehru face with shorter border teeth
Reverse-II: Small sized Nehru face along with longer border teeth

The four combination of obverse and reverse varieties are listed below.

Combination I  : Obverse- I with Reverse-I

Combination II : Obverse- I with reverse- II

Combination III: Obverse- II with reverse I

Combination IV: Obverse- III with Reverse II

UNITED NATIONS 50th ANNIVERSARY: MULE COIN

In the above shown image, the coin on the top side is the normal issue of 50th anniversary of United Nations whereas the second image at the bottom is the Mule with fat lion. There exists a die variety in the ILO: World of Work 5 rupee coin which have similar fat lion . Hence we can conclude that the same obverse die of ILO 5 Rupee wad used for minting this second (fat lion) type  of UN 50 years coin, so it is said to be a Mule coin.

50 PAISE: FISHERIES MULE, KOLKATA MINT

50 PAISE: FISHERIES MULE, KOLKATA MINT

In the above posted image, the first one from top left is a normal fisheries coin which does not have any dotted circle on its obverse (lion side) border. Second coin is the Indira Gandhi 50 Paise coin with the dotted circle border on the obverse side of the coin. The image at the bottom represents the mule issue in which reverse side is fisheries theme and obverse side is struck by using the India Gandhi 50 Paise Die which had dotted circle at its border.