India 1921 Rupee with re-tooled reverse die

[KurtS]

A friend found this 1921 India Rupee with an interesting amount of retooling on the reverse. It appears that a heavily worn die was reworked with a limited range of tools—notice how "curves" were made with a rectangular punch in the detail photos?

The normal reverse, as on a 1920 Rupee. Notice the curved serifs and the date.


The retooled reverse with crude, blocky serifs—shot in a PCGS (MS64) slab:


Details:




Doesn't it appear that a lot of time was put into this re-tooling? And isn't it odd the Bombay mint did not have better-shaped tools to accomplish this? Why not simply rehub the reverse? One explanation might be the dies were made in the UK, and shipped to Bombay, and this was the best they could do?

[Dick]

Beautiful set of photos!
I wonder, considering the date, (1920). The UK probably had the tools necessary to do the job, properly. More likely that, time was pressing, and the new dies hadn't arrived yet, so whatever means possible may have been utilized, such as re-tooling a die to get production moving, again. One has to consider that the mintages were not as high as it is today. IMHO.
Dick

[KurtS]

Dick, I would not be surprised if they were forced to recycle dies, since this is a lower mintage year. That's quite a job someone did I wonder if the Bombay mint was pleased with that, and how many were produced by this die? I bet it would be interesting to know! I'm going to look for this coin for sure.

[Dick]

I was thinking that the mint in Bombay, (if it is the only mint in India) and the new year. Maybe it was getting close to the end of the "year", production-wise, and they had nothing but worn dies to work with, so they re-tooled one, or several dies, (that, in itself would be an interesting study, checking several to see if there are variations in the series). But, at the same time, I also wondered if the UK provided the dies, or were they made in Bombay? It would be nice to see several hundred of these "one Anna" coins, just to see how extensive the re-tooliing was.
BTW, you might check the weather....

[KurtS]

I would not be surprised if dies were supplied by the UK, and that Bombay was not a big die manufacturing operation. Besides, they would need the hubs to make dies, so eventually something has to originate in the UK, right?

I don't want to suggest that the Calcutta and Bombay mints couldn't make dies, but since I see little variation in coins from this period, that might suggest a central source. However, at some point I think India started making its own dies--perhaps in the 40s? They were also striking coins for Australia too during WWI and WWII.

Check the weather--what's up? Petty calm here.

[Dick]

Kurt, i guess you are right. i didn't know that much about India,so I guessed.
Re the weather.... Not very specific, on my part. i meant the section, Weather etc. You will find a VIP there!
Dick

[coppercoins]

The example on the 1921 is typical of crudely hand cut dies. It's not the 'wrong tool' - it's just a certain amount of making something to use, not to be artful. With the same gravure tool, a skilled die cutter could have done much better.

[KurtS]

Yep, sure looks like a re-engraving done for simple utility, rather than artistry. Just total guesses on my part as to cause--this crude work isn't something I've seen before on a British Empire coins. If I learn something new here, that makes this post worthwhile.

[garylcsr]

could that be a coin like the hobo nickels? just a thought but it looks like it was done after the mint sent it out

[KurtS]

Gary,
I don't have the coin here to take more shots, but seeing how it's in a PCGS MS64 slab suggests all these tooling marks are as-struck.

[GarryN]

It probably looked better before they "retooled" it...