Baldwin's London Auction 71 Baldwin's London auction 71 offers a spectacular array of Indian, Islamic and Latin-American coinage. Including the Yashoda Singh Collection of Indian Coins and the Alan Harley Collection of Latin Ame
1892, and subsequently a reduced size nickel 5 Cents was to be issued years later in 1909. Notwithstanding in 1904 the Indian Mint authorities prepared dies and once again in effect created a coinage that did not actually exist. An example of the Ceylon 5 Cents of 1904 appeared in the sale of noted collector Jerome “Jerry” Remick, sold at Spink in 2006, where as Lot 231 it brought £12,348.00 (then approximately US$23,090.00). While the 1911 and later official VIP presentation proof sets recorded by Pridmore as struck in India contained only a single coin or set of current coins, the undoubted reason for the inclusion of Victorian coins in this discovery set is that in 1904 Victorian coins were still legally current and in circulation in India. In fact in 1904 virtually all the coinage in circulation in India would have been Victorian. Accordingly the Master of the Mint arranged for strikings to be made from (repolished) Victorian dies as well as from the current as well as specially prepared Edward VII dies. 1904 was to see regular coinages by both Calcutta and Bombay. However, no coinage of ½-Rupee by either mint, nor ¼-Rupees of the Calcutta Mint, nor 2-Annas of Calcutta were to be struck in 1904. Interestingly, on the Indian Government Mint Bombay price list of specimen coins available for restriking the 1/2 Rupee of 1904 is listed as being available. Quite possibly these were to be struck from dies that came into existence to create the 1/2 Rupee denomination in 1904 for inclusion in the present set. The short reign of Edward VII was marked by a number of design and metal changes, as seen in the large number of patterns proposed during his reign. Accordingly it may have been due to the series of patterns and trials commencing in 1903 and reaching a peak in 1904-1905 that the Colonial Office requested a set of the ‘current’ pieces with which to make comparisons to any new proposals.
Estimate: £80,000-120,000
1609 INDIAN COINS. Republic of India (1949- ), Pattern Set, 1949, by Patrick Brindley, for an entirely new proposed coinage for the new republic, set composed of: 1-Rupee, rev man winnowing wheat, graded PR62; ½-Rupee, rev type I, worker pouring metal in foundry (without structure behind), graded PR64; ½-Rupee, rev type II, worker pouring metal in foundry (with structure behind), graded PR64; ¼-Rupee, rev mine worker holding pick in a mine, graded PR64; 2-Annas, rev type I, with side view of peacock, graded PR64 2-Annas, rev type II, with facing peacock, graded PR65; Anna, rev standing water buffalo, graded PR63; Pice, rev sheaves of wheat, graded PR64RB. All with obv Lion Capital of Asoka, together with English and Hindi legends (formerly listed by Krause as patterns, KM Pn5-12, now listed as Pn8-15). All in PCGS holders and graded. A highly important and excessively rare complete set of eight patterns. Only four sets are recorded as having been struck. (8) No coins were struck for circulation dated 1948
