Today I bought a British India 2 Annas 1908 coin in XF-aUNC condition. I bought it for $2.50CAD from a guy trying to sell his foreign coins. On the 2x2 holder it says "restrike?". How can I tell if it is a restrike or not?
I think sometimes there ain't much difference but you can see shadowing of where numbers have been pressed on top iirc ! Restrikes generally aren't worth much at all. But it's still cool to have and at that price it's practically for free !
Quote: Mark240590I think sometimes there ain't much difference but you can see shadowing of where numbers have been pressed on top iirc ! Restrikes generally aren't worth much at all. But it's still cool to have and at that price it's practically for free !
Until the 70s, mints in India had a practice of restriking coins for a fee. These restrike coins are of very high quality and proof like.
Restrikes are different from overstrikes...
re·strike
A coin or medal freshly minted from an original die at a time after the first issue.
Overstrike (wikipedia)
In Numismatics overstrike refers to the image on a coin which has been coined more than once. Overstriking is done deliberately when the first strike is unsatisfactory, or accidentally if the blank slips out of place or if the dies judder, resulting in a slight doubling of the design. Sometimes to change dates
Today I bought a British India 2 Annas 1908 coin in XF-aUNC condition. I bought it for $2.50CAD from a guy trying to sell his foreign coins. On the 2x2 holder it says "restrike?". How can I tell if it is a restrike or not?
Regards
Don't take me wrong, I don't want to tease you but just bought one 2 anna's coin in perfect state for 0.25 eurocent! Should I be ashamed of myself.
Today I bought a British India 2 Annas 1908 coin in XF-aUNC condition. I bought it for $2.50CAD from a guy trying to sell his foreign coins. On the 2x2 holder it says "restrike?". How can I tell if it is a restrike or not?
Regards
Don't take me wrong, I don't want to tease you but just bought one 2 anna's coin in perfect state for 0.25 eurocent! Should I be ashamed of myself.
It's difficult to tell from the picture but it does not look like a restrike. It's looks like AUNC to UNC - in that condition I've seen those coins sell for around $25, you made a great buy!
Today I bought a British India 2 Annas 1908 coin in XF-aUNC condition. I bought it for $2.50CAD from a guy trying to sell his foreign coins. On the 2x2 holder it says "restrike?". How can I tell if it is a restrike or not?
Regards
You can not, but in 1908 there were only made very few "proofs" believed to be less than 100, and roughly 22,000,000 normal ones; and up to 1971 the Mumbai mint would make re-strikes for rich collectors for what ever they needed with the original dies, so sometimes collectors / coin dealers with the right connections would order a bunch of coins. The original weight of the coin ( new not used ) was 1,462 gram and the silver content 0.917. So you could weigh the coin, some of the re-strikes do not match 100 % in weight, and for some re-strikes the metal content is slightly different ( but it would cost you a fortune to test that and you would need to know the original metal content ) ( and the Mumbai mint will not disclose information due to "national security issue " )
But look at it positive, it is a cool coin for no money . I would like to know the weight of the coin , just to be sure that the restrike was not made in China
Today I bought a British India 2 Annas 1908 coin in XF-aUNC condition. I bought it for $2.50CAD from a guy trying to sell his foreign coins. On the 2x2 holder it says "restrike?". How can I tell if it is a restrike or not?
Regards
You can not, but in 1908 there were only made very few "proofs" believed to be less than 100, and roughly 22,000,000 normal ones; and up to 1971 the Mumbai mint would make re-strikes for rich collectors for what ever they needed with the original dies, so sometimes collectors / coin dealers with the right connections would order a bunch of coins. The original weight of the coin ( new not used ) was 1,462 gram and the silver content 0.917. So you could weigh the coin, some of the re-strikes do not match 100 % in weight, and for some re-strikes the metal content is slightly different ( but it would cost you a fortune to test that and you would need to know the original metal content ) ( and the Mumbai mint will not disclose information due to "national security issue " )
But look at it positive, it is a cool coin for no money . I would like to know the weight of the coin , just to be sure that the restrike was not made in China
Regards M
Hello,
The coin has the original weight of 1.46g. I guess it is not a restrike, doesn't matter though. I still bought a aUNC-UNC coin for almost nothing.
