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The word “rare” according to
the dictionary means something that does not occur easily or something
that is not found easily. This would imply that if not many coins of a
particular category exists, it would be considered rare. Hence you would
expect such a coin to be very valuable. However, it has also been seen
that 2 coins with roughly the same mintage (no. of pieces produced)
could vary in price. In fact one coin can fetch twice or three times the
amount the other fetches. So although it is sold for a high price, it is
not considered rare. The point that is being made here is that “rarity”
need not necessarily relate to price or value. A “unique coin” would
fall into the “rare category”, but it is completely possible that it is
not valuable.
Having said that, let us consider some coins that could be really
“rare”. Coins are usually made of a single metal, be it lead, copper,
silver, or gold. They are usually round in shape. So if we have a coin
which is made of 2 or more metals, or a coin that is shaped differently,
we most certainly would have a “rare” coin. In ancient India, The
Satavahana kings usually used lead to make their coins but they also
used an alloy for minting some coins and some of them are unique. The
ancient coins of India referred to as the punch marked coins have
various shapes and symbols of animals, trees, hills punched on them.
Many of them are uniface.
The Kalinga Janapada is a rare coin with only one symbol punched on it.
The symbol was that of a lion, a humped bull or a swastika. Another
unique coin is the one minted by the Maurayan authorities. This is also
a punch marked coin but what is unique is that a single punch produced 3
deities. Human figures and deities were never seen on any punch marked
coins.
Some of the coins which were used for trade in north western India are
indeed very special. The famous “Taxila bent bars” were concave bars of
silver punched with symbols. A commemorative gold coin which was
slightly controversial was issued during Samudragupta’s reign. This has
special significance for Indian numismatists and is regarded as rare.
Some of the gold coins minted by the Chalukyan rulers were rare
specimens. With the incarnation of Vishnu on one side and artistic
scrollwork on the reverse, the coin issued in Eastern Chalukya was very
different from the coins issued in Western Chalukya. The coins issued
during the reign deserve special mention Tipu Sultan minted a heavy
silver coin called the “double rupee” which had the symbol of his
dynasty ---the elephant. These coins are regarded as very rare. Perhaps
the heaviest coin ever to be minted is the 1000Mohur, a gold coin which
weighed almost 12 kilograms. This was minted by The mughal emperor
Jehangir.
Thus we see that there is immense diversity in Indian coinage ranging
from the rare ancient silver punch marked coins to the unique gold
Mohurs. There are some other interesting rare coins which are oval
shaped. Some countries like Bangladesh have also minted coins which are
shaped like flowers. These are called scalloped edge coins. The other
odd shapes include which have been regarded as unique are the
triangular, square, rectangular and hexagonal coins. A coin issued by
Hong Kong has 10 sides while that issued by Argentina has 12 sides!!!! A
really unique coin was the one issued by Republic of Nauru. The coin was
so designed so that it would represent the shape of the nations that
made up the European Economic union.
While investing in rare coins, it is very important to understand a coin
may be hard to get but it still may not be rare. While mintage refers to
how many coins were produced, rarity would refer to the number of coins
that actually exist today. So coins which had large mintages may still
be rare today. However, if a coin is old it is not necessarily rare. Age
is not always equated with rarity. This would mean that if a coin has
rarity, it need not bring in a high price. The coin market after all is
like any other market governed by the laws of demand and supply, which
is in turn dictated by the consumer who sets the buying and selling
trend..
Author Mini Swami. copyright
data 2007. Indianchild.com
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