SILVER TWO ANNA COINS STILL POPULAR IN INDIA

“The last 2 anna silver coin was minted in 1917. After the war in 1918, all currencies made of silver were withdrawn because the price of precious metals increased. Later, the 4 anna and 8 anna coins were minted in silver again but the 2 anna coins started being made of other metals,” said Jayesh Gala from mintageworld.com, an online museum for coins, currency notes and stamps.

Numismatists said a large number of people still wanted coins which had been withdrawn as it was the ‘Indian mentality’ to not accept coins which were not made of precious metals. A senior numismatist said it was difficult to phase out a coin from the market completely especially which was in production right from 1841 to 1917 during the British-era.

Numismatists said most people collect the coins because of the value of silver in it and use them for auspicious occasions or to gift them.

After 1918, the 2 anna coins started being made of cupro-nickel. After 1940, they were made of brass.

“There was a scarcity of silver after the war began. The government kept looking for alternative resources to mint coins. It experimented with lead because it was the leftover from bullets, but that failed. People continued to collect silver coins because their intrinsic and extrinsic values were the same. Moreover, the silver during British era was pure. Even today, many buy those coins from the jewellery market,” said the numismatist, who specialises in British-era coins.

To read the complete article, see:
‘Demonitised’ 100 years ago, two anna silver coins still in demand (https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/demonitised-100-years-ago-two-anna-silver-coins-still-in-demand/story-mbq8i7HpflQ1wjbjxv0wjI.html)

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