India 1943-L 1/2 rupee
This specimen was lot 1056 in Sedwick Treasure Auction 28 (Winter Park, FL, November 2020), where it sold for $6,000. The catalog description[1] noted, "Lahore, India (British), silver original proof 1/2 rupee, George VI, 1943-L, very rare, PCGS PR65, finest and only example in PCGS census. Very lightly rainbow toned over luster, virtually no marks or wear, first date of the type and only the third and finest specimen known (the other two graded PF 61 and PF 63 by NGC). The all-important mintmark L is very small and appears on the middle head of each of two sets of three thistles at about 5 and 7 o'clock on the reverse, the mintmark on the right showing backwards. Lahore is in modern-day Pakistan, which became an independent country in 1947 upon partition of British India. With original His Majesty's Mint paper envelope." The Lahore mint struck coins for the Raj 1943-45 only. In 1947, it was incorporated into Pakistan, so it never struck coins for independent India.
Reported Mintage: 9,000,000 + proofs.
Specification: 5.84 g, 0.500 fine silver, 24.1 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: SW-9.60; KM-552.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Stevens, Paul, and Randy Weir, The Uniform Coinage of India, 1835 to 1947, A Catalogue and Pricelist, London, Spink & Son Ltd, 2012.
- [1]Sedwick, Daniel Frank, Augi Garcia and Cori Sedwick Downing, Treasure Auction 28, featuring the Dr. Peter Jones and John O'Brien collections, Winter Park, FL: Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC, 2020.
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