Last week I got my first brand-new 10-rupee coin. I’m trying to remember where I got it. Maybe at the supermarket. I got maybe three or four at a time. I used one to pay the ironing man. He looked at it with surprise – it was the first time he was seeing one too.
I noticed that there have been many new coins introduced lately. So many that I have to carefully go through my coins so I don’t confuse them. At one point the new 2-rupee coin was the exact size as the 1-rupee coin. The old 2-rupee coin used to have an octagon shape, making it easy to differentiate from the others. But with the 1-rupee and 2-rupee coins looking almost exactly the same, it was easy to confuse them. More recently the 2-rupee coin is bigger and the 1-rupee coin smaller which seems more logical. The 5-rupee coin has also gone through various modifications. It used to quite a thick coin. Now it’s noticeably thinner and only very slightly bigger than the 1-rupee coin.
I looked through my change and found that I currently have four different 1-rupee coins, two different 2-rupee coins (the octagon shape is less common now), two different 5-rupee coins, and then there’s the brand new 10-rupee coin. There’s only one version of that for now. Let’s see what the India Government Mint comes up with next!
4 comments :
I remember getting one of the old(ish) ten-rupee coins once. It seemed like an alien artifact. Same goes for one- and two-rupee bills.
Thanks for this - I had no idea there were changes afoot. Why is old currency so interesting?
I've never seen old 10-rupee coins or 1 and 2 rupee bills!
Nice article. I too get confused most of the times with these new &old coins and their different confusing sizes. It takes a bit long time to know em.
I also have another thought or a question i.e why the features on these Indian coins fade away (become obscure) quickly ?? are they made of low quality metal or is it because they pass through so many hands in a day in India ?? compared to their US/Europe counterparts (where most use credit/debit cards) Does passing through so many hands, being in so many pockets and hand bags... resultant friction erases their texture ??
I haven't noticed coins getting worn out Naveen, but 10-rupee notes seem to take a beating!
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