Coins from Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/krause_update20.html
Draft 2002-Dec-30 Corrections and additions to 30th Edition 2003, removing errors which have been corrected in the 2003 edition, and including the numerous extra errors that have crept in by the Automated transformation from old to new format.

Please also see also corrections to current editions of SCWC published by Krause for other centuries 19th (3rd) - 18th (2nd) - 17th (2nd)

The information below has been compiled from various official publications of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, personal communication with the current Superintendent of Currency,Graham Dyer of Royal Mint, and Mr T. M. U. Sallay, Senior Assistant Superintendent of Currency (retired) and author of book "Sri Lanka Currency of Recent Times 1938-1985".

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   Drop all references to SHRI within () in title and introduction text.
   Sri Lanka/Ceylon is far more useful, as used in page titles lines.
   The first few pages toplines should be Ceylon and last few Sri Lanka

    Rulers   British  1796-1948     (not 1972)

    The Subheading of "Republic" before the 1963 coins is Politicaly
    meaningless, since Lanka became a Republic only in 1972 with the change
    of official name in English. 
    However Currency issue did change with the new coinage in 1963. 
    Till then Lanka was mostly reminting Coins with years from 1945 and 1951 
    with King George Sixth.
    The Correct historical division is at 1948 with subheading "Independent" 
    Will requre the 1951 King George Sixth, 1955,57 Queen Elizabeth II and
    the 1957 Buddha Jayanthi Commemoratives to be moved forward,

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 delete the following entries.

  114a  The 1943 Brass 50 cent which is clearly a pattern is already 
 listed correctly as (Pn9) or off-metal strike.
It should not be listed in main section.

  117a  T. M. U. Sallay confirmed there is No Brass 1944 2-cents Proof. 
Would like to know reference source for this recently added entry.

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  The 1951 dated restrike entry of millions of coins of 10c, 25c, 50c 
  are not Proof. The number of Proof restrikes is unknown although I have
  managed to find lot more detailed information from Sallay about minting 
  of coins from 1951 to 1962 and confirmed with information published in
  the Annual Report of the British Royal Mint.

Add Notes

 1 cent  KM 111a   Frozen year 1945 Restruck till 1962              
 5 cents KM 113    Frozen year 1945 Restruck till 1962              
25 cents KM 115    Frozen year 1943 Restruck till 1951
50 cents KM 116    Frozen year 1943 Restruck till 1951
10 cents KM 118    Frozen year 1944 Restruck till 1951              
10 cents KM 119    Frozen year 1951 Restruck till 1961              
25 cents KM 122    Frozen year 1951 Restruck till 1962              
50 cents KM 123    Frozen year 1951 Restruck till 1962              
 2 cent  KM 124    Frozen year 1955 Restruck in India     till 1959 
 2 cent  KM 124    Frozen year 1957 Restruck in RoyalMint till 1962 
    
see Links from

http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/british_ceylon/george~vi.html
http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/lanka/george~vi_.html
http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/lanka/elizabeth~ii.html

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  KM 126 Rs 5/- Silver Crown

Add Note 258,000 returned in 1962 to be melted in Royal Mint

see: http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/commemorative/1957_buddhajayanthi2500_5r.html

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 delete the following entry.

  Delete Proof 1968 Listed in 5 cents denominations 

  Proofs issued only in 1971 and 1978, and that too 20,000 in Proof Sets Only.
  as indicated for KM144

  Delete Proof 1975 Listed in ann denominations with mintage 1431.

  The listed Proof 1975 in all denominations 1 2 5 10 25 50 cents and Rupee,
  with a mintage of 1431 pieces has not been traced. No record of issue
  from Central Bank in Colombo, or Royal Mint Annual Report. Checking.
  According to the production numbers given in the Royal Mint annual
  report for SriLanka(Ceylon) Proof coins minted in 1974/5 (6850) and
  1975/6 (7157) had the old emblem design and the 1971 date. No Proof coins
  with the 1975 date were minted in 1975/6 or 1976/7.

Reference: Authority Royal Mint report amd Sallay 
"Sri Lanka Currency of Recent Times 1938-1985"
Published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL)in 1986

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 KM 144: 1 Rupee 1978  Inauguration of President Jayawardene issue

     2600 (right shoulder straight)  Remove duplicate Entry.
                                     Add image

  add note: Presentation Off-metal Strike.

see http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/commemorative/1978_jr_1r.html

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      KM150  500 Rupee 1990 Central Bank of Sri Lanka - 40th Anniversary
add
      KM150a                2,200                 proof (Frosted)
amend
      KM150                10,000                 BU

see http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/commemorative/1990_cbsl40_500r.html

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      KM151 1 Rupee 1992 President Premadasa issue
delete 
      KM151a 2,000  BU  Only Proof of Silver issue.

  add note: Presentation Off-metal Strike.

see http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/commemorative/1992_rp_1r.html

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   Mint numbers for ALL recent issues from information sent to me by 
Central Bank of SriLanka via FAX has been Included on the pages of the 
http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/ website. Copy of FAX was sent to Krause in Oct'01
Many of mintage figures provided not included.

KM#137   1989   6,000,000   1 cent
         1994   5,000,000   
KM#139a  1991  50,000,000   5 cents
KM#140a  1991  50,000,000  10 cents
KM#141.2 1989  45,000,000  25 cents
         1991  50,000,000
         1994  50,000,000
KM#135.2 1991  40,000,000  50 cents
         1994  40,000,000
KM#136.2 1994  50,000,000   1 rupee
KM#147   1993  40,000,000   2 rupees 
         1996  50,000,000
KM#148.2 1986  60,000,000   5 rupees 
         1991  40,000,000
         1994  50,000,000

Numbers below need to be corrected with CBSL Fax 
These numbers from Sallay and cross checked with
Royal Mint Annual reports.

135.1    1972  11,000,000  50 cents
136.1    1972   7,000,000   1 rupee

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   Add Images for following commemorative issues which were in 29th Edition

   KM 126  Rs 5/- Silver Crown
   KM 162  Rs 1/- Nickel Plated Steel

    Update darker images posted for KM#116 KM#164 KM#165 KM#166

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   Composition of following coins mistakenly listed as Gold after automated
   transformation of database to new format.

   KM 100   1904       1/4 Cent   Copper  (not Gold)
   KM 106   1912-1926  1/2 Cent   Copper  (not Gold)
   KM 110   1937-1940  1/2 Cent   Copper  (not Gold)
   KM 157   1996       1 rupee    Cu-Ni   (not Gold)

   Pn 8     1904 Pattern 5 cent   Copper  (not Gold)

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   Correct following errors in description text

   KM  90 KM  91 and KM 92
   Add note that Earlier dates (1870-1900) exist for this type.

   KM 148.1  CBC  - Central Bank of Ceylon       (Not Currency Board)
   KM 148.2  CBSL - Central Bank of Sri Lanka    (Not Currency Board) 

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                      Off Metal Strike

   KM 100a  1904       1/4 Cent   Gold    (put back this off-metal strike)

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                         TRIAL                      
 
                     "TRIAL" in raised letters on both Rev and Obv
 
Pn11  1965  10 Cents Like KM130 struck in Nickel-Brass - Birmingham Mint
Pn12  1968  05 Cents Like KM129 struck in Nickel-Brass - Birmingham Mint
 
see  http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/pattern/196x_lanka_10c5c_trials.html
 
                     "TRIAL" in raised letters on Obv 

Pn13a  1971  5 Cents Like KM129 struck in Nickel-Brass clad Steel
Pn13b  1971  5 Cents Like KM129 struck in Steel
Pn13c  1971  5 Cents Like KM129 struck in Aluminum

see  http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/pattern/1971_lanka_05c_trials.html

Pn14a  1971 10 Cents Like KM130 struck in Nickel-Brass clad Steel
Pn14b  1971 10 Cents Like KM130 struck in Steel
Pn14c  1971 10 Cents Like KM130 struck in Aluminum

see  http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/pattern/1971_lanka_10c_trials.html

    Independent confirmation that all are official Patterns, 
from an retired officer Mr T. M. U. Sallay of the Central Bank of Ceylon.
and Graham Dyer curator of British Royal Mint Museum.

    Pattern's shown to Cliff Mishler at exhibit at PAN Show October 2002 
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                         Patterns                      

see http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/pattern/index.htm

Pn10   1942  1 Cent  Like KM111 struck in black Bakelite.

    Note: Not struck by Royal Mint.

see  http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/pattern/1942_george_vi_01c_pattern.html

1942 Bakelite see Dick Ford collection Taisei-Baldwin-Gillio Auction #19
 23 Feb 1995 lot 255.

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   Add Following recent commemorative issues

   None as of 2002 December

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   Error I have randomly noticed in Entries for other Nations. Similar errors
   from Automated translation to new computer database probably exist.

1) Russia changed it's currency in 1997 defining a New Ruble. The listing
needs to be clearly separated at that point of Time. 

2) Russian Mint sets have been sorted by pattern # and their single+double 
digit representation has taken List out of chronological sequence.

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   General Comments on the New Format.

   The transformation is obviously to enable the catalog to be printed 
   from a computer database rather than been page formatted. 
   However the individual data entries need to be a bit more general, 
   recognizing for example the existence of

   Coins which are only issued in Proof
   Title descriptions for Commemorative coins
   Different varieties of design and metal the same coin type

   It may be useful to Flag coins the dozen coins that are NCLT
   http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/commemorative/nclt.html

   The main reason the new format is more difficult to navigate is 
   the lack of sub-headings for each denomination. Sub-heading are
   very important to guide a reader to the region of interest.  
   IMHO a roughly chronological sequence is better than the denomination
   used now. See http://coins.lakdiva.org.lk/KMcat.html
   This will bring each series of coins of say different Monarch like 
   Edward VII Greoge V,  .... coins together as is natural. 
   This will also not break up sets of coins issued to commemorate 
   the same event in few different denominations.
   The latest issues will be always be close to end and easy to locate.
   
   I am glad that as a result Mintage figures are now listed in full. 
   It was previously hard to read the difference between a "," amd a "." 
   20,000 is better than 0.020

   None of the Ceylon/SriLanka coins have a price for BU.
   None of the unofficial Proofs listed have a mintage number, since
   they are a small unknown number struck for inspection by mint-master 
   and made their way to the collector market.

   I therefore suggest that the Proof value be listed by replacing the
   empty BU column, when they are known to exist as in listed in Pridmore.

   Weights of coins to 2 or maybe 3 decimal places is useful. 4 is unknown.

   Omit the column headline for commemoratives with only proof issues.  

   I feel it is a pity to loose part of the obverse image of the crown
   sized coin particularly when it is not a standard design. IMHO it is
   better to shrink the size to fit single collumn with a note of actual size
   rather than overlay the designs.

   When clear image is provided brief description of Obverse or Reverse
   legends for some of the coins adds little to the information. 
   It has even been Duplicated for each metal variety of same coin.
   I would suggest a single caption with the subject of commemorative issue 
   below the coin image and note any details with each variety, as done
   in previous issues.

   Weight of all coins useful.  Not just those of gold and Silver.
   When weight and purity is given ASW and AGW is easily computable.

   Edge description useful for all coins since it is not visible.. 
   Maybe thickness but both are probably a lot of work

   British Royal Mint was used for nearly all coins. Maybe omited
   by statement in introduction to country and noting exceptions.

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   1901 is not a natural year to break series of British Commonwealth coins. 
   Each nation has Natural breaks close to the end of the century and a
   fussy break will ensure less need for duplication between century volumes
   and ensure all years of same coin are listed in same volume. 
   For example a reader could be referred to 19th Century volume for 1901 
   issues for  British Commonwealth coins.

   17th Century - Portuguese and Dutch Counter Marked Coins. 
   18th Century - Dutch Coins and British E. I. C.  (Till 1800)
   19th Century - Ceylon Government to Victoria     (Till 1901)
   20th Century - Edward VII to Sri Lanka

   I am very glad that Ceylon and SriLanka were NOT broken up like 
   some of the other nations with change of name, as was done in the 
   Pick Currency catalog few years ago. 
   Maybe needed with change of borders with merger and/or breakup

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   The main introduction talks about addition of "Medallic" and 
   "Pretender" (Fantasy?) issues. But this would open up the catalog 
   to any item published in Krause "Unusual Coins", and make it very
   poorly defined and open to listing anything. Even a number of Pure
   Bullion items seem to have been listed in catalog for India.

   Tokens used for currency like the 19th century Ceylon Coffee tokens
   are clearly a part of the numismatic history of the nation and 
   probably worth inclusion in 19th century volume. It is however a
   large addition of over 120 tokens cataloged by Pridmore.
 
   Although the difference between Fantasy and NCLT is thin, 
   NCLT is still legal tender and counted in the money supply of a nation.
   I am sure Krause has no intention of listing the coaster sized
   copies U.S. coins sold in tourist shops as souvenirs which are
   also fantasy and no different to the 1978 Fantasy 1-cent which has 
   been put back, and listed in the 2003 Edition of Krause.

   Clearly a new edition of "Unusual Coins" could include all of them
   but IMHO they don't belong in the SCWC. I understand that the justification
   of them being in SCWC is to ensure that any ciun like item can be identified
   using a published catalog, and that these newly identified fantasies
   will be removed from the SCWC after they are published in the less
   frequent new edition of "Unusual Coins"

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There is some confusion in KM  Listings distinction between what is 
listed as Patterns and what is in the main section.

It could be considered to move the off-metal Strikes of the 2
Presidential coins and all of the off-metal strikes of Queen Victoria
and King Edward VII to the "Patterns and off metal-strikes" section at
the end of listing of the regular issues. 

However to keep current numbers recommend that off metal strikes are
listed with patterns retain the same number of standard metal strike
with alpha extension as currently used.

The 1943 Brass 50 cent which is clearly a pattern (Pn9) or off-metal strike.
It should not be duplicate listed in main section as 114a. 
The 1904 5-Cent type known as a Proof has been listed correctly as a
pattern (Pn8), and the 1951 5 Cent was issued only as a Proof is
listed with correctly with regular issue since significant numbers 
were minted and freely available to any interested person or collector.
It was the first NCLT from Ceylon.