2012 - Sri Lanka - 2 Rupee
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Obverse : The "Fleur de lis" logo of the World Scout
Movement localized for Sri Lanka with the flag lion in the center, and
encircled by Lotus petals to signify peace and prosperity.
The Anniversary
බාලදක්ෂ ශත
සංවත්සරය
in Sinhala above
இலங்கைச்
சாரணர்
நூற்றாண்டு
விழா
in Thamil on left
SRI LANKA SCOUT CENTENARY on right around the
Emblem. The rope around signifies the unity of all the National Scout
Associations worldwide. The years 1912
and 2012 at bottom on either side of the Reef knot joining the
two ends of rope. "The Centenary theme
යහපත්
ලොවක් සදහා
එක්වෙමු
in Sinhala on top
வளமான
உலகிற்காக
ஒன்று
சேர்வோம்
in Thamil on left and "Together for a better world" on right
along the periphery with raised rim.
Reverse : The large numeral denomination 2 with big
රුපියල් දෙකයි in Sinhala,
and smaller
இரண்டு ரூபாய் in Thamil
and TWO RUPEES
superimposed and issue year 2012 at the bottom.
The country name
ශ්රී ලංකා in Sinhala, centered on top,
இலங்கை in Thamil
on left and SRI LANKA on Right. All within circle of dashes along periphery with raised rim.
The Nickel plated steel coin has been minted by the Royal Mint, Liantrisant, United Kingdom to the standard Rs. 2/- currently in circulation. The obverse artwork was done by the Sri Lanka National Scout Association.
An advance lot of 100 coins in boxes arrived only in late March, just
in time for a few to be gifted to HE the President Mahinda Rajapaksa
by Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal, the Governor of the CBSL at
the opening of the 29th Asia Pacific Region
29th APR and Sri Lanka
Centenary Scout Jamboree held in Dambulla Sri Lanka.
Enclosed in a circular transparent plastic capsule, it is embedded in
a black velvet inside a black rexine covered 9.2x8.6cm box. The Name
and Emblem of the Royal Mint on the upper right hand corner embossed
in Black. A small
black sash to hold a certificate which was not issued, since this was
a circulation strike not even as BU (Brilliant Uncirculated). However
the coin I got from the advance lot had no bag marks and clearly BU.
This was a rush order of coins using an existing authorization by
Monetary Board, executed in 2-3 months by Royal Mint.
CBSL issued a Press release on Friday March 30th stating the Scout Centenary Rs 2 coin will be issued on April 1st and released into circulation in 2012 May.
I thank Mr Shiraz Salih, Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Sri Lanka
Scout Association, for giving me a boxed coin, after my donation of Rs3000
(US$23.5) to the Scout Centenary and 29th APR Fund on 2012 April 19th.
Read my article, an edited version of which was published as Scout centenary gets Rs. 2 coin in Sri Lanka Sunday Times on 2012 April 29th.
Coin was scanned at 600 dpi and the images displayed at 254 dpi. Also displayed above are scans of Artwork sent to Royal Mint.
The coins for circulation were issued 6 weeks later on 2012 May
18th. The quality of these coins are poor as shown in image on left.
They may have tried to minimize cost by using a less expensive die.
In a sample of 165 coins from a 1000 bag, I found 5 coins which had the same Die Crack. It extended about half the radius out to the rim of the coin at 2 O'clock. The five coins almost show the die cracking, from an hairline, to a significant crack which is clearly visible to the naked eye. Achala who picked up 50 coins before me, and probably from the same bag found 4 of the same crack. Rudy who picked up 100 coins a few days later found none.
I obtained an unopened bag of 1000 coins and looked at all of the coins with a Aspheric 5X magnifier with room light illuminating the coin. I found this better than a 10X self-illuminating magnifier which showed too many scratches and blemishes on the coins. No coin was found with original crack. A dozen coins were found with the same faint hairline around 3 o'clock not visible to naked eye. The text around the periphery. particularly in Tamil was often smudged, few lot worse than on image on left. A few coins had a significant pit bluring the design.
These error coins are not as common on this commemorative as seemed to be indicated
by the first bag released.
See Discussion on Mint Errors