TCV Roundtable Blog

100 Greatest Modern World Coins Series: India 1939-B Rupee

It is often when a war begins, is raging on, or coming to an end, that the economic effect ravages direct and indirect nations as a result. Such effects impact nations in different ways, including coinage production. In today’s blog highlighting Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest Modern World Coins series, we look at a coin created by war and judged by numbers. Authors Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker talk us through the rarity that has some funny business attached to its existence.

#31 – India 1939-B Rupee

Early India was controlled by the British East India Company a century before it was officially ruled by the British Crown in 1858. Queen Victoria was named princess two years after the East India Company dissolved in 1874. It was not until 1947 that the country would become an independent member of the Commonwealth.

With their new independence came a need for new coinage. The coins that were in use reflected the East India Company, and coinage featuring Queen Victoria was subsequently...read more