Two varieties of the letter D in "INDIA" can be found on the 25 paise coins of 1957-1990. In some cases the D is narrow and elegant, in other cases it is large and wide.
Narrow D (above) and wide D (below).
The pre-1972 25 paise coins usually have the wide D. But some late 1960ies coins, all minted by the Kolkata mint, have the narrow D (type KM# 48.3 in SCWC 2007).
25 paise 1967 minted at Kolkata, displaying the narrow D (click image to enlarge).
When the new 25 paise type was introduced in 1972, the Kolkata mint applied the narrow D design, as opposed to the Mumbai and Hyderabad mints. Three subtypes of the new type have the narrow D, and all three appear to have been introduced by the Kolkata mint (according to comments made earlier on the distribution of subtypes among the mints). These three subtypes will be described below.
"Narrow D 1" subtype (click image to enlarge).
Narrow D 1. The coin above, a 1972 coin minted at Kolkata, has the "version a" Ashoka sculpture on the obverse (thus, the bull in the base of the sculpture has three visible legs). Further, it has these characteristics: 15 mm across obverse field, 9 mm between lions' nosetips. (This subtype corresponds to KM# 49.2 in the SCWC 2007). (Note added Sep 3 '07: a much clearer coin of the same type can be viewed here).
"Narrow D 2" subtype (click image to enlarge).
Narrow D 2. The coin above, a 1973 coin minted at Kolkata, has the "version a" Ashoka sculpture on the obverse (thus, the bull in the base of the sculpture has three visible legs). Further, it has these characteristics: 16 mm across obverse field, 10 mm between lions' nosetips. (This subtype corresponds to KM# 49.3 in the SCWC 2007). In the case of the present subtype, the obverse field has been enlarged (by reducing the size of the beads along the rim), thereby providing enough space for an enlarged version of the Ashoka sculpture.
"Narrow D 3" subtype (click image to enlarge).
Narrow D 3. The coin above, a 1976 coin minted at Kolkata, has the "version b" Ashoka sculpture on the obverse (thus, the bull in the base of the sculpture has four visible legs). Further, it has these characteristics: 16 mm across obverse field, 9½ mm between lions' nosetips. (This subtype corresponds to KM# 49.6 in the SCWC 2007).
No narrow D type 25 paise coins from the Kolkata mint with dates later than 1976 have been recorded. From the description of the subtypes above, it appears that the Kolkata mint first enlarged the obverse field of the type (by reducing the size of the beads along the rim), thereby providing enough space for an enlarged version of the Ashoka sculpture. At a later stage, the "version a" Ashoka statue was replaced with "version b".
mmclassic solutions