There are many things we might haven’t noticed on Indian coins, different coins have different symbols and messages. Some are printed on some important occasions, some are printed to cherish the historical events and some dedicated to prominent personalities.
Despite the purpose, there’s an another interesting thing which you might not be aware of. Have you ever wondered about the term “minting money”? Well, a mint is an industrial facility responsible for manufacturing coins, currency or otherwise. In India, coins are minted through the SPMCIL mints located in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Noida.
In India, coins are minted through the SPMCIL mints located in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Noida. But what are those symbols at the bottom of the coins?
As it is said earlier, every symbol conveys something. And let us here discuss the purpose and the meaning of the little symbols printed beneath the front face of the coin. The dot, flower, diamond and other indicate the location where the coin in manufactured.
The Mumbai Mint
Being the second mint to be established in India, it is one of the most prominent ones and is started in the year 1829. The coins minted at Mumbai bear these three distinct mint marks:
–Diamond shaped mark below the date
–letter ‘M’ below the date, for the coins, minted after 1996.
and, the final one, letter ‘B’ below the date
Noida Mint
This is the most recent Mint established in India was in Noida, in the year 1984. The coins with a round dot below the date are the ones that are manufactured here.
Hyderabad Mint
Established in 1903 by the Government of the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad. The Hyderabad mint can be identified from the five-pointed star under the date on the coin. Other mint marks include a “split diamond” and a “dot in the diamond”.
The Kolkata Mint
Renowned as the first mint established in India in 1757. Because it was the first mint, the coins minted there bear no “mint mark”. If the space below the year is empty, it means the coin you got is from the Kolkata’s Mint.
Besides all this, there have been multiple times, when India has been faced with a scarcity of coin production, prompting mints located abroad, to fulfill the coin demand. The coins minted abroad bear the following identification impressions: