Before I-T, it was Tagore

When Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today unveiled the Rs 150 coin to mark the 150th anniversary of the income tax (I-T) department, numismatists would have taken heart from the fact that a similar coin with Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s face inscribed on it is trading at a 116 per cent premium.

Numismatists are collectors of old and unique currency notes and coins.

The coins, made by the Kolkata Mint on Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary last year, were sold at Rs 2,310 a piece and booked by 2,000 buyers. The delivery started recently. They are already trading at Rs 5,000.

“Tagore’s coin has the distinction of being India’s first Rs 150 coin,” says Jayesh Gala, a Mumbai-based numismatist.

Numismatists say the I-T department coin should also trade at a much higher price owing to the high silver content and exclusivity. Many are already waiting for the bookings to begin.

The coin will be made of an alloy of silver, copper, nickel and zinc and will have the ‘Satyameva Jayate’ emblem on the front with a portrait of “Chanakya’ and ‘lotus with honeybee’ on the flip side.

Coin collectors said the authorities had not issued any notification on booking. But they expect a limited number of VIP sets to be issued on Monday. Public bookings will begin later. They also expect that the VIP sets will come into the market in a few years at a much higher premium.

Here’s a case in point: In 1972, the Reserve Bank of India issued about 200 special sets of ten rupee and fifty paise coins on the occasion of the silver jubilee of India’s independence.

At an annual exhibition of coins and notes held in Ahmedabad last month, one such set went for a staggering Rs 3.25 lakh.

Each year, mints in different states issue such unique coins to mark special events. These are made-to-order, approved by the government. The buyers have to pay the premium upfront. The delivery happens six-seven months after the unveiling. The premiums rise before delivery owing to this long time gap between order and delivery.

Even minting and printing errors are cherished as they add to the rarity. For instance, the coin issued in 2007 to mark the birth centenary of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh had a glaring mistake. On some coins, the name was wrongly printed -- Sagat instead of Bhagat. Today, these command about Rs 6,000 as compared to the ones with the correct spelling (Rs 3,500) on ebay, the online auction portal. These were first issued for Rs 1,435 per set.

And in case you miss an opportunity to buy, you can hope for a ‘restrike’. Though rare, sometimes mints restrike, that is, reissue coins depending on their popularity. But, these command a premium over the original coin. The Bhagat Singh coins, when they were re-issued, went for Rs 2,740 last year – almost twice the original price.