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India I.D. Help?

Wondering what this might be. I was able to attribute several Mughal Empire coins my friend shook out of an old envelope, but this one didn’t look familiar. I didn’t have chance to weigh or measure this,

but it was roughly the dimensions of a rupee or U.S. quarter. Temple token perhaps? Any help is appreciated.

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Comments

  • WillieBoyd2WillieBoyd2 Posts: 5,034 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 12, 2023 2:25PM

    The coin is a temple token.

    Here are similar tokens:
    https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia44995.html

    :)

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  • SapyxSapyx Posts: 1,977 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yep, it's an "Indian temple token", Hindu, of the type known as a "Ramatanka".

    Temple tokens have various uses, depending on which religion they were issued for. Hindu ones like this are used in household rituals on festival days; the "gods are fed" by smearing food paste onto the tokens. Which explains why these tokens often appear with strangely discoloured surfaces.

    They can be over a century old and made of solid silver, but it's far more common to find a modern base-metal example (usually some kind of nickel-brass). I've noticed the "ears" are a general indicator of date: the bigger the ears, the more modern the piece is. And this piece... well, the ears are rather large.

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  • BailathaclBailathacl Posts: 1,011 ✭✭✭

    Thank you WillieBoyd and Sapyx. So helpful.

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