# Coins With 180 degree Die Rotation

A peculiar feature noticible in the first issues of the Uniform Coinage for British India is the absense of exact alignment of the obverse and reverse sides. Early Machine struck coins of the East India Company have a unique feature i.e. they had inverted reverse or 180 degree of die rotation..?? MINTING ERROR..

No. They were not Minting Errors.

The answer to this anomaly can be found in the English coinage of the period. All English coins had their obverse and reverse sides rotated 180 degree as their way of handling the coins was that they flipped the coin on East-West Axis. Hence a coin with inverted reverse or 180 degree of die rotation was perfectly alright to them.(try doing urself).
The British realized this fact after some time and then corrected the minting procedure. Hence, the later coins were perfect. The early coins especially the 1835 Rupee, 1835 Half Rupee show a variable degree of die rotation ranging from 5-180 degree, as less importance was given to the alignment being the first machine struck coins. Instances of diametrically opposite alignment are also come across in specimens of 1/4 rupee coins, 1/4 anna and 1/12 anna coins.
One Quarter anna 1857 & 1858 were minted by J .Watt & Co, Birmingham, England and they followed the British pattern of minting coins.

The coins that are always found with 180 degree reverse die rotation are:-

1. One Pie 1833

2. Quarter Anna 1830

3. Quarter Anna 1833

4. Quarter Anna 1857

5. Quarter Anna 1858


The coins that are rarely found with 180 degree reverse die rotation are:-

1. Quarter Anna 1835 (common)

2. One Rupee 1835 (Very Rare)
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