Commemorative coins are the ones that are released to celebrate specific occasions or to mark a special event such as respect towards distinguished individual centunary celebrations or monument.
The first commemorative coin in India was issued in 1964 on India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the occassion of his birth anniversary.
RBI Mints have started releasing many commemorative coins from 1964.
India has four mints:
1. Mumbai
2. Kolkata
3. Hyderabad
4. Noida
All these mints release commemorative coins seperately. Release/bookings of these commemorative coins will be published in local tabloids and also in their respective websites.
The commemorative coins will be issued for the numismatic collectors in specially packagings. All these mints release both uncirculated sets (referred as UNCs) and Proof Sets.
The higher denominations such as 150, 100, 75, 50 are only for collection purpose and the lower denomination coins will/might be released in the general circulation.
What is a proof coin?
A proof coin is a coin struck using a special, high-quality minting process, and made especially for collectors.
By treating the die in a special way, the coins it produces have a different appearance. Modern technology allows the high points on the coin design to be acid treated (on the die). The background (field) design of the coin die is polished, resulting in a mirror-like look on the coin it strikes. This gives the finished coin a frosted look (frosting) on the raise parts of the design, with a mirror like finish on the background. This contrasting finish is often called “cameo”. On some older coins a cameo appearance is quite rare. The attribute “CAM”, when added to a coin’s description, means cameo appearance. “DCAM” means deep cameo, and indicates the cameo appearance is strong and easy to observe.
Proof coins are struck twice, or more!
Not only are proofs made using specially treated dies, each coin is struck two or more times by the coin die. By striking it more than once the metal is forced into all the crevices of the die, thereby giving a very fine detail to the image on the coin. This fine detail does not appear on some non-proof coins.
What is an UNC coin?
An Uncirculated coin usually means a coin that has never been circulated, a coin that is in “Mint State.” This means the coin is just as minted, with absolutely no wear on it at all (although bag marks are okay.)
Throughout most of the history of coin collecting, the term Uncirculated has always been clear; it meant a coin that had never been circulated. However, in 2005 the U.S. Mint made a change to the finish on the coins in its annual “Uncirculated Mint Sets” to give the coins a distinctive burnished, or so-called “Satin Finish” appearance. Because the Mint continues to use the term “Uncirculated” to describe Satin Finish coins, despite objections from the hobby, there is much confusion in the current coin collecting marketplace among new collectors regarding this term.
The easiest way to solve the confusion is to avoid using the term “Uncirculated” altogether. Current coin grading standards call a coin that has never been circulated “Mint State,” so “Mint State” is the term that should be used to describe such coins. If you are describing a coin that has the burnished appearance, refer to it as “burnished” or “Satin Finish.” This way, you are clearly describing the coin in a non-confusing manner.
Credits – Some part of this article is extracted from lynncoins.com and About.com. We appreciate both the websites for gathering such a nice information on this subject.
