Dear Group, Let me correct a small misunderstanding. The holed coin was one Paisa and not one Anna, which was equal to 4 Paise. I am not much of a coin collector but over the years a few noteworthy coins have reached my hand and I have preserved them. I have a holed one-paisa coin of pre-1957 days. These coins were not minted thereafter as the country moved to the decimal system. I have most of the coins of the early days of the decimal system. Out of them, the smaller ones have practically disappeared even in India. After inflation, their value has become so minuscule that nothing can be bought with them and they are not accepted in the bazaars. I believe their minting too has stopped, though I do not know whether they have ceased to be legal tender. (This is somewhat like the recent stopping of the minting of the one-cent coin in Canada, though it continues to be displayed in prices.) I think the smallest coin that has any value in the Indian markets today is the 50-paise coin, the equivalent of the 'Adheli' or 8-Anna coin of the pre-1957 days. Though the old coinage has disappeared, the names of old coins have become a part of the Indian languages and are heard in several contexts. The grading of crops of revenue purposes is still in Annas, 16-Anna crop being the best! '16 Annas' is also a colloquial phrase to describe the best quality of anything. This is not surprising - the names of even Mughal era coins are heard in several contexts. I had written a piece about coins in my collection in a Marathi discussion forum. In it, I have appended images of a few coins from my collection, including one of the holed paisa. Members here may not follow the discussion in it but can see the pictures by visiting http://aisiakshare.com/node/754. As to its use, here is one that you may not have imagined! In my childhood, they holed paisa was commonly used to support the wick and hold it above the level of oil in oil-lamps that used ghee or vegetable oils as the fuel. Such lamps were common in temples and huts of the poor peasants. In the huts they were the usual cause of fires as the mice, attracted by the oil, would take away the burning wicks. Arvind Kolhatkar, Toronto, September 20, 2012.

Arvind, The minimum legal tender coin in India today is 50 paise. Chekkutty.

Arvind - thank you for that information - all of it fascinating! I have a one Rupee note, 1/4 Rupee coins for 1947 & 1950, 1/2 Rupee coins 1947 & 1956; 2, 5, 10, 50 n.p.; and 1945 & 1947 holed one-paisa coins. And probably a couple of hundred 1n.p. which we used to use for playing mah-jong! Not sure precisely why I keep them, but can't bring myself to get rid of them!! And I look forward to reading your piece about the coins when I have a minute. Carol T. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arvind Kolhatkar" <akolhatkar@rogers.com> To: <india-british-raj@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 4:13 PM Subject: Re: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] use for holed annas > Dear Group, > > Let me correct a small misunderstanding. The holed coin was one Paisa and > not one Anna, which was equal to 4 Paise. > > I am not much of a coin collector but over the years a few noteworthy > coins > have reached my hand and I have preserved them. I have a holed one-paisa > coin of pre-1957 days. These coins were not minted thereafter as the > country moved to the decimal system. I have most of the coins of the > early > days of the decimal system. Out of them, the smaller ones have > practically > disappeared even in India. After inflation, their value has become so > minuscule that nothing can be bought with them and they are not accepted > in > the bazaars. I believe their minting too has stopped, though I do not > know > whether they have ceased to be legal tender. (This is somewhat like the > recent stopping of the minting of the one-cent coin in Canada, though it > continues to be displayed in prices.) I think the smallest coin that has > any value in the Indian markets today is the 50-paise coin, the equivalent > of the 'Adheli' or 8-Anna coin of the pre-1957 days. > > Though the old coinage has disappeared, the names of old coins have become > a > part of the Indian languages and are heard in several contexts. The > grading > of crops of revenue purposes is still in Annas, 16-Anna crop being the > best! > '16 Annas' is also a colloquial phrase to describe the best quality of > anything. This is not surprising - the names of even Mughal era coins are > heard in several contexts. > > I had written a piece about coins in my collection in a Marathi discussion > forum. In it, I have appended images of a few coins from my collection, > including one of the holed paisa. Members here may not follow the > discussion in it but can see the pictures by visiting > http://aisiakshare.com/node/754. > > As to its use, here is one that you may not have imagined! In my > childhood, > they holed paisa was commonly used to support the wick and hold it above > the > level of oil in oil-lamps that used ghee or vegetable oils as the fuel. > Such lamps were common in temples and huts of the poor peasants. In the > huts they were the usual cause of fires as the mice, attracted by the oil, > would take away the burning wicks. > > Arvind Kolhatkar, Toronto, September 20, 2012. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >