| SPECIFICATIONS | |
| Denomination | Rupees one |
| Alloy | cupro-nickel |
| Diameter | 25.4 mm |
| Thickness | 1.9 mm |
| Weight | 7.128 gms |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Grained |
| Die-Axis | 0° |
| Issue | 25,000,000 |
| Proof Cu-Ni | 2,500 |
| Proof Silver 925Ag | 2,000 |
| Proof Gold | 100 |
| Mint | Royal,Wales |
A commemorative one rupee cupro-nickel coin was issued by Central Bank of Sri Lanka for circulation in January 1992 on the the 3rd Anniversary of the induction of the Ranasinghe Premadasa as the second Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
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| KM# 151 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Obverse : Effigy of the President
Ranansinghe Premadasa within a circle of beads. The year of issue
`1992' appears at the bottom centre. A traditional Sinhala
design using swans along the periphery.
Reverse : `Sri Lanka' in Sinhala in the apex of the
coin and in Tamil and English on either side. Two traditional Sinhala
lions with swords face each other above His Excellency the President's
flag depicted at the center. The value `ONE RUPEE' in Sinhala Tamil
and English appear below.
The scan is of the Cupro-Nickel Frosted Proof coin. It was enclosed in
a hard clear plastic circular coin capsule and publicly released with
issue price of Rs 250/- (US$ 6.).
In addition to 2,500 of these Proof coins, off-metal Proof strikes
were minted in Silver(2,000) and in Sovereign Gold(100) with identical
design.
The Gold and Silver coins are POMS (Presentation Off-Metal Strike).
i.e. since the non-standard metal makes it non-legal tender they are not NCLT.
These coins were not released to public. They were given as gifts by
the President. The Green 7.5 cm square hinged presentation box
has the lion emblem of the Central Bank with a ring of swarns like on
obverse of coin printed in gold on top and a black velvet inside. Two
each of the silver & gold coins are on display at the Currency Museum
of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. I got them finally listed in Krause
in the 2002 edition.
The Cupro-Nickel Proof coin was scaned at 300dpi and the images are displayed at 250dpi. The commemorative Proof coin were obtained from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
The Frosted surface of the effigy makes the Proof coin distinctly different from the circulation issue. The Silver Proof has the same weight is the same as standard issue and therefore should be 10.5% or 0.18 mm thinner than the Cupro-Nickel Proof (needs to be verified).
An astrologer told President Premadasa that the name spelled misfortune for the head of state and so he changed the official name of Lanka from "Sri Lanka" to "Shri Lanka" with no constitutional authority and some fabricated justification. The altered spelling appears only on one commemorative coin. The spelling reverted back soon after President Ranasinghe Premadasa was brutally killed by a suicide bomber on 1993 May 1st. SHRI spelling was only used on Lanka Stamps issued between June 1992 and December 1993.
This coin linked to rebirth story :-).