Sri Lanka - Commemoratives
Other than the two coins for the Cricket World Cup 11 of the 13 coins issued since 1995 from Sri Lanka have been for 50th Anniversary commemoratives coins. These issues in last 7 years now almost equal to the 14 commemoratives issued in Sri Lanka in the first 46 years since independence. An sevenfold increase in the rate of commemorative coins issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Nine of the first and only six the next 13 coins in each period were minted in in larger quantity and released as general circulation coins at face value, like most recently, the Colombo Plan commemorative coin.
There is a clear distinction between commemorative circulation issues with over few million minted the Non Circulating Legal Tender (NCLT) coins Proof commemoratives with at most a few ten's of thousands minted. Until the central bank got authority in 1991 to sell NCLT at a numismatic premium, there were not many NCLT commemorative coins minted. Since then there have probably been too many. Coins that circulate are always issued at face value excpt for any minted in Proof condition.
The dozen Lankan NCLT coins are still not a significant worry that they are being minted purely for collectors and revenue. Lanka will hopefully remain this way since CBSL has still not figured how to really profit from them, like the large numbers of NCLT coins issued by many very small island nations. The numismatic Premium on the proof & NCLT Coins I am told by CBSL, just covers the cost of minting them. There is a reluctance of some Lankans in paying this numismatic premium for commemoratives coins and was strongly expressed to me by a customer one day I was at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka counter to get some coins. Most NCLT are high value Silver and sometimes gold Proof issues.
The exception are the 3 one-rupee coins of very limited mintage which were issued for Sri Lanka Military Force 50th Anniversaries Army Navy and AirForce. They were issued at Rs 150/- to Rs 600/- each, to cover the real cost of minting a limited issue. I can't understand the logic of selecting the one-rupee denomination for the three Military coins, unless they just don't want to count these commemoratives against coins & currency in circulation. CBSL posts little or no information on these coin on their website and makes no arrangements to sell these coins to collectors abroad. They then interpret the absence of sales by their poor marketing as a lack of demand and reduce the number minted which increases the cost of production per coin. Only 2000 Proof condition 1-rupee coins issued for the Air-Force which sold out however within one month despite the very high premium of 600-rupees, sine no BU coins were issued. It is already difficult to find for a Lankan coin collection.
The Central Bank will give exchange control permission for any collector to export or take away from Lanka one specimen each of the commemorative issue. They are more reluctant about low-denomination circulation issue which often cost the Central Bank of Sri Lanka more than the face value to have them minted. With the rapid depreciation of the SriLanka rupee even some of the small denominations cost much more than the face value to produce and are no-longer issued by the CBSL for circulation although they are still legal tender. They have become NCLT :-)
The Rs 200/- polymer notes encased in a clear plastic slab which
could be used as a paper weight is only item I can think of which was
sold after conversion to varied trinkets.
It is in any case illegal to destroy or deface coins since it often
costs more than the face value of the coin to mint.
IMHO the marketing done by the US Mint to sell circulation issues with
about an 10% premium to profit in the numismatic jewelry markets looks cheap.
Consequently for example the new US$ coin advertised to replace
the note, has yet to get into circulation even three years after first issue.
The Edward VII 1904 5-Cents type known as a Proof is also probably
a pattern since a few Proofs were minted and then not selected for
circulation.
The George VI 1943 Brass 50-cents which is a off-metal strike is a
pattern. This older design was not selected for the circulation strike
when the coin stopped being minted in Silver.
It was however minted to same specification as the older Victorian issue.
which had been found to be inconvenient and cumbersome.
The George VI 1951 5-Cents was issued only as a Proof was minted significant
numbers and freely available to any interested person or collector.
It is no different to the limited NCLT commemorative Proofs of recent years
which were not issued at face value for circulation.
This was not the case for the 1904 5-Cent coins and the 1943 Brass 50 cents
which are therefore Patterns and off-metal strikes, unlike the 1951 5-cent.
When should a coin become listed in Proof ?
There are a number of examples of Proof coins picked up from listing
in Auction which have been included in catalogs for which if there is
no official record of a proof issue. Pridmore lists Proof issues from
1870 to 1951. As far as I know none except for the issues of 1951 were
publicly issued as proofs.
I am told Proofs are double struck by hand using new dies and can be identified from exceptionally well struck proof-like coins. I understand a few are frequently created by the Mint before a production run for inspection by the Mint Master who may gift some to visiting dignitaries and then sometimes make their way into the numismatic market. These unofficial Proofs are clearly different class from official proof issue. They are in a way no different from early strike proof-like coins even if double struck since it is unlikely that the mint will go through the full process of polishing the dies just to strike a few examples for inspection.
IMHO catalogs should at most put a flag indicating that Proofs are known to exist rather than put an additional entry for them, since none were officially issued. Particularly for modern issues official mint records should exist to identify the Proofs that were struck for release to public.
Many large countries issue a complete range of denominations issues each year. In SriLanka this has been the exception rather than the rule Since introduction of Decimal coinage in 1870 the only years so far in which a full range of coins were minted were 1926, 1963, 1965, 1971, 1975 and 1978. It is unlikely to happen again since the denominations under 25 cents although still legal, are no longer issued by Central Bank in any significant quantity and does not circulate. The last 10c and 5c coin was minted in 1991, 2 cents in 1978 and 1 cent in 1994.
The Krause SCWC listed 1975 Proof in all denominations 1 2 5 10 25 50 cents and Rupee, with a mintage of 1431 pieces has not been traced. No record of issue from Central Bank in Colombo. Maybe a Royal Mint, collector issue. I checking this entry and would appreciate any information on them.
Ms C M Ariyaratne, the current Superintendent of Currency, has been extreamly helpful and in 2001 September sent me all of the mint details which has been used to update this website, and was used to correct the current 2003 edition of the Krause Standard World Coin Catalog, for which I was recognized as the contributor for Lanka.