"Rs.1000 Coin to be in Circulation Soon in India ..."

Verdict :

Possible time of origin : October 2012

Circulation platforms : Facebook, Blog

Circulation geography : India

Original Message Version Under Analysis:

Analysis by Merofact Awareness Team: The Government of India has the sole right to mint all currency formats in India. The currency department of in Reserve Bank of India attends to the core statutory function of note and coin issue and currency management. This is a responsibility for Government of India according to the Coinage Act, 1906 which may get amended from time to time. Anyway the fact of our interest is that, coins can be issued up to the denomination of Rs.1000 as per the above mentioned Coinage Act, 1906. The designing and minting of coins in various denominations is also the responsibility of the Government of India. Coins are minted at the five India Government Mints at Mumbai (Maharashtra), Alipore (Kolkata), Saifabad (Hyderabad), Cherlapally (Hyderabad) and Noida (UttarPradesh). The coins are issued for circulation only through the Reserve Bank in terms of the RBI Act.

As early as October 1, 2012 The Hindu reported a article with headline " Rs.1,000 coin to be released ". If you bother to read beyond the headline, you'll see that they clearly mentioned "The coin is being brought out as a special product to commemorate 1,000 years of Brihadeeswara temple of Thanjavur." Brihadeeswara temple is one of the largest temples in India and one of India's most prized architectural sites. The temple is now a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples". This temple is built by emperor Raja Raja Chola I and completed in 1010 AD, so it turned 1000 years old in 2010.

So there actually is a Rs. 1000 coin released by RBI to commemorate 1000 years of Brihadeeswara temple but not for circulation in the country. Copies of this coin will only be available with few collectors who responded in time. To know a first hand experience with this coin, you may like to talk to Mr. D Satya Buddu a famous Indian numismatist and a Facebook user. The Hindu interviewed him after he collected this coin.

Lets analyze the image provided above, what can be seen in the above image is that, the name of the country India and denomination 1000 are spelled out in Hindi and English also the coin bears the emblem of the Lion Pillar of Ashoka with the words ‘Satyameva Jayate’ in Hindi below it. But what is missing is that, on the reverse side there is a figure of Raja Raja Chola-1 in a standing posture with folded hands along with a figure of the Brihadeeswara temple and the words depicting the 1000 years of the temple written in Hindi and English and the place and the year 2010 can be seen. Each coin, weighs 35 gm with 80 per cent silver and 20 per cent copper.

Even though this Rs. 1000 coin exists in reality, but that is only for a few collectors, it is not in circulation for all in the country and neither meant to be so. That is why we gave this message a False verdict.