Interesting items

1948 Dollar

January 1948: Death of Gandhi by an extremist Brahmin. One million people attend the next day at his cremation.

The government is setting up. Creation of the congress party that dominates all the others. He is working on the integration of the 554 princely states into the Indian Union. The 216 smaller principalities are quickly integrated into neighboring provinces. The three largest, Hyderābād, Mysore and Kashmir, remain as separate entities.

Why is the 1948 Silver Dollar so Expensive?

This question often surfaces when people see the price of these coins for the first time.

In 1947, India gained independence from the British Empire. This had several effects including the need to remove the Emperor of India (ET IND: IMP : ) part of the legend of all the canadian coins of the time.

​Because making the dies in England was a complex process and Canada needed coins, the RCM had to improvise by adding a maple leaf after the 1947 date for most of the 1948 minted coins. It is only at the end of the year that 18,700 dollar coins dated 1948 were minted.

​It is because of this very small mintage that the price always exceeds $1,000.

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