1/2 Anna - Edward VII Pattern

Pattern coinage for British India in this period was driven by the colonial government's persistent search for a harder-wearing substitute for the pure copper that dominated small-denomination circulation. Copper-nickel had already proven itself in other British colonial territories by 1908, and the India Office was under pressure to reduce minting costs for the highest-volume denominations. Edward VII died in May 1910, meaning this particular pattern never advanced to an adopted type under his effigy.

The switch to copper-nickel for the Anna series would not actually occur until the George V issues of the 1940s — decades after patterns like this one had been quietly shelved.