1/2 Rupee Copper Pattern - Sayaji Rao III

Sayaji Rao III came to power in Baroda under British supervision after his predecessor Malhar Rao was deposed for maladministration in 1875. By the 1880s, he was actively modernizing the state's institutions, and experimental coinage patterns from this period reflect an administration testing formats before committing to minted issues. This copper striking of a half-rupee denomination is essentially a die trial — copper was the standard proofing metal for Indian princely state patterns, used to check die quality before silver production.

KM#Pn-3 is poorly documented in most references, which is itself informative: very few examples are known to have been struck.