1/4 Rupee - Victoria

The 1862 coinage reform unified India's currency under a single imperial system for the first time, replacing the chaotic patchwork of Presidency coinages — Bombay, Bengal, and Madras had each maintained separate series with differing standards. All three mints struck the new type simultaneously, and coins from each carry a small identifying letter beneath the bust: B for Bombay, C for Calcutta, no mint mark for Madras. The Madras mint closed in 1869, making later examples without a mark impossible and giving pre-closure pieces an inadvertent rarity among type collectors.

Calcutta-struck pieces from this series are generally the sharpest, a consequence of that mint's superior die preparation practices throughout the 1860s.