1 Anna - Edward VII Holed Pattern

Pattern coinage for British India's proposed nickel anna series was struck at the Royal Mint in 1905 as part of a broader push to replace the unwieldy copper anna with a lighter, more durable alternative. The holed format was deliberately borrowed from contemporary Japanese and Straits Settlements practice, where central holes aided circulation by allowing coins to be strung — a practical concession to the habits of Indian bazaar traders.

The nickel anna never entered production. The proposal stalled over concerns about public resistance to the unfamiliar metal, and India continued striking copper annas until the eventual shift to cupro-nickel decades later. Surviving 1905 patterns are consequently rare; most known examples passed through a handful of specialist sales in the twentieth century.