1 Rupee - George VI Sterling Proof Issue

The 1940 proof rupee sits at an awkward moment in Indian monetary history: within two years, wartime silver shortages would force the British to abandon sterling silver for the rupee entirely, switching to a debased .500 fineness in 1942. This piece was struck just before that threshold, making it one of the last proof rupees produced to the old colonial silver standard that had defined the coin since the nineteenth century.