1 Rupee - Victoria

The 1840 rupee marked a deliberate consolidation by the East India Company, replacing a chaotic patchwork of presidency coinages — Bombay, Bengal, and Madras each having issued their own incompatible types — with a single unified coinage for the whole of British India. The decision followed the Coinage Act of 1835, which took several years to implement fully across the mints at Calcutta and Bombay.

Dies were prepared in London by William Wyon, though local striking quality varied considerably between the two mints. Calcutta and Bombay issues of this type are distinguishable by minor differences in die preparation and edge treatment.