100 Rupees Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Issued to mark the 121st birth anniversary of Vallabhbhai Patel, the Deputy Prime Minister who oversaw the integration of over 560 princely states into the Indian Union between 1947 and 1950 — a consolidation achieved through a mixture of negotiation, financial inducement, and, in cases like Hyderabad, outright military action. The .500 fine silver specification was standard for Indian commemoratives of the period, a consequence of cost management rather than any numismatic tradition.

Patel died in December 1950, before the Constitution he helped shape had completed its first year in force.