1000 Rupees Independence

Issued to mark Seychelles independence from Britain on June 29, 1976, this coin was part of a multi-denomination commemorative gold program released by the newly sovereign republic. The Seychelles had been a British Crown Colony since 1810, ceded by France following the Napoleonic Wars — a transfer that left the islands with a distinctly Franco-Creole culture that persisted well past the political handover to London.

The .917 fineness places it in the traditional 22-karat crown gold standard, the same alloy used for British sovereigns — a detail unlikely to be coincidental for a newly independent former British territory.