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5 Rupees
| Issuer | Cocos (Keeling) Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1977 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | JOHN CLUNIES ROSS |
| Reverse description | A coconut palm tree leaning to the left dominates the central field, its trunk rising from a stylized sandy beach or atoll shoreline rendered in low relief. To the right of the palm, the denomination 5 RUPEES is inscribed in two lines. The legend KEELING-COCOS ISLANDS curves along the upper periphery, flanked by dots, while the date 1977 appears at the base, also flanked by dots. A ring of six-pointed stars is spaced around the lower portion of the field, and the entire design is enclosed within a beaded border. |
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| Additional information |
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands issued their own coinage in 1977 under the authority of John Clunies-Ross, the fifth and final "King of the Cocos," whose family had governed the atoll as a private fiefdom since the 1820s. These pieces were struck not as legal tender in any conventional sense but as a local scrip currency, used exclusively within the islands' plantation economy — a system of labor control that the Australian government would formally investigate and dismantle within a few years. Australia compulsorily acquired the Clunies-Ross family's interests in 1978, one year after this coin was struck.