1978 - Sri Lanka - 1 Rupee
JR - Gold frosted Proof

A rare off-metal Gold frosted proof one rupee coin that was minted for the Central Bank of Ceylon for Gift to Cabinet Members on 4th February 1978 on the installation of J. R. Stewarding as the First Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. This coin was Not Issued to Public (NIP).

SPECIFICATIONS
DenominationRupees One
AlloyGold(916Au)
Diameter25.4 mm
Weight12.82 gms
Thickness1.9(?) mm
ShapeRound
EdgeSecurity 1
Die-Axis0°
Gold Proof30+10
MintRoyal,Wales
 1978_Rs1_obverse 1978_Rs1_reverse
KM# 144

obverse : The Armorial Ensign of Sri Lanka.
Reverse : An proile image of the President His Excellency J. R. Jayewardene in the center. with the value ONE RUPEE stated in in Sinhala appear at the apex of the coin and in Tamil and English on ether side with the date 1978.02.04 and `Sri Lanka' in Sinhala at the bottom below the date.

This Gold coin used the same rare JR Right Shoulder Straight coin die.

With the small consignment of 2600 coin brought for the function were 30 coins of minted as gold frosted Proofs and weighed 12.82 gms (~1.6 sovereigns) The Central Bank paid £42.14 for each of these coins of which £33.89 was Bullion. 10 more of these gold coins were ordered subsequently for £52.14 each. The gold coins were distributed among the cabinet members. Two of the gold coins are on display at the Currency Museum of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. I got it finally listed in Krause in the 2002 edition.

The Gold coin is a POMS (Presentation Off-Metal Strike). i.e. since the non-standard metal makes it non-legal tender they are not NCLT.

The coin image from the CBSL had been scanned at 300 dpi and the images are displayed at 250 dpi.

There is an uncanny parallel between the Sri Lanka 1978 J.R.Jayawardena one Rupee coin and the US 2000-P Sacagawea dollar coin coin. There were 5,500 Sacagawea 2000-P US dollar coins randomly hidden inside Cheerios-brand cereal products during a 2000 General Mills advertising promotion. In February 2005 it was discovered they had been struck with an early die which was different from that used for the regular issue Sacagawea dollars. In addition this same early die was also used for striking a dozen Proof 2000-W Sacagawea 22-karat gold dollar coin that were placed aboard the space shuttle Columbia during its July 23, 1999, space mission.

. The only case of such a strike in modern US Numismatic History.