{"product_id":"1965-india-25-paise-ashoka-lion-bombay-mint-fine","title":"1965 India 25 Paise — Republic of India \/ Ashoka Lion Capital — Bombay Mint — Fine","description":"\u003cp\u003e☢️ Counted out at a chai stall on a Bombay street corner, this twenty-five paise coin carried an emblem older than most civilizations — the Ashoka Lion Capital, carved in the third century BCE and adopted by the Republic of India as its state symbol in 1950.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThis 1965 Indian 25 paise was struck in nickel at the Bombay Mint, identifiable by the small diamond mint mark below the date on the reverse. The denomination is written three ways on this single coin: the numeral 25 at center, पच्चीस पैसे (pachchees paise, twenty-five paise) in Devanagari below it, and रुपये का चौथा भाग (rupaye ka chautha bhaag, one-fourth of a rupee) in Devanagari above. India's coins have always spoken in multiple languages simultaneously.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe Ashoka Lion Capital on the obverse is one of the most recognizable state emblems on Earth. Three lions are visible, seated back-to-back atop a circular abacus bearing the Dharma Chakra — the same wheel that appears on the Indian flag. The original sculpture was erected by Emperor Ashoka at Sarnath around 250 BCE to mark the site where the Buddha first taught. Twenty-two centuries later, the newly independent republic chose it as the emblem of a secular, democratic state.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e💡 Everyday Life at the Time\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In 1965, twenty-five paise bought a cup of chai from a street vendor or a short ride on a Bombay bus. India was eighteen years into independence and still building its industrial base through Nehru's Five-Year Plans, though Nehru himself had died the year before. Food prices were rising, and the country was heading toward a devaluation of the rupee in 1966 that would cut its value by more than a third overnight.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e📜 Historical Context\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The year 1965 brought the Second Kashmir War — a seventeen-day conflict between India and Pakistan that ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire in September. The war followed months of border skirmishes and Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, an infiltration campaign in Indian-administered Kashmir. The Tashkent Declaration in January 1966 formally ended hostilities, but the underlying dispute over Kashmir remained unresolved.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAt the Bombay Mint, production continued through the conflict. India operated multiple mints across the subcontinent — Bombay, Calcutta, and Hyderabad — each identified by a different mint mark. The diamond below the date on this coin places it at the Bombay facility, one of the oldest operating mints in Asia. The paise denomination itself was still relatively new in 1965, having replaced the anna system only in 1957 when India decimalized its currency.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e🧾 Coin Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCountry: India\u003cbr\u003eDenomination: 25 Paise\u003cbr\u003eYear: 1965\u003cbr\u003eGovernment: Republic of India\u003cbr\u003eComposition: Nickel\u003cbr\u003eWeight: 2.28 g\u003cbr\u003eDiameter: 19.0 mm\u003cbr\u003eThickness: 1.2 mm\u003cbr\u003eMintage: Unknown (Bombay Mint, diamond mint mark)\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Fine — moderate circulation wear across both faces; Ashoka lions remain well-defined with visible mane detail; denomination and Devanagari script fully legible; honest wear consistent with years of daily commerce\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe nickel gives this coin a cool, silvery weight that belies its small size. At nineteen millimeters, it sits just smaller than a United States dime but feels denser in the hand — nickel is heavier than the clad alloys most people are used to. The Ashoka lions on the obverse retain their sculptural quality even through wear, the manes still visible as textured ridges under a fingertip.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐ Why This Coin Is a Great Collectible\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e • Bears the Ashoka Lion Capital — a state emblem adapted from a 2,300-year-old Buddhist sculpture\u003cbr\u003e• Trilingual denomination: numeral, Devanagari script, and the phrase \"one-fourth of a rupee\" all on one face\u003cbr\u003e• Struck at the Bombay Mint during the year of the Second Kashmir War between India and Pakistan\u003cbr\u003e• Diamond mint mark identifies the specific facility — one of the oldest operating mints in Asia\u003cbr\u003e• Pure nickel composition from the 1964–1968 series, before the switch to copper-nickel\u003cbr\u003e• Demonetized in 2011 — no longer legal tender, now a purely historical artifact\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e💡 Collector Tip\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce you start reading the Devanagari script on Indian coins, you notice how much information the denomination side carries — and how different the multilingual approach is from almost any Western coinage. The kind of collector who pays attention to how many languages appear on a single coin is the kind who starts noticing the same pattern across South Asian and multilingual nations. Sri Lankan coins carry three scripts. Belgian coins alternate between Dutch and French. The number of languages on a coin tells you something about the country that no catalog entry captures.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eYou will receive the exact coin shown in these photographs. All coins are authentic and unaltered — we don't enhance patina or touch up surfaces. Grades are conservative; circulated pieces show honest wear from actual use, not damage or mishandling. Carefully packaged. Ships promptly with tracking.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe lions have been sitting on that pillar for twenty-three centuries. They have outlasted every empire that claimed them.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WadesCoinShop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48010972102870,"sku":"S-IND-INDIA-25P-1965","price":0.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/4939\/5158\/files\/20260329_170108.jpg?v=1774822702","url":"https:\/\/wadescoinshop.myshopify.com\/products\/1965-india-25-paise-ashoka-lion-bombay-mint-fine","provider":"WadesCoinShop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}