Obverse and reverse

[kansal888]

Dear Friends

One of the forum members has suggested that side of Indian Commemorative coins carrying busts of leaders like Nehru, Gandhi, Tagore, Rajiv, Bose etc may be treated as Obverse. He feels that second side having denomination plus our national emblem be treated as Reverse.

I and others feel that as per the convention, our Ashoka Lion Pillar indicates the authority and it is a constant/continuous symbol of state.  By this logic this side should be Obverse.

You are requested to inform if there are examples elsewhere when a bust of dead person (different from bust of living issuing authority) gets precedence over national symbols?

Regards
Sanjay Kansal

[brokencompass]

I think the rule is, if there is a portrait that portrait is the obverse, if there is no portrait the side with the common repeating symbol/ court of arms would be the reverse and the other side would be obverse.

So Nehru, Gandhi, Tagore are all portraits and so they all naturally become the obverse of the coin.

[Figleaf]

Chrisild once suggested a very good and logical solution. Call them "one side" and "the other side". There just is no rule that can catch the wide diversity of coin designs. At the same time, obverse and reverse are just code words, handy when they are clear, clumsy when they are not.

Peter

[<k>]

Numismaster considers that the obverse is the side that carries the country name, though just occasionally, it appears on both sides.

Have you seen that film, "No country for old men", where a homicidal criminal asks strangers to "call it" when he flips a coin? If they get it wrong, he shoots them. Now, just imagine if they'd tried to start a discussion about obverse and reverse. It would have spoilt the whole film. 

[brokencompass]

I use this article as my guideline. I am not sure if there are more official guidelines from like ANA or Krause

http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/qt/obversecointip.htm

[translateltd]

I use this article as my guideline. I am not sure if there are more official guidelines from like ANA or Krause

http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/qt/obversecointip.htm

Rule 4 is unfortunately incorrect - most proof sets display the reverse upwards!  If it really matters, contact the Mint and ask which die was on the bottom (obverse) and which die was on top (reverse).  If the dies were mounted sideways, we're doomed.

I have no idea how authoritative about.com is supposed to be, but in view of the above, and a recent case in which someone drew on that site to claim that New Zealand's post-1946 cupro-nickel half crowns were actually 50% silver, I think a grain of salt is called for.

[UK Decimal +]

In Britain, there is no such problem.

Specifications for new or altered coins are given by Royal Proclamation, published in the London Gazette (official newspaper).

An example is the change to nickel-plated steel for 10p (also 5p) coins which reads:

2. The design of the said ten pence coin shall be as follows:

'For the obverse impression Our effigy with the inscription "ELIZABETH · II · D · G REG · F · D ·" and the date of the year, and for the reverse a section of Our Royal Arms showing elements of the first quartering accompanied by the words "TEN PENCE". The coin shall have a graining upon the edge'.

Do you have any similar notification?

Bill.

[chrisild]

Rule 4 is unfortunately incorrect - most proof sets display the reverse upwards!

That rule mentioned at about.com is correct for the relatively few countries that do not use parallel orientation, but for the coins from most countries it makes no sense indeed. But again, I do not think this is an important issue - if a government "defines" (by law or otherwise) what the obverse of a certain coin is, then fine, use this rule for that coin or group of coins. May be helpful especially for those who focus on coins from that one country. Apart from that ... phhh.

Christian

[Bimat]

One of the forum members has suggested that side of Indian Commemorative coins carrying busts of leaders like Nehru, Gandhi, Tagore, Rajiv, Bose etc may be treated as Obverse. He feels that second side having denomination plus our national emblem be treated as Reverse.

Not only coin catalogs, but our government also believes that side showing Ashoka pillar is obverse. Check this RBI press release for example:

http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_ViewCurrencyPressRelease.aspx?Id=17492

Everytime a new commemorative is issued, RBI issues a notification which always mentions the side showing Ashoka pillar as obverse.

Aditya

[UK Decimal +]

Well done Aditya, I think that certainly gives Sanjay his answer.

It is surprising that there are a lot of dealers, etc., who try to make up their own rules on something like this without referring to official documentation which is readily available these days.

Bill.

[Prosit]

That is what I do   

Ok, maybe not so much but I do decide which side I show as the front in my collection regardless of the official
front.  I feel no compulsion to show it correctly.
Dale

......who try to make up their own rules on something like this without referring to official documentation which is readily available these days.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

No Dale, we all know that if you really want to know about something, you ask, just as Sanjay did.

Unfortunately, there are some myths from the past that have been repeated over and over again and eventually appeared in print for the whole world to believe - except for a few doubters like ourselves who question them.

Bill.   

[squarecoinman]

Ok so i have a simple question about Obverse and reverse

are there any golden rules
like , the head of a person is always Obverse ( like king and queen )
or the value is always reverse , and is this the same for all countries

thanks Michael

[Coinsforever]

This topic has been discussed extensively here .

Cheers

[Figleaf]

And here. We have learned that there's no good answer and personally, I think the question is not of great interest to modern coin collecting.

Peter