1808 - 1809 - Ceylon
24 Stiver - Half Rix-dollar

Twenty Four Stiver silver coin struck in Ceylon for circulation by authority dated 1808 February 17th which reduced the fineness standard of the silver coins to 833.33.

SPECIFICATIONS
Denomination24 Stiver
AlloySilver.833Ag
TypeStruck
Diameter15.5 mm
Thickness2.7 mm
Weight Legal4.53 gms
Weight4.41 gms
ShapeRound
EdgePlain
DieAxis150 deg;
MintCeylon
1808_24st_ag_obverse 1808_24st_ag_reverse
Pridmore #17; Mitchiner #220_; Krause #76

Obverse : Within a circle of dashes an elephant facing left with a perspective ground. The year 1808 below a line.
Reverse : Within a circle of dashes Seven dot symbol on top and CEYLONGOVERNMENT The value in Stivers 24 ST at center within a bead circle. Two lines below the T. Dot at center faintly visible

This coin has been Mis-Struck on reverse by 17%, showing a large region of the blank planchet and excluding almost all of the name CEYLON. See also a properly struck coin

Pridmore Lists 2 varieties for 1808 (P#17-18) i.e. Seven (case shown above) or two dots; and 4 varieties for 1809 (P#19-22), i.e. Seven dots with two, one, and no lines below T, and the single dot (case shown for the 1809 coin).

Lowsley (1895) acquired one, of heavy weight, dated 1816 which is suspect since the contract ceased when the Ceylon Government mint was founded in 1811.

Text from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  Page 155 Chapter XI British - Coins struck in Ceylon.

The coin was scanned at 600dpi and the images are displayed at 300dpi. It was purchased in 2002 October on Ebay from a US dealer. It sold at less than 50% of market value probably because of the poor off-center strike.