1815 - Ceylon - George III
Silver Rix Dollar - Pattern

On the 1st of December 1814, the Royal Mint, London, had received orders from the treasury to strike 10,000 rix-dollars in silver. Dies were prepared with effigy of George III but the silver rix-dollars with year 1815 never reached completion and only a few proof specimens exist.

SPECIFICATIONS Denomination one Rix Dollar Alloy Silver.892 Type Struck Diameter 28.0 mm Thickness 1.6 mm Weight Legal 9.55 gms Shape Round Edge Plain DieAxis 180° Pattern Proof Mint Royal Mint
Click to see other specimens and ChatGPT-05 colorization Pridmore #81;KM #PN7

Obverse : Within plain rim, Laureate head to left, In periphery GEORGIUS III D:G:BRITANNIARUM REX F:D:
The Reverse : Within plain rim, elephant to left within wreath; above, in three lines CEYLON ONE RIX DOLLAR and below 1815

The obverse engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci. The reverse design modelled and engraved by William Wyon was approved in 1815

This coin is extremely rare and is 1 mm larger in diameter and 0.57 grams (6.3%) heavier than the common 1821 One Rix Dollar coin which was issued into circulation.

Not Listed in British Museum and Ashmolean coin collections.
Zaffer said his father had on for sale 40+ years ago.
Remember being offered one around 2000 by a Canadian Dealer for US$2500.
In 2012 I saw a Toned specimen in the Colombo National Museum Hettiaratchi collection.
NGC Census 3(55:1,64+:2) compare with 418 for 1821 1RD which circulated
PCGS Census 0 for 1815 compare with 28 for 1821

So there are at least 4 specimens known. High resolution images will help count the total number which is probably under 10. If you own or know of a 1815 Ceylon One Rix Dollar Pattern please inform me at kavanr @ gmail.com to be documented on this page.

• Dick Ford collection (in Taisei-Baldwin-Gillio Auction#19 1995 February 23, Singapore lot#174) sold proof for US$1,300(+10% BP)
• Mark E Freehill collection of British Ceylon, Nobel Auction 2020 Jul 29, Sydney. Lot 1704 sold for Au$15,500(+22% BP+GST) Dark Gray Tone AU
• Numismatica Genevensis SA Auction#20 2024 Dec 9, Geneva, Switzerland Lot 1213 Sold for CHF 17,000(+22.5% BP); (NGC PF64+)
• Heritage Auctions #61508 2025 May 18 Online Proxy Bid Live, Dallas Texas, USA lot 22081 Won for US$2,400(+20% BP); (NGC PF55)
  Ex. Richard Margolis: Coins and Medals of the World

I was pleasantly surprised to win this extremely rare 1815 Rix Dollar pattern for a relatively low price, although very much more than I normally pay for individual numismatic items. However I was even more surprised when I had reported a cheap tourist replica bar and it sold at same Auction house for more, less than five months later. I just don't understand the total Numismatic ignorance of the market place. Maybe when it is in an NGC slab, it does not matter if it is genuine or fake.

The 600 dpi coin images from Nobel 2020 Auction 124 lots 1704 displayed at 254 dpi

Text from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  Page 151 Chapter XI British - Coins struck in England - Plate 152.