Indira gandhi 50 paisa (1985)

The Indira Gandhi coin of 1985 was issued on the occasion of the infamous assassination of  then prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi (on 31st october ,1984).Earlier commemorative  coins had been issued after the death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 .Smt  Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Pandit Jawaharlal  Nehru and when the coin was issued in 1985 Indira Gandhi's son Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime minister of India.  A 50 paisa coin was issued on the death of  Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.The 1985 coin of Indira Gandhi was a copper-nickel coin having a diameter of 23mm.

One of the other interesting fact about this coin is that  there are 3 recognised mule coins from the Republic of India.  One is the 10 Paise coin issued in 1979 to commemorate 'International Year of the Child'.  The mule coins has the obverse of the 1978 Ten Paise coin commemorating 'Food and Work for All'.  Second is the 50 Paise issued in 1985 to commemorate the death of Indira Gandhi.  The mule coin has the obverse of the 50 Paise coin commemorating 'Fisheries' also minted in 1985.  The third is the 50 Paise 'Fisheries' 1985.  The mule has the obverse of the 50 Paise Indira Gandhi 1985 coin.The obverse of a common Indira Gandhi 50 Paise and Fisheries 50 Paise can be easily distinguished by the presence of a line made of dots on the rim of the Indira Gandhi coin.



In numismatics, a mule is a coin or medal minted with obverse and reverse designs not normally seen on the same piece. These can be intentional or produced by error. This type of error is highly sought after, and examples can fetch steep prices from collectors.
 Opinion is divided between those who think that they are accidental, the result of an incorrect combination of a new die with one that had officially been withdrawn from use, or the work of coiners working with dies stolen from an official mint, perhaps at a time when one of them should have been destroyed.
The name derives from the mule, the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey, due to such a coin having two sides intended for different coins, much as a mule has parents of two different species.