East Africa (Mombasa) Rupee 1888

Saiprasad - since the description of your coin is copy-pasted from Numista (a great website for information about coins!), I take it that you are interested in help with an appraisal, not an identification.

These hefty silver coins with the scales of justice on one side, and a crowned sun on the other side, was struck in Birmingham (the H mintmark) in 1888 by the Imperial British East Africa Company (the IBEAC) for use in their protectorate in which Mombasa was the capital.

They are made from .917 pure silver, and weigh 11.66 grams - that's 0.3437 troy ounces, and with today's silver prices of about 24.50 US dollars, each coin has $8.50 of silver in it. Not bad! Look up the current value of silver on a website like kitco.com - it changes from day to day.

However these coins are somewhat rare. Less than a hundred thousand were minted, and this makes them pretty collectible. These are the approximate values that the catalogs report for the 1888 Mombasa rupee.

worn: $15
average circulated: $30
well preserved: $70
fully uncirculated: $200

As you can see, value improves quickly with condition.
A coin that is cleaned, holed, or heavily scratched will only be worth the silver value of the coin. Collectors do not like coins with problems.

Check out the coin in our picture. It's uncirculated, or nearly so. However, on the obverse side, there is a large scratch all the way from the B in BRITISH to the T in EAST. This coin would not sell for over $200, even with its lack of wear.

Be sure to read the 'Important Terminology' page on the top left to properly interpret the catalog values quoted on this page.
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