India Token with Goddess Laxmi (Lakshmi) 1960

From Wikipedia: Lakshmi is the Hindu Goddess of wealth, prosperity (both material and spiritual), fortune, and the embodiment of beauty. She is wife of Vishnu. Also known as Mahalakshmi, she is said to bring good luck and is believed to protect her devotees from all kinds of misery and money-related sorrows. This silver token portrays Laxmi with an elephant to her left and a swan to her right. There are other tokens with Laxmi, but usually accompanied by other religious symbology. I believe this is the token that Steve is interested in.

Evaluating such tokens is not very straightforward. There is no definitive reference (that I am aware of) and reliable information is sketchy. The main problem arises when trying to determine the amount of silver in the token. These tokens generally weigh about 10 grams, but the purity of the silver is not easily determined. If the silver is 0.999 pure, then the token contains 10 grams of silver. If the silver is 50 percent pure, then it contains 5 grams of silver. We see these selling on eBay around the $15 mark, which indicates pure silver.

Since these pieces are modern, they do not carry value due to age and rarity. The value will be the combination of silver value plus sentimental and religious value. Today silver trades around $22 US dollars per troy ounce (look it up; it changes every day; see kitco.com) and there are 31.1 grams in a troy ounce. The silver is probably pure and its value is then (10/31.1)*22 = $7. The sentimental and religious value for a nice-look piece could easily bring $10 or more. Stained or marred tokens would be worth silver value only.
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