Is selling imitation of antique coins legal in India?

262 votes

No it is not illegal in India.It is not illegal to sell coins at your desired price as per IndianCoinage Act, for 1 rupee and above one can sell it at any price, for others there is a restriction, unless one is hoarding lakhs of coins and inflating prices, The following are the words from The Indian Coinage Act:
Coin, when a legal tender:
13. (1) The coins issued under the authority of section 6 shall be a legal tender in payment or on account,-
(a) [in the case of a coin of any denomination not lower than one rupee],for any sum;
(b) in the case of a half-rupee coin, for any sum not exceeding ten rupees;
( c) in the case of any other coin, for any sum not exceeding one rupee:
Provided that the coin has not been defaced and has not lost weight so as to be less than such weight as may be prescribed in its case.

28 of 1947:
(2) All silver coins issued under this Act after the 10th day of March, 1940 [and before the commencement of the Indian Coinage (Amendment ) Act, 1947] shall continue as before to be a legal tender in payment or on account,-
(a) in the case of a rupee coin, for any sum;
(b) in the case of a half-rupee coin, for any sum not exceeding ten rupees;
(c ) in the case of a quarter –rupee, for any sum not exceeding one rupee

89 votes

You have asked an extremely tough question.
So let me state my answer in steps
1. In India 'the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972' deals with Antiques.
2. As per this act any manuscript, coin, sculpture, painting etc which dates back to 100 years and above is an antique.
3. This act mandates you to have permission for keeping any antique with yourself from the Government of India.
4. Although this act do not talks about selling or imitation of antique but in general it is not allowed as per criminal laws of India.
For example, imitation of any designer suits is crime in India and is considered as piracy and financial crime done against the original cloth designer. Similarly imitation of any antique to sell it out in general is crime as that leads to duping and will create a situation wherein the original antique may be replaced by some goons to make more money.
My suggestion to you would be to not to think of anything based on this line as that may bring a lot of troublesome situation to you.

209 votes

Hi,

From your query it is not possible to know the complete facts of the case and in this situation it is difficult to clarify and advise you correctly. You are suggested to provide the complete facts.
Thanks and regards