1805 - Ceylon
24 Stiver - Half Rix-dollar

Twenty Four Stiver silver coin struck in Ceylon for circulation by authority dated 1803 June, 8th with fineness 891.66 and weight 100 to the pound avoirdupois.

SPECIFICATIONS
Denomination24 Stiver
AlloySilver.892
TypeStruck
Diameter15.8 mm
Thickness2.9 mm
Weight Legal4.53 gms
Weight4.68 gms
ShapeRound
EdgePlain
DieAxis16O°
MintCeylon
 1805_24st_ag-dump_obverse 1805_24st_ag-dump_reverse
Pridmore #16; Mitchiner #220_; Krause #76

Obverse : Within a circle of dashes an elephant facing left with small bushes between his feet, year 1805 below the ground line and between another line.
Reverse :Within a circle of dashes CEYLONGOVERNMENT preceded by a group of four dots and sometimes divided by a dot. The value in Stivers 24 ST at center within a bead circle. Two lines below the T.

The 1805, Half Rix Dollar is a extreamly rare date Lowsley didn't find and just mentions that the British Museum has specimen dated 1805. There were two sold in Dick Ford collection in 1995, one of which was from the King Farouk Collection,

Text from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  Page 155 Chapter XI British - Coins struck in Ceylon.

The coin was scanned at 600dpi and the images are displayed at 300dpi. It was purchased at the 2004 July from a Dealer in New York selling an Elephant Collection which included many items from former Pittsburgher Gerry Porter author of Elephants In Numismatics and Exonumia from Ancient to Modern Time