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Obverse : Image of the Head Office building of the Central Bank of Sri
Lanka, with three Flags on posts in front. 70 in large numerals
below and the years 1950-2020 at the bottom edge.
ශ්රී ලංකා
මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala above;
இலங்கை
மத்திய
வங்கி
in Thamil on left;
and CENTRAL BANK OF SRI LANKA in English on right along the periphery.
Reverse : Huge numeral 20 with
රුපියල්
විස්සයි in Sinhala,
இருபது ரூபாய் in Thamil
and TWENTY RUPEES in English below.
ශ්රී ලංකා
in Sinhala above;
இலங்கை in Thamil on left;
and SRI LANKA in English on right along the periphery.
The year of issue 2020 at the bottom.
The China Mint coins are issued neatly locked into two columns
of a transparent plastic tray put within cellophane cover.
The 100 coins, in pack weighed 883 grams on a digital scale.
Printed in Blue on pack is
| Commodity | Rupees 20 Circulation Standard Commemorative Coins for the Central Bank of Sri Lanka |
| Pieces | 100 |
The mean weight of the coins is not mentioned in the Press Release,
and just the thickness at 2 mm.
The diameter is between 27.5 mm and 28.5 mm and listed as 28 mm.
According to Pabitra Saha The diameter of odd sided is always from
edge to corner whereas even sided is corner to corner or edge to
edge.
Weighing each of the 100 coins on a digital pocket scale with a
precision of 0.01 grams, I found that the coins weighed between 8.41
and 8.62 with a mean of 8.51 grams. The distribution had a rms
dispersion of 0.042 (0.50% of mean weight). It had a positive skewness
of 0.35 and was leptokuratic with an positive excess kurtosis of
0.24. i.e. distribution more peaked than normal.
The Full range weights 2.5% of the average weight and corresponds to a
difference in thickness of 0.05mm. Measurements of thickness came
Measurements of thickness of 50 coins tightly packed in tray was 101
mm giving thickness of 2.01mm indicating that they could be about 1%
thicker than specified.
Coin are scanned at 600 dpi, PhotoShoped and displayed at 254 dpi.
50 of these packs, each with a 100 coins are stacked within a larger Box which then has 5000 coins totalling Rs100,000 in value.
This coin was planed to be issued on 2020 August 20th and was delayed by the COVID-19 Pandamic, The limited lot of 3000 BU NCLT coins were issued in 2021 January 1st and the circulation coin on 2021 March 3rd.
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CBSL issued a Press release on Tuesday February 24th and the coin was issued only through Licenced Commercial Banks as the Cash Counter of the CBSL has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 March.
This is the first circulation coin Minted in China for CBSL, by the China Banknote Printing and Minting (CBPM). This interesting fact was not mentioned in the Press release maybe for political reasons. I wonder if CBPM is now Printing and Minting an increasing number of Banknotes and Coins along the Belt and Road initiative?
The circulation coin of Nickle plated steel is a cheaper metal than the Aluminium Bronze used for the NCLT. The circulation coin will probably become the prototype for a Rs20 coin when the Rs20 banknote is discontinued. However with a face value of only about 10 US cents, it will probably not be used much in circulation, as most transactions tend to be in banknotes. The Rs1, Rs2 and the even the Rs5 are disappearing now hardly seen as transaction are rounded to nearest Rs10.
Chinese coins have been found in Yapahuwa and date back about 600 years to the period when Lanka paid tribute and was visited six times by Admiral Zheng He between 1405 and 1433.
Read my article
Chinese mint new Rs.20 coin for Central Bank
which was published in the Sunday Times of 2021 January 10th.