Ons 226

earliest coins are struck over small denomination Ptolemaic sometimes was prompted by the division of power between
of power between Arab

bronzes, modeled after staters of Alexander III. The overstrikes conquerors and Sogdian princes: with the success of the Abbasid
were minted beginning in the 3rd century BCE. Later issues were revolution, Abu Muslim started issuing fulus of “regular” caliphate
struck on blank flans at Damascus, during the reigns of Aretas II et type in the mint of Bukhara without discontinuing the Bukhar
al, from the middle of the 2nd century to the late 1st. Khuda coinage in Varakhsha, while Samarqand Ikhshid Turghar
Aretas III was ruler of Damascus from 82/83 - c. 71 BCE, organized a mint in his exile in Ishtikhan, that was later maintained
during which time he struck city coins bearing his name. These by his brother Yazid.
closely follow the previous Seleucid issues, featuring a bust of the All that time Sogdian silver drachms followed a single pattern -
king, and Tyche of Damascus or Nike. Aretas III is featured on the design of the drachms of the long gone Sasanian ruler Varahran.
Roman denarii of Aemilius Scaurus, on which Scaurus Even the “move” of their production from Bukhara to Samarqand
propagandizes one of his campaigns against the Arabs. Aretas III is in 712 CE brought no meaningful changes to their iconography.
seen kneeling next to a camel, offering an olive branch. In fact, Moreover, with two exceptions (coinages of Bukhar Khuda Khunak
Scaurus’ legions made little headway against Petra, and Aretas and of Samarqand Ikhshid Turghar), these coins retained the
merely bribed the Romans to leave. original legend introduced on them in the early 7th century -- pwx’r
Malichus I (62-30 BCE) minted the first truly Nabataean xwb k’n’, mentioning the long deceased Bukhar Khuda Kana.
coinage featuring his bust on the obverse and inscriptions in This strange discrepancy between the copper and silver
Nabataean script. The reverse types feature quasi-Tyrian eagles, coinages can be explained by the different functions of silver and
cornucopias, and a raised palm of the hand in the gesture of a hamsa, copper coins in local circulation: silver was serving all-Sogdian and
an ancient greeting of peace and protection. These coins occur in international trade and the stability of its design was meant to be the
half-shekel and three bronze denominations. Obodas II (30-9 BCE) visual guarantee of the reliability of these coins, while the copper
continued minting a variety of coinage, introducing jugate busts of circulated mostly locally and rulers of different principalities used
the king and queen. During his reign, the weight of the silver it as the vehicle of their political propaganda.
coinage was altered to achieve parity with the denarius.
The reign of Aretas IV (9 BCE - 40 CE) saw the largest British Museum Study Day, February 2016
emission of coins in Nabataean history, including bronze types of On 6 February the ONS held a study day at the British Museum. Joe
several denominations and drachms (sela’im). Silver shortages Cribb gave a talk ‘Getting Kushano-Sasanian and Kidarite coins in
resulted in a brief emission of bronze substitute coinage. Aretas’ the right order’. Joe began by outlining the coinage of the Kushano-
successors Malichus II and Rabbel II continued to mint bronze and Sasanian kings from Ardashir in the mid-third century until the
silver coinage, although the drachms became quite debased by the coinage of Varahran. Varahran marks an important break because
time Nabataea was annexed by the Roman Empire in 106 CE as this is the moment that coinage of the Sasanian Emperor Shapur II
Provincia Arabia. (AD 309-379) and that of Kidarites is first issued in the region. Joe
John Deyell followed with a talk entitled “Reconsidering the so- then presented the development of the coinage under the Kidarites
called ‘Kashmir’ and ‘Karkota’ electrum dinaras”. The topic is and the reasons for suspecting they date to the late fourth century
concerned with a later-Kidarite series of base gold or “electrum” AD. The presentation ended with a discussion of the location of the
coins, in the names Durlabha, Namvi, Pratapa, Vigraha, Vinaya and mints, only one of which (Baxlo = Balkh), is marked on the coins.
Yaśo. They are usually attributed to the Karkota dynasty of Before breaking for lunch Robert Bracey gave a talk ‘Rohini’s
Kashmir, a position followed by most authors since Alexander Coin’ in which he presented a verse from the Pali collection of
Cunningham, but the coins don’t seem to be found in Kashmir, and poetry the Therigatha. Though pali specialists translating it have
not many of the names on them correspond to kings of the Karkota been happy to follow its sixth century AD commentator in reading
dynasty. So some numismatists like Shailen Bhandare have the word suvarna as a coin, they have never questioned its presence
questioned this conventional attribution, and John has decided to in a poem they collectively date centuries earlier than the
look more closely into the issue. introduction of that coin. The talk explored how the same word can
The research is in progress. The types of evidence being be used as a modern numismatic term, or in ancient texts to mean a
considered include typological (what are the relationships specific denomination, a weight standard, a generic reference to
detectable by comparing the appearance of the different coins?), coins, a unit of account, a technical term for a particular tax or
metrological (what are the physical attributes of the coins and how payment, or simply to mean ‘gold’ – and the problems that creates
do they compare?), metallographic (what are the coins made of and for numismatists today.
what does that tell us about their function as money or as a sequence
of issues?), and distributional (what is the pattern of coin finds in
respect to the geography of the times?).
With the help of XRF testing in Mumbai and Ottawa, it is
hoped to complete this research in the near future.
Finally, Alexsandr Naymark spoke on “International silver and
local copper in Sogdian numismatics.” The number of Sogdian
mints producing copper significantly increased during the last
century and a half of Sogdian history (end of the 7th to the middle
of the 8th century). At the beginning of this period we know only the
coinages of Samarqand, Bukhara, Nakhshab and, possibly,
Vardana. During the first half of the 8th century there were at least
seven continuous massive coinages and at least the same number of
mints that worked sporadically or just once and were responsible
for a small number (1-3) of types. Judging from the abundance of
finds, some of these “singular” types, however, may have been
issued for a long time. Throughout the 150 years in question, the
designs and legends of Sogdian coppers kept changing. Samarqand
mint introduced 21 new types, and was closely followed by Bukhar
Khuda mint (first situated in Bukhara, it was moved to Varakhsha
in 720) that came up with 17 new types. Nakhshab and Ustrushana Stan Goron showed a number of medals from the Paris mint,
issued 5 types each, Kesh, Panjikant and Vardana could boast 4 purchased directly from the mint in the 1990s, made by Thérèse
each. At least 16 more types that were certainly minted in Soghd Dufresne, depicting historic sites from around the world.
during the 7th and first half of the 8th century still await precise Unfortunately the images shown here cannot do justice to the
localization. The appearance of new mints and of new copper types spectacular depth achieved in the medals, which was all the more
3
impressive to members attending the day as they are struck rather
than cast.
The final talk, by Robert Bracey, on ‘Early Hunnic Kings of Sind’,

looked at the series of gold imitations of Sasanian coins which were
issued somewhere in the lower Indus valley in the fourth and fifth
centuries. Attributed to a Sasanian mint by Robert Göbl they were
re-classified as Hunnic coinage by Joe Cribb in 2002 (see the article
in this issue).
B.D. Kochnev Memorial Seminar, March 2016
On March 12 2016 numismatists met at Hofstra University for a
seminar on the coinages of Central Asia. Papers given included:
Alaksandr Naymark ‘Early Silver Coinages of Soghd: an Attempt
on Systematic View’
Robert Bracey ‘The Early Hunnic Kings of Sind’
Andrei Omel’chenko ‘New Kushano-Sasanian Materials from the
Excavation of Paykand in the Bukharan Oasis’
Konstantin Kratsov & Aleksandr Naymark ‘The Camels of
Bukhara: Copper Coinage of Sogdian West in the First Half of
the 7th century’
Stefan Heidemann ‘Islamic Law in Creation of the Monetary Union
of the Early Islamic Empire’
Abdullah Ghouchani ‘Golden Hoard of Atabegs of Fars of the First
Half of the 12 century CE’
Michael O’Neal ‘The Ghazna Coinage of the Ghūrid Sultan ‘Alā
al-Dīn Ḥusayn Jahān-Sūz’
Konstantin Kravtsov ‘A Few Remarks on the Imitations of
Tabaristan Dirhams’
The organizers of the event hope to provide abstracts and a full
report for the next issue of the journal.
New Members
South Asia Region
4
Le Colloque de numismatique cambodgienne de la S.N.A.
For more information about the Journal or the Société please write
to
Numismatic Chronicle, Volume 175
The 2015 Numismatic Chronicle was published in early 2016 and
contains a number of items of interest to ONS readers including an
article;
A Contribution to Kiurikid Numismatics: Two Unique Coins of
Gagik, King of Kakhet’I and of David II of Loři (Eleventh
Century) by Alexander Akopyan and Aram Vardanyan
As well as everal hoards;
Jordan- A hoard of Byzantine and Arab-Byzantine Coins from the
Excavations at Jerash by Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja
Iran – A hoard of Sasanian Drachms from Ilam Province buried
c.AD 602 by Hodge Mehdi Malek
Middle East? - The Hephthalite Drachms Minted in Balkh a Hoard,
a Sequence, and a New Reading by Stefan Heidemann [A quick
editorial note is in order. The Hephthalite hoard published by
Heidemann has no provenance but there is no reason to suspect
it comes from anywhere other than central asia and the tag
‘Middle East?’ seems to be an error on the part of the editors.]
And finally a review:
Nikolaus Schinel, Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum. The Schaaf
Collection, with contributions by Michael Alram, Rika Gyselen
and Robert Schaaf, by Susan Tyler-Smith
Coinage and History of The Princely States of Chhota Udepur,
Deogarh Baria, Lunavada and Sunth
Language- English and Gujarati, all color 360 Pages. Rs. 1950/- and
get the Catalogue + 4 CD/ DVD set worth Rs. 900/- + free shipping
(in India only).Listed price Rs. 2700/-.
The book has been advertised as containing more than 250 images,
as well as line drawings, and is accompanied by a CD containing
additional information.
Money as God? The Monetization of the Market and its Impact
on Religion, Politics, Law, and Ethics
ed. Jürgen von Hagen and Michael Walker, Cambridge University
Press, pp.455. ISBN 978-1-107-04300-8
From the jacket:
“The nature of money and its impact on society has long interested
scholars of economics, history, philosophy, law, and theology alike,
and the recent financial crisis has moved these issues to the forefront
of current public debate. In this study, authors from a range of
backgrounds provided a unified examination of the nature and the
purpose of money.”
The lack of any numismatists in the range of backgrounds
probably explains why the authors fail to draw a clear distinction
between money and the physical objects that represent it. Of the
eighteen papers many are concerned with numismatic themes
(including one on the origin of coinage in Lydia) and two chapters
that might be of interest to ONS readers; Rudolf G. Wagner “Fate’s
gift economy: the Chinese case of coping with the asymmetry
between man and fate” and Berndt Hamm “’Mothers and children’:
discourses on paper money during the Song period”.
New and Recent Publications
Book Reviews
Numismatique Asiatique
Issue 16 of Numismatique Asiatique, the journal of the Société de Brian Kritt, New Discoveries in Bactrian Numismatics,
Numismatique Asiatique, France, was published in December Classical Numismatic Studies No. 8, Lancaster, Pennsylvania:
2015. It includes the following items: Classical Numismatic Group, 2015, pp xiv, 147, ISBN 978-0-
Bernard Dupaigne: ‘Les monnaies traditionnelles des confins lao- 9898254-8-1. $45.
cambodgiens dans les collections du Musée de l’Homme’
Reviewed by Simon Glenn.
Daniel Cariou: ‘Les ateliers annexes de Pondichéry’
This volume builds on Kritt’s earlier published work, in particular
François Joyaux: ‘Un échec longuement préparé: la sapèque de
Seleucid Coins of Bactria (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1996) and
1905 pour le Tonkin’
Dynastic Traditions in the Coinage of Bactria: Antiochus –
Alain escabasse: ‘Ouvrages contenant des informations sur le Diodotus – Euthydemus (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 2001). The new
monnayage et la numismatique du Cambodge (Troisième discoveries of the title consist of coins apparently from the so-called
Partie)’
5
Vaisali hoard as well as two individual coins, one with implications Diodotus wished to maintain ‘the connection to his former master
for the chronology of early Parthian coinage and the second a new by having the authority to call in the power of the Seleucids to
variety of the Seleucid bronze coins attributed to Aï Khanum. support his kingship’. Why the Seleucids would wish to support
The volume is divided into seven chapters of which the first two such a recent rebel is not explained and the uncertainty surrounding
deal directly with the Vaisali hoard of gold staters of the Graeco- the first Graeco-Bactrian coins will doubtless continue for some
Bactrian kings Diodotus I, Diodotus II, and Euthydemus I. As so time.
often in the study of Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek coins the Chapter six discusses the significance of a recently discovered
circumstances of discovery and the original composition of the unique Seleucid bronze coin apparently to be attributed to Aï
hoard are far from clear. The first notice of the existence of the Khanum with a bull with a man’s face on the obverse and an anchor
hoard came in this journal in 2001.1 The find was said originally to on the reverse. The obverse type is taken by Kritt to represent
have consisted of a thousand gold staters of Diodotus I, Diodotus II, worship of the river Oxus at Aï Khanum and is dated c. 285-280 on
and Euthydemus I, before the number was revised lower and local the basis of a series of similar coins with a legend indicating the co-
villagers melted down a number of coins, leaving Bopearachchi and regency of Seleucus I and Antiochus I. Kritt also suggests a symbol
Grigo to suggest an original find of around 70 coins, of which they on the reverse of the coin is consistent with the Brahmi jha
were only able to publish seven. Since the initial publication of the identified along with other characters by Narain on bricks from Aï
hoard Zeng has discovered a number of die links between coins said Khanum. In his final chapter Kritt takes this similarity and expands
to come from the find.2 Kritt (p.1) has identified ‘two hundred it in an effort to determine the composition of the control marks he
pieces attributable to the hoard’ from a preliminary search of has previously attributed to Aï Khanum, in particular the also
auction catalogues. Unfortunately, however, he does not give his found on bricks in the city. The method he employs is a comparison
criteria for attributing coins to the hoard, only implying (p. 37) that with the characters found on Indus seals of the Harappan culture,
simply an appearance on the coin market was enough for it to be the latest date for which he gives as 1300 BC. Kritt is aware of the
given this provenance. difficulties of making such a connection, and suggests that the
Much of the first chapter is given over to fitting in new varieties figure of the man-faced bull from the coin is analogous to the
and further examples of known types into the model of the coinages ‘chimaeras’ found on Indus seals. The substantial difference in time
of the Diodotids and Euthydemus I given in Dynastic Traditions. periods should immediately make one wary of any such connection
Kritt corrects some of Zeng’s interpretations and provides evidence (no matter what its nature) and it should be pointed out that the man-
of a further die link between the staters of Diodotus I and faced bull was a regular feature of Greek iconography when
Euthydemus. An interpretation of the hoard comes in the second depicting river gods, particularly in Sicily in the Classical period.
chapter. The Vaisali hoard is unusual for a number of reasons. Likewise, the vast majority of control marks at Aï Khanum can be
Coming from Bihar state in north-east India it is the furthest east resolved into Greek letter forms with no recourse to much earlier
that a hoard of Graeco-Bactrian coins has been found by some scripts. In this field there are certainly cases where iconography can
considerable margin. Bopearachchi and Grigo explained the fit a Mediterranean and South East Asian context, but it seems
location of the hoard by suggesting it was the result of trade between unlikely that this is such an example.
the Graeco-Bactrians and the Mauryan Empire. Kritt, however, The volume is well illustrated throughout (most images are
prefers a military explanation with the coins being taken east by black and white with a small proportion of colour plates), a feature
Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus I during his Indian campaigns. which is essential given the very detailed discussion of different
The state of many of the coins in the Vaisali hoard is another features of the various coinages, whose organisation often relies on
unusual feature. The majority of the coins have a chisel cut on the changes in small details. The work contained in this volume will be
obverse uniformly placed diagonally downwards from the top of the essential reading for scholars of the early Graeco-Bactrian kingdom
king’s head, but almost always avoiding the face. Coins with similar and the Seleucid presence in Central Asia and the debate it will
cuts are known from Bactria, but none of the Euthydemus staters doubtless spark is eagerly awaited.
have this peculiar feature, evidence Kritt correctly takes as showing
that this king was responsible for instituting the process of cutting Notes
the coins. Kritt cites examples of staters of Antiochus I from Aï 1. O. Bopearachchi and K. Grigo, ‘Thundering Zeus revisited’, JONS 169
(2001), 22-24.
Khanum with similar cuts and suggests (p. 34) that the feature was
2. C. Zeng, ‘Some notable die-links among Bactrian gold staters’, NC 173
intended to ‘depoliticize earlier issues’. The fact that only gold (2013), 73-78.
coins were treated in this way is not considered and must have had 3. J. Jakobbson, ‘Antiochus Nicator, the third king of Bactria?’, NC 170
some bearing, the cuts allowing the quality of the metal to be clearly (2010), 17-33.
visible. A number of new varieties of Diodotid staters are also
detailed and revisited in a brief third chapter in which Kritt sets out
the resulting revisions to his models of the coinages of all three
kings. Articles
Chapter four deals with new varieties of Parthian bronze coins
and a new interpretation of the Bujnurd hoard. Kritt concludes that
the beginning of Parthian coinage should be dated c. 215 BC. As THE STORY BEHIND PALESTINE’S
with the earlier model of coinage for Euthydemus, however, this ORPHANS AND THE 1947 JORDANIAN 500
dating relies on a fixed chronological point in the coinage in which
Kritt puts much faith. Around this point a number of assumptions MIL LOTTERY NOTE
lead to the extrapolation of a particular date, a dangerous process
that can lead to overly-confident results. By Tareq Ramadam
In his fifth chapter Kritt returns to the coins of the early Graeco-
Bactrian kingdom. We have here the first response to the suggestion In 1947, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan under King Abdullah I,
of Jens Jakobbson that there was in fact a previously unrecognised in conjunction with a civil society movement in Mandatory
king Antiochus who ruled between Diodotus II and Euthydemus I.3 Palestine, issued lottery tickets as a way to raise funds to support
One of Jakobbson’s supporting pieces of evidence for this new king Palestinian Arab orphans.
was that his rearrangement of the coinage was compatible with the The charitable society, known as the Arab Orphans Committee
fundamentals of the earlier models of Kritt and Holt, a claim which (or General Arab Committee for Orphans), was established in Haifa
is vehemently denied here by Kritt. The rebuttal of the Antiochus seven years earlier in 1940 as a non-profit NGO by Ahmad Samih
theory is on the whole convincing, particularly in its detailed Khalidi whose goal was to provide job-training and vocational
arguments about the organisation of the coinage models. The reason opportunities for Arab children who were orphaned as a result of
for the first coins of Diodotus I carrying the name of Antiochus is the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt in Palestine.1 The revolt, which was
still unclear, however, with Kritt only suggesting (p. 85) that harshly suppressed by British military and police forces, left
6
roughly 5,000 Palestinian Arabs dead, 10,000 wounded, and nearly winning prizes would be 21,500 Palestine Pounds (based on the sale
6,000 detained and/or imprisoned.2 Realizing the critical need to of 100,000 tickets).
educate a large segment of the Palestinian population, many of In regards to the layout of the note, its obverse imagery depicts
whom were now fatherless and facing serious financial two scenes of young boys engaging in skilled labor, while the
vulnerabilities, the Arab Orphans Committee, through the help of background and center of the note depicts what appears to be a
donors and the Jordanian government (and later, the German model of the trade school that the committee envisioned with rays
government) aimed to provide young men opportunities to acquire of light red projecting from it. The overall obverse colors include
trade skills at a newly-planned vocational institute near Haifa (and white, black, red, and light green while the right side of the obverse
later, Jerusalem). exhibits perforation with the left edge containing Arabic text (in
One such fundraising method involved the selling off of red) that is unclear due to the way the ticket was removed (from
lottery/raffle tickets, such as the one pictured below and which are what may possibly have been a single booklet).
rarely seen in numismatic and notaphilist circles today. The reverse of the note is divided into two columns that lay out
both the number of tickets as well as the number of potential prizes
(left) as well as the conditions (shurut) for the raffle drawing. The
guidelines reveal that the winner will be announced in the local
newspapers and that copies of the results will be sent to the two
aforementioned banks to distribute the prize monies.
Only two years after this lottery note was issued, the Jordanian
government adopted a new monetary system as a result of the
passing of the Provisional Act No. 35 of 1949 which led to the
establishment of the London-based Jordan Currency Board. As a
result, the Jordanian Dinar (JD) became Jordan’s official currency
on July 30, 1950 and the Palestine Pound (and by extension, the mil)
ceased to be accepted as legal tender a few months later on
Obverse of Jordanian 500 Mil Lottery Note September 30 of that same year.4 To reiterate, this lottery note, thus,
represents one of the few currency-related items issued by Jordan
while bearing the monetary unit of Mandatory Palestine and, by
extension, subsequently serves as an insightful snapshot of rapidly
shifting historical and political circumstances and their impact on
the formation of new national consciousnesses and identities over
time and space.
Notes
1. Phillip Mattar. (ed) Encyclopedia of the Palestinians, p. 279 (by Michael
R. Fischbach). Facts on File, Inc. New York, 2005.
2. Rashid Khalidi. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for
Statehood. Beacon Press. Boston, 2006, p. 107.
Reverse of Jordanian 500 Mil Lottery Note 3. For measurements of Palestine One Pound Note, see Howard M. Berlin.
The Coins and Banknotes of Palestine under the British Mandate 1927-
1947. McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers. Jefferson, N. Carolina,
These large-sized Jordanian-issued notes share virtually the same 2001, p. 62
dimensions as the Palestine One Pound note, both measuring 89 x 4. http://www.cbj.gov.jo/pages.php?menu_id=108
166 mm and are printed almost entirely in Arabic (save for the
inscription ‘No. 005613’ on the bottom left of the obverse). 3 ON THE UNIQUE DATED TETRADRACHM
Additionally, since Jordan did not issue its own banknotes until
1949 in the form of the Jordanian Dinar (the lowest denomination
OF ANTIOCHUS I
of paper currency being the ‘500 Fils’ note), these lottery notes still
bear the Palestinian monetary designation of ‘500 Mil’ (located on By Pankaj Tandoni
the top left and top right of the obverse), since the ‘mil’ and ‘pound’
were both used in Transjordan/Jordan for nearly three decades. In ONS Newsletter 159, Robert Senior published a remarkable coin
While circulation of the Palestine Pound persisted until 1950 in of the Seleucid king, Antiochus I, a silver tetradrachm featuring a
Jordan, by 1948, it had been supplanted in the new State of Israel date.ii Since that time, there has been quite a bit of discussion about
by the Anglo-Palestine Pound as the British Mandate’s Palestine this coin, but no clear resolution of its significance. Indeed, there
Currency Board stopped producing coins and banknotes for has not even been clarity on the reading of the legends on the coin.
Palestine by 1947. As I acquired the coin in 2003, and therefore have the advantage of
The aforementioned lottery note is a rather rare example of examining the coin in hand rather than through pictures, I thought
Jordan’s historic usage of the Palestinian mil as its official monetary it worthwhile to revisit the coin, to clarify at least the reading of the
unit on numismatic-related, state-sponsored material culture. legends, and then to offer my theory for the coin’s significance.
Elaborating on the note’s textual properties, a reading of the obverse
reveals that this series of raffle notes were a second issue and were
printed under the directive of His Majesty the Hashemite King
Abdullah ibn al-Hussein in cooperation with the Arab Orphans
Committee (in Haifa). Further, they were printed and sold via a
special permit acquired from the Council of Ministers of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The financial aid that would be
collected from their sale would go towards the development of a
modern vocational trade school near Haifa for the Arab orphans of
Palestine (construction of the school was completed in 1948).
The note also states that the unveiling of the winner will take
place in Amman on the first day of March, 1947 under the
supervision of a committee that the government will select while Figure 1: AR tetradrachm of Antiochus Iiii
the Jordanian-based ‘Arab Bank’ and the ‘Bank of the Arab Nation’
guaranteed payment for all raffle winners. The total value of all The coin is illustrated in Figure 1 and can be described as follows:
7
Obverse: Diademed head of king facing right, with two character and all details appear to match. A comparison of the coin
diadem ends hanging behind. with the dated coin, obtained by placing the dated coin on the plate
next to the McClean coin and taking a single photograph, is
Reverse: Nude Apollo with some drapery on his right presented in Figure 3.vii There are slight differences around the lips,
thigh seated left on an omphalos, holding two which could be the result of differences in the strikes or of
arrows in his right hand and leaning his left differences in the lighting when the coins were photographed. viii If
hand on a bow, legend at right in two lines: the two coins do not share an obverse die, it cannot be denied that
MHNOΣ ΞA / BAΣIΛEΩΣ, legend above, the size of the head on the two coins is virtually identical, in contrast
upside down: ETEI, monogram of Ai- to the comparison of the dated coin with SC 430.2a. The two coins,
Khanoum (Δ within a circle) in left field. however, certainly do not share a reverse die; the reverse of the
Details: Weight: 16.94 gm, diameter: 26 mm, die axis: McClean coin can be seen in the illustration of both sides of the coin
6 o’clock. in Figure 4.ix There are numerous differences between this reverse
and the reverse of the dated coin. Therefore, it is not clear whether
Let us first discuss the portrait. Given that the name of the king is the McClean coin was also dated. The areas of the coin where the
not visible on the reverse, we need to look at the portrait to make a date elements would be present are off the flan, so it is difficult to
determination of the issuer of the coin. Senior attributed it to determine this one way or another. But the McClean coin does show
Antiochus I, saying that the portrait was his “as it appears on his a clear name in the left field: ANTIOXOY, and therefore it seems
initial issues in his own name with horses-head reverse.” A few reasonable to suppose that this was present also on the dated coin.
years after Senior’s article, the coin appeared in a Triton Auction. iv
The cataloguer of the auction also attributed the coin to Antiochus
I, on the grounds that it was struck from the same obverse die as
McClean pl. 336, 2.v Finally, Houghton, et.al. included the coin in
the Addenda and Corrigenda to Seleucid Coins Part I in Part II of
Seleucid Coins,vi and attributed it to the same king on the grounds
that it shared the same obverse die with SC 430.2a (= ESM 694)
and SC 437 (= ESM 696). Thus there is unanimity on the attribution
of the coin to Antiochus I, although with slightly different
arguments for why this attribution is correct.
Figure 4: The McClean Coin

Returning to SC 430.2a and SC 437, although the dated coin does
not share its obverse die with them, the fact that several authors felt
that it did is proof positive that the styles of the three coins very
closely resemble one another. There can be little doubt that the
obverse die of the dated coin was cut by the same hand that cut the
obverse die of those two coins, and at around the same time. This
observation will be important in understanding the significance of
the coin.
Figure 2: Size Comparison of SC 430.2a and the dated coin Now let us turn to the legends. The word BAΣIΛEΩΣ is
uncontroversial, and almost certainly was accompanied by the word
I agree with this attribution also, but would like to point out that the
ANTIOXOY in the part of the left field that is off the flan. The name
dated coin does not share its obverse die with SC 430.2a or SC 437.
ANTIOXOY on the McClean coin is carved far enough to the left
As Senior pointed out in his original article, the “dies are medallic,
of Apollo’s hand that it seems reasonable to suppose that it was
being much larger than normal and omitting the dotted border.” In present on the dated coin also. Also uncontroversial is the reading
particular, the head of the king is significantly larger on the dated
of the first part of the date. Senior read it as MHNOΣ ΞA – month
coin than on the others, which is confirmed both through careful
of Xa(ndikos) – and this has not been contradicted by anybody. The
measurements and, rather more obviously, by placing the coin side-
ambiguity arises over the year. Senior suggested the possibility that
by-side with the illustrated coins. Figure 2 shows a single
the top legend read ETEI – year 15 – but was not sure about it and
photograph of SC 430.2a next to the dated coin, made by placing
therefore did not reach a “definite conclusion … concerning the
the dated coin on the page in SC next to coin 430.2a. The difference
complete inscription nor the meaning of this remarkable coin, nor
in the size of the head is obvious. Once that becomes clear, it is easy
even the certainty of its issuer.” The cataloguer of the coin in the
to see many differences in the details of the portrait: for example, in
Triton Auction agreed with Senior’s reading of the month, but read
the hair curls and the shape of the diadem ends. Even the shape of
the “years” portion of the legend as ETEIS – years – and indicated
the face is different. Thus the dated coin does not share its obverse
that there was no number following this. Houghton, et. al. returned
die with SC 430.2a or SC 437.
to Senior’s reading and stated without equivocation that the legend
was ETEI – year 15. In a subsequent discussion on the Seleukids
discussion group,x however, doubts have been expressed about this
reading. In particular, the idea that there is another letter following
ETEI has been floated, the letter perhaps being Σ, N or X.
Figure 5 shows a detail of this part of the legend. We can see
that there is indeed the hint of a letter after the very clear ETEI.
However, a close examination in hand reveals that this additional
“letter” is not in the same plane as the first four letters of the legend.
Indeed, it is quite clear that the entire ground underneath the legend
is rough and appears to have been disturbed. My best guess is that
the celator first carved a longer word, perhaps ETOYΣ (to be
Figure 3: Comparison of the McClean coin with the dated coin
consistent with the earlier MHNOΣ), intending to follow it with the
It may, however, share its obverse die with the coin from the date, but then realized he had run out of room on the flan. He then
McClean collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum, identified by the recarved the legend, shortening the first word to ET and then
cataloguer of the Triton auction. This coin is also medallic in
8
following it with the date.xi It is quite clear that the intended legend hundreds first, followed by the tens, with the units coming last, perhaps
is ETEI, year 15. following the convention being used here.
xii. Arthur Houghton and Catherine Lorber: Seleucid Coins A
Comprehensive Catalogue. Part I Seleucus I through Antiochus III, New
York and Lancaster, PA: The American Numismatic Society and Classical
Numismatic Group, 2002, p. 151.
MORE ABOUT THE VERY RARE

GEORGIAN COINS FROM MEGRELIA
WITH THE MINTNAME DĀDIYĀN
By Alexander V. Akopyan (Moscow)
Figure 5: Detail of the “year” part of the legend The Dadiani was the family name of the Princes of Odishi, who
ruled in the region of Samegrelo or Megrelia (Western Georgia) in
What might be the significance of this date? Houghton, et. al, the twelth-seventeenth centuries. The name of this ruling family
observed that, if the date is measured in years since the accession of became eponymous for the name of this province in Persian and
Antiochus I to sole kingship, year 15 would be 266 BCE. They Ottoman Turkish — ‫داديان‬. The centre of the principality of Megrelia
continue: “This date corresponds roughly to the execution of (Dādiyān) was the city of Zugdidi (see map, Fig 1).
Antiochus’ son and coregent Seleucus (Trog. Prol. 26), who was
still alive in 267 (SEG XXV 1170). It is thus possible that his
younger son, the future Antiochus II, was elevated to the coregency
in 266 and that the date inscribed on this tetradrachm
commemorates his accession, but this suggestion is entirely
speculative.”
In the absence of hard facts, we are indeed forced to speculate,
but I would like to add one more element to this speculation. I have
already pointed out that the dated coin was cut by the same hand
and at the same time as SC 430.2a and SC 437. The first of these
coins has a horse-head reverse, while the second one has the Apollo
on omphalos reverse. Thus the dated coin was issued around the
same time as the mint at Ai-Khanoum finally converted to the
Apollo reverse. As Houghton and Lorber point out, this conversion
“almost certainly occurred later than at other major mints.”xii The
dated coin now gives us a more precise idea of when this conversion
likely took place: in March 266 BCE. Further, the dated coin
perhaps celebrates not the elevation of the future Antiochus II to Fig. 1. Ottoman-Safavid border according to the Treaty of
coregency but his arrival in Ai-Khanoum to take up residence in the Zuhāb, 1639, the states of Eastern Georgia, and mints ()
eastern capital. We have never been sure if he ever did this, only in the Southern Caucasus operating during the reign of
presuming that he probably did, in the same way as his father did ‘Abbās II1.
during the reign of Seleucus I. This coin gives us a little more
confidence in what continues to be a speculative suggestion. In the seventeenth century, Megrelia occupied the eastern coastal
area of the Black Sea, and bordered, in the south, the Ottomans and
Notes
i. Boston University. A version of this paper was presented at the New York the politically less significant principality of Guria and, in the east,
meeting of the Oriental Numismatic Society, January 9, 2016. In thinking the Kingdom of Imeret‘i and the Persian-controlled Kingdom of
about this coin, I had helpful e-mail exchanges with Richard Ashton, Jens K‘art‘li. For part of that period, Megrelia (Dādiyān) lay on the only
Jacobsson, Don Squires, Lloyd Taylor and especially the late Chris Bennett. trade route from Persia and the kingdom of K‘art‘li to the basin of
Scott vanHorn and Adi Popescu were kind enough to supply me with scans the Black Sea that bypassed the Ottoman Empire, which was
of the relevant pages of the Grose book on the McClean collection. unfriendly to the Persians. Due to its strategical position, Megrelia
ii. R.S. and A.H.: “Two Remarkable Bactrian Coins,” Oriental Numismatic (Dādiyān) saw the production of the most unusual coins in Georgian
Society Newsletter 159, Spring 1999, pp. 11-12.
and Safavid numismatics.
iii.Tandon collection, inventory number 383. A full color enlargement of the
coin is available at http://coinindia.com/galleries-greek-antiochos.html. The Italian missionary, Archangelo Lamberti, in his The
iv. Classical Numismatic Group, Triton VI lot 447, January 14-15, 2003. Description of Colchis mentioned that the Armenian merchants,
v. S. W. Grose: Fitzwilliam Museum Catalogue of the McClean collection invited by Prince Levan II Dadiani (1611–1657), introduced in
of Greek coins, Cambridge: University Press, 1929. Megrelia the use of Iranian-type coins. These Armenian merchants
vi. Arthur Houghton, Catherine Lorber, and Oliver Hoover: Seleucid Coins were settled by the prince in a special “new town” (apparently called
A Comprehensive Catalogue. Part II Seleucus IV through Antiochus XIII, Rukhi) near Zugdidi (one of this towns where the mint may have
New York and Lancaster, PA: The American Numismatic Society and been located2). They were the first to introduce a special market-
Classical Numismatic Group, 2008, p. 647.
place and custom-made shops in Megrelia. The connection of
vii. The difference in the color of the background under the dated coin is the
result of my having placed a sheet of paper there to obscure the images of Armenians with trading and the production of coins was a common
the other coins on the plate. practice for Iran3 and Ottoman Turkey. The reasons for Prince
viii. I am indebted to Sam Kazmi for making this observation. Levan II striking coins in Dādiyān were to obtain profit from the
ix. I am grateful to Adi Popescu for supplying me with a high quality scan reminting of incoming foreign silver (as in Persia) and also for
of the image of the coin from Grose. A digital photograph of the coin was purposes of trade with Persia. There was, however, no need for
not available. coined money among the locals, who mostly used barter.4 It is very
x. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/seleukids/conversations/ remarkable that Megrelia was never conquered by the Safavids or
topics/2134
submitted to them, yet under the influence of the Armenian
xi. Senior had remarked that, if the date was intended to be 15, the numbers
were out of order – they should have read IE. However, “backward” dates merchants, who had close ties with Iran, it was precisely Safavid-
were not uncommon on Greek coins and later Parthian dates all placed the type silver coins that were struck there. It was the direction of
9
bullion flow from coastal Megrelia to inland Persia that was the key of coin 1, the metal content, the layout of the inscription and the
reason for choosing to strike these local coins in this way. content of the inscription coincide with that of Iranian coins of the
Thanks to the recent article by I. Paghava,5 in which he gave an same year. But there are lot of differences in the engraving style of
account of coin-production in Dadian, we now have clear the coins’ inscription in comparision with contemporary Safavid
confirmation of coins having been produced at this mint. According coins from Iranian mints. This clearly shows the non-Iranian origin
to this investigation, however, a group of four crudely struck of this coin (cf. Fig. 4 and 5 — coins of the nearest Iranian mints,
Safavid–type coins (three of which were previously decribed as Tiflīs AH 105611 and Īravān AH 105712 with calligraphically
having been struck in Dādiyān6) should be excluded from executed graceful inscriptions both in nasta‘līq and in naskh).
consideration, as, according to Paghava, the mintname on them
cannot be read as ‫( داديان‬see Fig. 2).7
Fig. 4. ‘Abbās II, ‘abbāsī, Tiflīs, AH 1056/ AD 1646-7.

Fig. 2. One of the coins previously described as struck in
“Dādiyān”, “AH 1053,” but which has now been excluded
from this mint’s production8.
The only confirmed specimen of the Dādiyān mint at the time of

Paghava’s research was a dateless coin in the Tübingen collection
(no. 91-1-120)9, struck by Levan III Dadiani (1661–1680) in the
time of Shāh Sulaymān, in his type A, i.e. the type struck during the
years AH 1079–1081/ AD 1668–1670. Since the time the
aforementioned article was published, two more coins struck in
Dādiyān have became known.10 The first of them bears a clear Fig. 5. ‘Abbās II, ‘abbāsī, Īravān, AH 1057/ AD 1647-8.
inscription, like the Tübingen specimen, whereas the second coin
shows degradation of the inscription style (but different from that Despite its crudity, the engraving style of coin 1 does allow us to
which characterises the coins of the excluded group). read the whole legend, but some pecularities of the last line should
be especially noted. The letter bā of the word ‫ ضرب‬has an
exaggeratedly high beginning. That is not very unusual for cursive
nasta‘līq writing, but it is very uncommon for coin calligraphy. The
two letters dāl in the mintname were engraved differently: the first
is bigger and the second is much smaller, in rā-like form. It should
be noted, that on the Tübingen coin the two letters dāl were also
engraved in a different size and style. Perhaps this reflected some
nasta‘līq stylistic ban on writing the same letter more than once in
the one word the same way. The ālīf of the group ‫ يا‬in the mintname
is traversed by a thin line, that is possibly only a bit of īslīmī
(arabesque) background decoration, widely used on Safavid silver
Fig. 3. Levan II Dadiani in the name of ‘Abbās II, ‘abbāsī,
coins.
Dādiyān, AH 1056/ AD 1646-7.
Lamberti mentioned, that “the prince has a mint, where every
year coins for some thousands scudo were struck.”13 Taking into
Coin 1 (weight – 7.27g, diameter – 23 mm, Fig. 3). Obv. Shī‘a
account the weight of a Genoese trade scudo for the Levant,
kalima in five lines:
27.25g14 (equal to ca. 3½ ‘abbāsī), each thousand of these scudi
‫ لي هللا‬/ ‫ علي و‬/ ‫ رسول هللا‬/ ‫ مح ّمد‬/ ‫ال إله إال هللا‬ accounts for up to three and a half thousand ‘abbāsī, so we have to
expect no less than seven thousands ‘abbāsī per year. Was this
there is no god except Allāh, Muḥammad is the messenger of amount correct? Presumably not. For the last two hundred years
Allāh, ‘Alī is close to Allāh. only a very small number of Dādiyān coins have come to light, so
it seems that the mint output was greatly exaggerated by Archangelo
This legend is surrounded by a linear, dotted and another linear
Lamberti. On the other hand, Jean Chardin informs us that “the
border.
Prince of Mingrelia, who died twenty years ago, began to strike
Rev. The following inscription in three lines: coins, but it did not last long, because silver imports into the country
were limited, and in the country, itself, silver was not mined.”15
/ ‫ زد از توفيق حق عباس ثاني‬/ ‫بگيتي سكۀ صاحبفراني‬ But these ‘abbāsīs were struck, so why are they so extremely
١۵۶ ‫ضرب داديان‬ rare? During the systematic archeological research that took place
in Georgia during the Soviet period, it was reasonable to expect
In the world, ‘Abbās the second, by favour of God, struck the coins some finds of these coins from here, but none were made. But one
of Ṣāḥibqirānī, struck in Dādiyān, 1[0]56. needs to bear in mind that Archangelo Lamberti explicitly noted that
the locals did not use coins, and if they were forced to use them,
The visible borders are a linear and a dotted one.
they preferred foreign ones (Hungarian, Italian, Spanish or
This earliest-known dated coin of Dādiyān provides very Georgian).16 This state of affairs is confirmed by the total absence
important evidence for confirming the terminus anti quem for the of Dādiyān coins finds in Georgia. Thus, all the Dādiyān coins must
origin of the coins struck in AH 1056/1646-7 AD — during the reign have gone to Iran. But once in Iran, at the first mint beyond the
of Levan II Dadian, truly as Archangelo Lamberti noted. The weight border (whether this was Tiflīs or Īravān), they were under Iranian
fiscal jurisdiction and had to be reminted into Iranian coinage, like
10
any other silver coins issued outside of Iran.17 For Iranian officials al. Standard Catalog of World Coins. Seventeenth Century 1601–1700. 4th
these coins were apparently the same as any other European silver Edition. Iola (WI), 2008. P. 1030, no. 163.13; P. 1031, no. 169.2).
coins — they were foreign and were subject to melting. 7. For detailed discussion see: Paghava I. Op. cit. P. 132–134.
8. My thanks to S. Goron for the photo of this coin (weight — 7.1g,
It could well be that because it was well known at the time that
diameter — 20mm) and for the idea of including it in this article.
the coins would be melted down in Iran and reminted, the engravers 9. Information from Steve Album, who apparently first added this
began to take even less care in their engraving, which led to mintname in the Krause Catalog under the Iran section (Standard Catalog
increased crudity in style, as can be seen in the following, second of World Coins. Seventeenth Century… P. 1023).
coin. This coin is the “descendant” of the previous coin but bears 10. Both coins in private collections, Russia. They are the only coins of
very crude inscriptions. Dādiyān offered for almost the past 20 years.
11. Zeno, no. 11112.
12. Zeno, no. 85474.
13. Arkandzhelo Lamberti. P. 174.
14. Standard Catalog of World Coins. Seventeenth Century… P. 1061, no.
15. Weights of the silver scudo of the other Italian states in the seventeenth
century varies from 26g up to 36g and was not constant even in the one
state (cf. Op. cit. P. 1051–1144).
15. My translation from: J. Chardin. Voyages du Chevalier Chardin en
Perse et autres Lieux d’Orient… T. 1er. Paris, 1811. P. 186. Cited by:
Pagava I. Op. cit. P. 130.
16. Arkandzhelo Lamberti. P. 174.
17. Matthee R., Floor W., Clawson P. Op. cit. P. 5.
18. Del Mar A. Money and Civilization. London, 1886. P. 348.
19. Chekhanovets Y. Gruzinskaya tserkov’ na Svyatoy Zemle. Moscow,
Fig. 6. Unknown Dadiani prince in the name of ‘Abbās II,
2012. P. 77. [The Georgian Church in the Holy Land].
‘abbāsī of crude style and light weight, Dādiyān, no date.
SOME NOVEL PRE-ISLAMIC COINS
Coin 2 (weight – 7.00g, diameter – 23 mm, Fig. 6). The inscriptions
on the coin are the same as on Coin 1, except for the omitted date FROM CENTRAL ASIA
and the engraving style, which is much cruder. By Shinji Hirano
The weight of this coin, also shows a slight reduction from the Recent progress in Central Asian numismatics is full of surprises
standard weight of the ‘abbāsīs of ‘Abbās II, 7.37g. As this coin is because new and previously unknown of coins continue to appear.
dateless, it is impossible to associate it with any particular Dadiani Here, I describe some coins that I have encountered in recent years
Prince of Megrelia. which appear to be unpublished.
The great rarity of the coins of Dādiyān is due to the reasons for The pictures and illustrations of the coins are shown enlarged and
their production. These coins were not even intended for foreign accompanied by a 1cm scale bar.
transactions by Levan II, himself. For example, in the order for the In inscriptions < > represents visible parts of characters and [ ]
renovation of the famous Georgian Monastery of the Cross in represents broken parts.
Jerusalem (Georgian Jvaris Monasteri) dated 1643, Levan II
No.1. A novel Turgesh coin
bestowed two thousand aslanis (i.e. leeuwendalders)18, but none of
his own coins.19
So it seems that only by accident did four specimens survive the
melting-pot in Iran to become known to us despite almost 200 years
of intense research in the field of Georgian numismatics: one in the
Tübingen collection, the two published in this article, and one now
kept in a private collection in Georgia. One coin (the one in the
private collection, Georgia) was purchased in Iran, whereas the two
coins in this article were purchased from Western auctions. Their
provenance, however, can also probably be traced back to Iran, as
can that of the coin in the Tübingen collection.
For all these reasons, the coins of Dādiyān are amongst the
rarest of Georgian coins, and it is no wonder that such prominent
Georgian numismatists as V. Langlois, Prince M. P. Baratayev, E.
A. Pakhomov and D. G. Kapanadze did not mentioned coins of
Dādiyān in their general surveys of Georgian numismatics.
Notes
1. The fifth mint in the Southern Caucasus, Shimakhī, is off the map.
2. Paghava I. Chekanka sevefidskoy monetï v vostochnom
Weight: 5.4g, bronze
Prichernomor’ye. In: Vostochnaya numizmatika v Ukraine. Chast’ III.
Ulus Dzhuchi, Krïmskoe khanstvo i sopredel’nïe gosudarstva v XIII–XVIII Obv. a legend <βγy twrkyš x’γ’n >
vv. Sbornik publikatsiy. Ed. by K. Khromov. Kiev, 2013. P. 136 [Safavid Rev. a word <pny > and a few unknown tamghas
Coinage in the Region of the eastern Black Sea; in Russian]. The reader is The legend clearly shows that this is a Turgesh coin. However, some
referred to this detailed article for particulars about the numismatic history unknown tamghas or symbols are on the reverse. Provenance of this
of Dādiyān. coin is unknown.
3. Matthee R., Floor W., Clawson P. The Monetary History of Iran. From
the Safavids to the Qajars. NY, 2013. P. 14. No.2 An unknown coin with a novel tamgha
4. My translation from: Arkandzhelo Lamberti. Opisanie Kolkhidï, This coin looks like a Chach coin with an unknown tamgha on the
nazïvaemoy teper’ Mingreliey. Transl. K. F. Gan. Tiflis, 1911. P. 174–175. reverse. The portrait itself is reminiscent of that of Ferghana coins.
[Transl. from: Archangelo Lamberti. Relatione della Colchide hoggi detta The provenance of this coin is not known.
Mengrellia. Napoli, 1654]
5. Pagava I. Op. cit. P. 125–142.
6. Goron S. The Coinage of the Safavid ruler, ‘Abbās II up to AH 1060 //
ONSN 177 (Autumn 2003). P. 17–19. Two of these ‘abbāsī seem to have
been listed previously in the Krause Catalog — with date AH 1053 of type
A, and without date of type B1 (C. R. Bruce II, Th. Michael, H. Miller at
11
No.4
Weight: 1.3g, bronze broken?

Obv. ruler's face Weight: 2.1g, bronze
Rev. an unknown tamgha and a legend < ]m’t > . This coin seems to be a small denomination of the No.3 coin. The
two coins were associated though there particular provenance is
No.3 & 4 Coins with a goblet tamgha unknown.
No.3
No.5 A novel Samarkand coin
The present coin seems to be a Samarkand coin because of its
tamgha although the provenance is not known. It is possible that
this is an earlier issue of Samarkand coins such as Smirnova type
33. This coins small diameter is due to it being unusually thick.

Obv. a goblet-like tamgha
Rev. upper line < nwr'nt or nwb'nt or nwy'nt ?? >, lower line
< rwdh >
The coin bears a goblet-like tamgha on one side and a two line
inscription on the other side. The goblet-like tamgha is similar to a Weight: 1.8g, bronze
coin previous published in this journal (see Hirano, JONS 2008). Obv. ruler's face with a crescent ornament
The provenance of this coin is not known but it was associated with rev. a Samarkand tamgha on the center and two words < x’γ’n >
an example of the previously published type. The meaning of the on the right and <prn> on the left.
upper line of the legend has not been determined yet. The legend
<rwdh> on the reverse is possibly to be related to the word <rwd>, No.6 Another novel Samarkand coin
which means "bronze". It should be noted that < rwδk > means
bronze coin instead of <pny> in the era of the Ancient Letters (4th
BCE).
12
Weight: 1.4g, bronze No.9 A Novel coin of Chinese cash type
Obv. ruler's face with a crescent ornament
Rev. a Samarkand tamgha in the center surrounded by an inscription
The appearance of this coin is quite similar to No.5 Samarkand coin
but the unreadable legends seem to be different. The provenance is
not known.
No.7 A Novel coin with a Samarkand tamgha

Obv. unreadable Sogdian legend.
Rev. two tamghas
This coin is a large Chinese cash-type coin. The legend is
reminiscent of Smirnova 657 but distinct. The two tamghas on the
reverse are not clear, and it is not certain if the left tamgha is of
Samarkand or not. Thus the attribution of this coin remains
Weight: 2.1g, bronze Scale bar: 1cm unclear. The provenance is not known.
Obv. ruler's face with a crescent ornament and the letters are
possibly a part of < x’γ’n >. No.10. A novel coin with an unknown tamgha
Rev. ruler's face with a crescent ornament a Samarkand tamgha on
the left and a legend on the right. Only a few letters < xw(...)[ ] >
can be readable, and they may be a part of the word queen <
xw(ty)[nh].
This coin bears the rulers' (?) faces on both sides with Sogdian
legends and a Samarkand tamgha. Several types of Samarkand
coins with a Samarkand tamgha are known. For example, in
addition to the coins above No.5 and No. 6 coins, Smirnova type 1,
type 26, and type 33 bear a Samarkand tamgha on the center of the
reverse whereas Smirnova type 1660 bears a Samarkand tamgha not
on the center. However, the relationship between the present coin
and other Samarkand coins remains elusive. The provenance is not
known.
No.8 A Tirmidh coin
This coin is published on zeno 117760, and it seems to be a Tirmidh
coin. The legend may represent the ruler's name. The provenance is
not known.

Obv. ruler's face with a legend?
Rev. unknown tamgha.
The tamgha is reminiscent of that of some Hephtalite coins. The
provenance is not known.
No.11. A variety of Bukharan coin with a legend

Obv. an anchor-like tamgha and a legend <’pδ(p.) >
Rev. 3 lines of Sogdian legends; line 1/ < [ ](..)w[ ] >, line 2/
<xwβw > (lord), line3/ < kwyr-β(r) >
13
No.14 A unknown coin with a ruler's portrait
Obv. a camel with a legend. <cyrδ-’[ ]>
Rev. a fire altar
The Bukharan type with a camel and fire altar is relatively common.
However, this coin bears a legend above the camel, < cyrδ >, which
could be a part of a Sogdian name, perhaps a ruler. Provenance is
not known.
No.12 A variety of Chach coin
Weight: 1.6g, bronze,

Obv. ruler's face
Rev. unknown tamgha?
This coin is rather compact and thick. The provenance of this coin
is not known.
No.15. A novel coin with ruler's face and legend

Obv. an animal and a word <prn>
Rev. a tamgha and a legend.
This coin seems to be a new variety of coin of the ruler Sochak of
Chach (Shagarov & Kuzunozov type 231). The regular type bears a
word <xwbw> above the animal whereas this coin bears the word
<prn>. The legend on the reverse seems to be < [ ]tšry xw[β?] >.
The provenance is not known.
No.13. A novel coin with an unknown tamgha

Obv. a ruler's face
Rev. two lines of legend
The legend is not certain but could be < mw/cwr> or <’mp-cwr>, a
Turkish name written in mirror-image Sogdian letters. Alternatively
the legend could be written corrupt in Greek characters. The
provenance is not known.
No.16 An unknown coin or medal with a tamgha

Obv. a ruler's face
Rev. an unknown tamgha
As the provenance of the present coin is not known and it does not
bear any legend its identity is unclear. The appearance and tamgha
are reminiscent to those of Hephtalite coin (ex. Album Auction 15
lot 55).
14
Weight: 0.5g, bronze Shagalov, V.D. & A.V. Kuznetsov. Catalogue of coins of Chach
Obv. an unknown tamgha III-VIII A.D.2006. Edition FAN Academy of science of the
Rev. an incuse of unknown tamgha republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent.
This coin is very thin, resulting in a repousse effect. The Smironova. O.I. Svodnyæi katalog Sogdiæiskikh monet : bronza.
provenance is not known. Moscow. 1981.
Zeno-Ru, Oriental Coins Database.
No.17 A notable variant of the Shishpir coin http://www.zeno ru/showphoto.php?photo=117760+
KUSHAN COINS IN THE DEPARTMENT

OF COINS AND MEDALS, THE NATIONAL
MUSEUM IN WARSAW
Emilia Smagur
The collection of the Department of Coins and Medals of the
National Museum in Warsaw consisting of over 250,000 items is
the largest numismatic collection in Poland and one of the largest in
Europe. The creation of the collection dates back to 1921, when the
Collection of Polish Coins was set up based on the Count Kazimierz
Sobański’s collection bequeathed by him to the National Museum
in Warsaw.
In the same year Władysław Semerau-Siemianowski donated to
the Museum his ancient coins collection comprising over 30,000
items which he assembled when he worked as a physician in the
Balkans, along the Black Sea coast and in Constantinople. At
Weight: 3.6g, bronze present the Collection of Ancient Coins consists of over 40,000
Obv. < šyšpyr > < MLK’> items representative of the whole ancient coinage (Romanowski
Rev. two tamghas 2012a: 3-4; 2012b). They include, among others, Oriental coins:
The coin, Smirnova type 48, of Ikhusid Shishpir is well-known. Greek-Bactrian, Parthian, Indo-Scythian, Kushan, and Sasanians.
Smirnova 48 bears four tamghas on the reverse whereas this coin The collection of Kushan coins is small and has not yet been
bears only two tamghas like the later series of Samarkand coins published1.
(e.g. Ikhshid Wurk Varatamuk, Smirnova type 301). As only this The National Museum in Warsaw is one of the co-organizers of
example is known it is difficult to determine if this coin is a mule the XVI International Numismatic Congress that will take place in
or new type. 2021 in Warsaw. This date marks the centenary of the Department
and shall be accompanied by an opening of the new numismatic
No.18 Kai Yuan Tong Bao with Sogdian legends exhibition. The occasion will also offer Oriental numismatists who
It is well known that local Kai Yuan Tong Bao were issued in attend the Congress the opportunity to get acquainted with Oriental
Samarkand (Smirnova 43) and in Bukhara (Smirnova 1379). This is coins held in Poland.
another type of local Kai Yuan Tong Bao with Sogdian legends. The collection of Kushan coins consists of five Soter Megas
Though possibly from Northern Tokharistan the provenance is not (Vima Takto) coins, four Vima Kadphises’ coins, three Kanishka
known. I’s coins and one Vasudeva I’s coin. These coins were acquired in
different ways. Most of them were bought in the 1970s and 1980s
from DESA2. One of them was officially transferred by the
Regional Liquidation Office in Wroclaw3 in 1946 and two were
donated by individuals4. Unfortunately, it is impossible to establish
the place where they were found or their original place of
acquisition.
In this note the ruling periods, attribution to the mint, as well as
inscriptions on coins are quoted according to the latest catalogue of
Kushan coins from the collection of the American Numismatic
Society (Jongeward and Cribb 2015: table 2). References are given
according to the same catalogue, and in some cases to Göbl’s work
(1984).
Soter Megas coins (c. AD 90 – 113)
Copper didrachms (c. 8.5 g)
Coin 1
Obverse: Mithra, head and shoulders bust facing right; hair with
two rolls of curls above diadem with circular loop and two ties,
Weight: 2.2g, bronze and one roll of curls below; rays emanating from his head;
Obv. Kai Yan Tong Bao (written with Chinese characters) wearing cloak clasped above naked shoulder; holding an arrow in
Rev. unreadable Sogdian legend raised hand; tamga behind head. All within the dotted boarder.
Acknowledgement Reverse: Horseman (king?) riding a horse to right; wearing
I am grateful to Prof. Yutaka Yoshida (Kyoto Univ.) for his reading Phrygian cap with two long diadem ties; raised hand holding pick-
of Sogdian legends and his interpretations. axe; three pronged tamga below horse’s head. Greek inscription:
BAΣIΛEΥ[Σ] BAΣIΛEΥΩN ΣΩTHP MEΓAΣ
Bibliography
Hirano, S. Some novel pre-Islamic coins. ONS Newsletter 192,
19-20. 2007
Stephen Album Rare Coins, Auction 14, 2012
15
Wima Kadphises coins (c. AD 113 – 127)
Obverse: King, full figure, standing frontally with head to left,
bearded; wearing headdress; knee-length tunic, trousers and boots,
all under a cloak over both shoulders, long sword suspended from
strap; sacrificing at small altar (with slab above and below central
column) with extended right hand; trident in left field; club and
tamga in right field. Greek inscription: BAΣIΛEΥΣ BAΣIΛEΩN
Museum number: NPO 49089 ΣΩTHP MEΓAΣ OOHMO KAΔΦIΣHΣ
Details: weight: 8.24 g; diameter: 19.7 x 19.8 mm; die axis: 12 Reverse: Oesho, mountain god, with three heads; standing
h. Obtained from DESA in 1972. frontally, head to left, erect lingam; wearing dhoti; holding trident
References: Jongeward/Cribb 177-206 vertically in right hand, left hand rest on hump of bull, nandipada in
Comments: late phase, cursive lettering style; three-pronged left field. All within the dotted border. Kharosthi inscription:
tamga on obverse and reverse maharajasa rajadirajasa sarvaloga’iśvarasa mahisvarasa v’ ima
Coin 2 kathpiśasa tradara
References: all examples are Göbl 762; Jongeward/Cribb 274-
299
Comments: all examples are main mint, bilingual series
Coin 6
Copper tetradrachms (c. 16 g.)
Museum number: NPO 49091

Details: weight: 8.56 g; diameter: 20.7 x 20.4 mm; die axis: 1 h.
Obtained from DESA in 1984.
References: Jongeward/Cribb 147-156
Comments: early phase, square lettering style
Coin 3
Details: weight: 17.23 g; diameter: 27.2 x 26.8 mm; die axis:
11h. Obtained from DESA in 1972.
Coin 7

Details: weight: 7.90g; diameter: 20.2 x 19.8 mm; die axis: 11 h
Obtained from Stefan Gacki in 1970.
Comments: late phase, cursive lettering style; three-pronged
tamga on obverse and reverse
Coin 4 Museum number: NPO 49082
Details: weight: 15.80 g; diameter: 26.7 x 25.7 mm; die axis: 12
h. Obtained from DESA in 1972.
Coin 8
Museum number: 165933

h. Obtained from the Regional Liquidation Office in Wroclaw in
1946.
References & Comments: as previous, with possible cuts on the
edge of the coin (?) Museum number: NPO 49083
Coin 5
h. Obtained from DESA in 1972.
Copper hemidrachm (c. 2 g)
Coin 9

Details: weight: 2.02 g; diameter: 13.5 x 13.4 mm ; die axis: 1 h.
Obtained from DESA in 1984.
Comments: early phase, square lettering style; three-pronged
tamga on reverse Museum number: 220490
Details: weight: 16.97 g; diameter: 27.3 x 26.6 mm; die axis:
11 h. Obtained from Zygmunt Zadorowicz in 1961.
16
Kanishka I coins (c. AD 127 – 151) Vasudeva I coin (c. AD 190 – 230)
Copper tetradrachms (c. 16 g.) Copper unit (c. 8 g)
Coin 10 Coin 13
Obverse: King, full figure, standing frontally with head to left, Obverse: King standing facing left, head surrounded by halo,
bearded; wearing headdress; knee-length tunic, trousers and boots, wearing helmet, armour and boots, holding trident in left hand,
all under a cloak over both shoulders, sword suspended from strap; making an offering at fire altar with extended right hand. Long
sacrificing at small altar (with slab above and below central column) sword at waist. Trident in left field above the altar. Bactrian
with extended right hand, holds spear with left hand. Bactrian inscription: ϸAONANOϸAO BAZOΔHO KOϸANO
inscription: ϸAO KANHϸKI Reverse: Oesho, mountain god, two-armed, one-headed, hair in
Reverse: Buddha Shakyamuni, standing frontally, head surrounded topknot, erect lingam, standing facing before bull, bull to left;
by halo, hair in top knot; wearing monastic robes, making gesture wearing dhoti; probably holding diadem in extended right hand and
of reassurance with open right hand, left hand above waist; tamga in raised left hand a trident. Tamga in the right field. All within a
in the left field inside inscription. All within the dotted boarder. dotted border. Bactrian inscription: OHϸO
Bactrian inscription: [C]AKAMA-NO BOYΔO
Museum number NPO 49086

Museum number NPO 49087 h.
Details: weight: 15.25 g; diameter: 24.1 x 23.9 mm; die axis: 11 Obtained from DESA in 1972.
h. Obtained from DESA in 1972. References: ?
References: Gobl 786; Jongeward/Cribb 616 Comments: main mint
Comments: main mint, late phase; four cuts on the edge of the
coin Notes
1
The author has been granted the finances for the preparation of her doctoral
Coin 11 dissertation on Kushan coins by the Polish National Science Centre within
Obverse: similar the scope of financing the doctoral scholarship under the decision DEC-
Reverse: Athsho, fire god, standing frontally with head to left; 2014/12/T/HS3/00174 dated 2014-07-01.
2
bearded, wearing diadem with two ribbons, knee-length tunic and DESA (Dzieła Sztuki i Antyki) – the Auction House and Gallery, a Polish
national entity engaged in trading of artworks and antiques, founded in 1950.
boots; probably holding tongs with left hand at waist and offering 3
The Regional Liquidation Office was set up on the basis of the Decree of
ribboned diadem with extended right hand; tamga in left field.. 8 March 1946 on Abandoned and Post-German property. It secured
Bactrian inscription: AΘϸO abandoned estates, controlled and made inventories of such properties,
rented or leased them and sold movable property. The Office was dissolved
on 17 March 1951, see: http://archeion.net/atom/index.php/okregowy-
urzad-likwidacyjny-we-wroclawiu-2;isaar
4
Stefan Gacki in 1970 and Zygmunt Zadorowicz in 1961.
References
Göbl R. Münzprägung des Kušānreiches, Vienna, 1984
Jongeward, D. and Cribb J. with Donovan P. Kushan, Kushano-
Museum number: NPO 49084 Sasanian and Kidarite Coins. A Catalogue of Coins from the
Details: weight: 15.64 g; diameter: 23.3 x 23.2 mm; die axis: 11 American Numismatic Society, New York, 2015
h. Obtained from DESA in 1972. Romanowski A. “The Department of Coins and Medals of the
References: Gobl 772; Jongeward/Cribb 459-479 National Museum in Warsaw”, International Numismatic
Comments: main mint, middle phase Newsletter, no. 13, 2012, pp. 3-4
Coin 12 Romanowski A. Department of Coins and Medals, Warsaw, 2012
Obverse: similar
Reverse: Oado, wind god, running to left, with head to left; bearded KUSHAN WIMA TAKTO (C. AD 90-113)
and with wind-blown hair; wearing thigh-length dhoti; holding VARIATIONS IN ANEPIGRAPHIC
large cloak in both raised hands above head and dropping to feet;
tamga in left field. Bactrian inscription: OAΔO OESHO/ARDOCHSHO COINS
By Heinz Gawlik
Only a few examples of uninscribed coins of the Oesho/Ardochsho
type (also known as Herakles/Tyche) of the Kushan king Wima
Takto are found in the literature. In Cunningham 1888 one coin is
illustrated. Mitchiner 1973 & 1978 each show one coin (for a total
of two) from his own collection but in 1973 he mentions the weight
of 15 coins in the British Museum (BM). MacDowall mentions the
Museum number: NPO 49085 weight with some variations of the same 15 coins in the BM. Göbl
Details: weight: 16.71g; diameter: 26.7 x 25.6 mm; die axis: 11 1993 refers to one coin in the Kushan collection of Bern. Pieper
h. 2013 has illustrated one coin and Jongeward & Cribb 2015 describe
Obtained from DESA in 1972. two coins in the collection of the American Numismatic Society.
References: Gobl 783; Jongeward/Cribb 579-591 Illustrations of all these coins are rather poor due to small size
Comments: main mint, middle phase, coin very worn and/or worn conditions.
The identification of all details is difficult on a single coin
because some parts of the die are always off the flan. That is one of
the reasons why all pieces in my possession are illustrated in this
17
paper regardless of condition. Beside the weight and dimensions the
die axes of the coins are provided. The die axes (DA) are expressed
using a clock analogy as hours, ‘oc’.
Jongeward & Cribb 2015 describe this particular coin of Wima
Takto as follows:
“Reduced Indian standard copper unit (c. 1.5 g) circulating in
Gandhara. Related to posthumous Azes coppers with Tyche reverse
Obverse: Oesho (Type 2) stands facing, head to right; holds staff in
right hand, animal skin in left: Kharoshthi letter (vi) to right, tamga
to left. No inscription. Fig. 2-1: Æ unit Type new. (12.3 –13mm, 1.49g, 4oc)
Reverse: Ardochsho (Type 1) stands facing right, wears long robe,
holds cornucopia; flower pot symbol to right, nandipanda to left. No
inscription.”
The related posthumous Azes coppers with Tyche reverse (Senior
2001: types 122 & 123) are contemporary coinages issued during
the reigns of Kujula Kadphises and Wima Takto (Cribb 2015).
The coins illustrated in Fig. 1-1 to 1-3 are all with goddess
Ardochsho of Type 1 as classified by Jongeward & Cribb. In this
type Ardochsho stands to the right in a three-quarter profile with
both breasts visible. The right arm with elbow is clearly behind the Fig. 2-2: Æ unit Type new. (12.3 – 13mm, 1.60g, 7oc)
body holding the lower end of the cornucopia (horn of plenty). In
Fig. 1-1 the upper part of the left arm is visible supporting the
cornucopia most probably. Oesho (Pieper 2013 writes of a hybrid
Herakles-Shiva deity) is of the same style on all examples. The top
of the long stick or scepter in his right hand can’t be seen on any of
the illustrated coins but the current author believes it is probably a
trident. A coin in the auction portal Vcoins shows the upper part of
the stick (Fig. 4).
Fig. 2-3: Æ unit Type new. (12.5 – 13mm, 1.67g, 1oc)
Fig. 1-1: Æ unit Type 1 (12 – 13mm, 1.21g, 1oc)
Fig. 2-4: Æ unit Type new (12 –13mm, 1.06g, 10oc)
Fig. 1-2: Æ unit Type 1 (12 – 12.5mm, 1.21g, 4oc.)
Fig. 2-5: Æ unit Type new (11 – 11.5mm, 1.28g, 1oc)

Fig. 3 shows an Ardochsho in a three-quarter profile as it is in Type
1 with the upper part of the right arm close to the body as in the
Fig. 1-3: Æ unit Type 1 (12.5 – 13mm, 1.76g, 2oc.) group of coins shown in Fig.2.
The next group of illustrated coins (Fig. 2-1 to 2-5) shows an

Ardochsho standing to the right at an angle of ninety degrees. The
left upper arm is almost vertical and parallel to the body. With
reference to the classification of Jongeward & Cribb the coins in
this group have to be considered as a different type. All other types
of Kanishka and Huvishka show Ardochsho in a three-quarter upper
profile. The only three coins of this variat are illustrated in
Cunningham 1888 and Mitchiner 1973 & 1978.
Fig. 3: Æ unit Type 1 var. (12.5 – 13mm, 1.45g, 2oc)
18
All coins are almost of a circular form with diameters between 11 over Samatata and Harikela for all economic activity. This
to 13mm. The variation in weight is more significant and is between continued at least till the 8th century, if not longer4.
1.06 to 1.76g. The result corresponds to the weight of coins in the Recently, Nakhat, the co-author noticed an unusual silver coin
BM with a nearly identical range between 1.06 to 1.83g (Mitchiner of Harikela type, which surfaced in the Belonia Sub-division
1973). The relative positioning of obverse and reverse design (die bordering Comilla in Bangladesh and also near Pilak Pāthar, an
axis) is irregular. The occurrence of Type 1 and the variation archaeological site of Tripura in India. The distance between Pilak
discussed in this paper is almost same. The examples in above and Agartala is 103 km. It appears that the legend on the said silver
mentioned literature have a ratio between Type 1 and the variation coin is ‘Lila Varaha’. On the obverse, within a circle, lies an image
of 4:3. Whereas the ratio of illustrated coins in this paper is 3(4):5. of ‘Varaha’ (boar), instead of the more common recumbent bull,
with a legend above. On the reverse, there is a tripartite symbol
within a circle, similar to all known Harikela coins. The artistic
quality is undoubtedly far superior. This, therefore, seems to be a
late variety of Harikela coinage. Besides the circle in the reverse,
there is an outer border of large pellets surrounding the design.
These pellets are not prominently visible on the obverse. The letters
on the obverse may be assigned to the 9th century AD, on
palaeographical ground. The coin weighs 5.67 g. and has a diameter
of 32 mm.
Fig. 4: AE unit (1.2 g, 15 mm) with authorization of Indus Valley

Coins
Bibliography
Cribb, J. 2015. “Dating and locating Mujatria and the two
Kharahostes”. JONS: 223: 26-48
Cunningham, A. 1888. Coins of the Indo-Scythians, The
Numismatik Chronicle, VIII: 199-248, - reprint 1971 published
by Indological Book House, Varanasi
Göbl, R. 1993. Donum Burns, die Kušānmünzen im Münzkabinett
Bern und die Chronologie. Vienna: Fassbaender.
Jongeward, D., J. Cribb with P. Donovan 2015. Kushan, Kushano-
Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins, The American Numismatic
Society, New York.
MacDowall, D.W. 1968. Soter Megas, The King of Kings The
Kushana, The Journal of the Numismatik Society of India,
XXX: 28-48.
Mitchiner, M. B. 1973. The early coinage of Central Asia, London: Fig.1 Obverse and Reverse of Lila Varaha
Hawkins Publications.
Mitchiner, M. B. 1978. Oriental Coins and their Values: The
Ancient and Classical World 600 BC - AD 650. London:
Hawkins Publications.
Pieper, W. 2013. Ancient Indian Coins Revisited. CNG, Inc.
Lancaster/London
A MYSTERIOUS HARIKELA TYPE

SILVER COIN IN THE NAME OF LILA Fig.2 Detail of coin showing boar to right
VARAHA
Pilak-pāthar, the place near the find spot has a numismatic
background. A good number of debased gold coins of the Khaḍga
S. K. Bose and Milap Chand Nakhat dynasty were discovered in Pilak along with silver coins of
Harikela. But most interesting remains a lighter series of Harikela
According to Manjuśrīmulakalpa, a sixth century chronicle, Harikel coins, the flans of which are thinner, broader and larger, when
or Harikela was a territory in Bengal with a distinct identity. Despite compared with the Harikela coins that surfaced in the neighbouring
differences in opinion among scholars, it is generally accepted that Chittagong or Comilla regions. The obverse of the Pilak-pāthar
Harikela was located in the coastal region of Chittagong district, coins show a recumbent bull and various legends such as
north of Karnafuli river1. Interestingly, according to a Chinese map, Harikela,Viraka, Piraka, Sivagiri and Jayagiri. Piraka has been
which was drawn in accordance with the accounts of Fa-Hien and identified with Pilak-pāthar and Viraka might be Varaka, located in
Hiuen Tsang and published in 1710 AD, Harikela comprises the the neighbouring Baraka valley. The newly discovered ‘Lila
coastal region between Samatata and Odisha2. Varaha’ coin can be designated as yet another such addition to the
With regard to the circulation of coins in the region, it has been many varieties of Harikela coins.
observed that initially gold coins of Samatata together with very ‘Varaha’ is the third incarnation (Avatāra) of Lord Vishnu.
small numbers of their silver pieces were in circulation in the Terracotta plaques found in the Pilak area represent at least two such
Comilla region from around 575 AD and continued till avatāras, Varāha and Kurma5. Besides such terracotta,
700AD3.While many varieties of silver coinage of Harikela were iconographic stone sculptures representing Vishnu in several forms
simultaneously used in different areas of Chittagong region, with have been found in the region, dating from c. 7th -9th AD.
the recession of Samatata power, Harikela silver coins were used all Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, an ancient chronicle, contains a holy story
of Vishnu Lila as Varaha (divine play of Lord Vishnu as Varaha or
19
boar). According to this mythological story, once long ago, a demon 4. Ibid.
named Hiranyaksa caused the earth to sink in the water at the 5. J. Gan Chaudhuri, Tripura- The Land and its People, Leeladevi
bottom of the sea of the universe. In order to save the earth from the Publications, Delhi, 1980, p.59-60.
6. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Second
demon, Lord Brahma, the creator of earth, sought help from Vishnu.
Canto, Chapter 7, Text 1, The Bhaktivedanta Book trust, New York, 1972,
Lord Vishnu took the shape of a boar, jumped into the ocean and pp. 337-338..
lifted up the earth out of water. Meanwhile, Demon Hiranyaksa 7. K. D. Menon, State Editor, Tripura District Gazetters, Govt. of Tripura,
attacked the Lord, but killed by the supreme power. This episode is Agartala, 1975, pp. 66, 390 and 479 ( Second photograph). The figure of
known as Lila Varaha and is presented in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam boar deserves special mention as it is stylistically related to the terracottas
as follows: found in Maināmati of Coomilla (Bangladesh), not far from Pilak-pāthar.
Again, this place is within Belonia, a southern sub-division of Tripura,
Brahmovāca where large numbers of Mugh, who are Buddist by religion, have settled.
“ yatrodayatah kṣiti-taloddharanāya bibhrat Probably their ancestors have migrated from Arakan of Myanmar.
kraudīḿ tanum sakala-yajña-mayīm anantah 8. H.E. Stapleton, ‘Çontributions to the History and Ethnology of North East
antar-mahārņava upāgatam ādi-daityam India -. I & II’, JASB Vol. VI, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta,1910, pp.
tam damsţrayādrim iva vajra-dharo dadāra” 141 -166 and pls.
(Brahma said : “When the unlimitedly powerful Lord [Vishnu]

assumed the form of a boar as a pastime, just to lift the planet earth, A COIN OF TATAR KHAN OF BENGAL IN
which was drowned in the great ocean of the universe called
Garbhodaka, the first demon [Hiranyāksa] appeared and the Lord THE NAME OF GHIYATH AL-DIN
pierced him with His tusk”)6. BALBAN, SULTAN OF DELHI.
It is certain that the issuer of the coin in discussion, whether the
king or the guild member(s), was a devotee of Vishnu. By Md. Shariful Islam
Mughith al-Din Yuzbak (AH 652-655/AD 1254-1257) was a ruler of
Bengal who declared himself sultan. Goron and Goenka (2001,
p.157) lists coins of Yuzbak as B75 and B76 that bear dates from
AH 652 to 655. In 655/1257 on an expedition to Kamrup, Yuzbak
was killed by the Koch Hajo army (Ali, 1985, p.97-98). Afterwards
Bengal was ruled by ‘Izz al Din Yuzbaki (657/1259) and Taj al-Din
Arslan (657-663/1259-1265). No coins of these last mentioned
rulers have been identified. Arslan Khan was succeeded by his son,
Tatar Khan, in 663/1265. According to Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi
(Barani, p. 53), Tatar Khan explicitly acknowledged the authority
of Ghiyath al-Din Balban who ascended the throne of the Delhi
sultanate in 664/1266. No coin of Tatar Khan has hitherto been
recorded.
In Goron and Goenka (2001) the earliest coin listed in the name
of Ghiyath al-Din Balban struck in Bengal is dated AH 667 though
the date is recorded as doubtful. According to Ali (1985, p.99),
Tatar Khan most probably died in 666/1268 and was succeeded by
Sher Khan, who died in 670/1272. Therefore, the earliest coin from
Bengal in the name of Ghiyath al-Din Balban recorded in Goron
and Goenka (2001), albeit it with a date that needs to be confirmed,
was issued by Sher Khan.
In this paper I am pleased to publish a coin from the mint of
Lakhnauti issued in the name of Ghiyath al-Din Balban (fig. 1) that
clearly shows the date AH 665, a date that falls during the reign of
Tatar Khan, who ruled Bengal as governor under the authority of
Fig.3 Terracotta plaques portraying Varaha, found at Pilak- Balban.
pāthat, an ancient site7 Fig. 1
Though not directly relevant, it is worth mentioning two pieces of
billon, or debased silver, coins struck nine hundred years after the
Harikela type coin mentioned above. After the Burmese invasion of
Assam in the 1820’s, two coins were issued popularly known as
‘pig rupee’. The legend on one has been read as ‘Sri Sri Gahuri
Nripa’, ( gahuri = pig = boar = Varaha)8. The only connection
between ‘Lila Varaha’ and ‘Sri Sri Gahuri Nripa’ is that the
Harikela type coin influenced Pyu and Arakan (of Myanmar) in
respect of design, and the ‘Gahuri Nripa’ coin was issued by the Obverse Reverse
Myanmar king himself.
The central legend on the obverse of the coin reads:
Notes ‘al-sulṭān al-a‘ẓam
1. V. Choudhry, ‘Hitherto unknown Harikel Coins : Some Analytical
Comments’, Silver Jubilee Souvenir, Chattagram University Museum, ghiyāth al-dunyā w’al-dīn
Chittagong, 1998, p.16. abū’l muẓaffar balban al-sulṭān
2. S. Julien, Hiuen Tsang’s Records (French Translation), Volume II , while the central legend on the reverse is:
annexed as Map of Central Asia and India. Also see Epigraphia Indica,
Vol. XXVI, p. 316 (Reprinted 1985, Archaeological survey of India, New ‘al-imām
Delhi). al-musta‘ṣim amīr
3. N.G.Rhodes, ‘Note on the Harikela and Akara Coins’, Early Coinage of al-mū’minīn’.
Bengal (c.2nd Century BC – 10th Century AD ) by S.K.Bose and Noman The marginal inscription on both sides of the coin has the same
Nasir), forthcoming. information about the mint and date, namely:
20
ḍarb hadhihi al-fiḍḍat bi khiṭṭah lakhnautī fī sanah khamsa wa
sittīn wa sittami’at
‘this silver (coin) was struck in (the) year five and sixty and six
hundred’, i.e. AH 665.
This is a significant discovery for Bengal numismatics as it supports
the claim in Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi that Tatar Khan acknowledged
the authority of Ghiyath al-Din Balban and issued coins in the Figure 1
latter’s name.
Note:
The author is an Associate Professor at IBA, Rajshahi University.
He is grateful to Stan Goron for editing the paper, and to Noman
Nasir for confirming the date on the coin.
Figure 2
References Probable Location and Historical Implications
Ali, M. M. (1985), History of the Muslims of Bengal, Imam The exact location of Balapur is not clear as this name has not been
Muhammad Ibn Sa‘ud Islamic University, pp. 91-102. found by the author in any other source. Google maps locates two
Barani, D. D., Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi, text ed. Maulavi Sayyed Balapurs, one on the border of the Northwestern part of present
Ahmad Khan Sahib, Bib. Indica, Calcutta, 1862. Eng. tr. in Bangladesh (Medieval East Bengal) and West Bengal of India and
Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III; also in J.A.S.B, 1869. the other in Norshingdi district inside Bangladesh. As the first
Goron, S. and Goenka, J. P. (2001), The Coins of the Indian location is at almost in the central area of Gaur of medieval Bengal,
Sultanates, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New the word ‘Dakhil’, meaning either gateway, entrance or seizure is
Delhi, pp. 156-158. not meaningful. Hence, this location is the least likely of the two
locations for the mint written on the coin. The second Balapur is a
village located on the river bank of Meghna of present Norshingdi
DAKHIL BALAPUR- A NEWLY district in Bangladesh. Other side of the river is Comilla district
DISCOVERED MINT OF BENGAL which was under Tripura Kingdom (Blochmann, 1968). Figure 3
shows location of Balapur in Norshingdi district by Google map.
SULTANATE Balapur was an important river port. There is still ruin of residence
of Zamidar (landlord) Nobin Chandra Saha that was built in the year
By Md. Shariful Islam
1906. This indicates that Balapur was probably an important
Introduction business place even during medieval period. As it was a river port,
A number of new numismatic discoveries of Bengal sultanate have the word Dakhil may have been used before Balapur to indicate
been published in recent years. In this article a newly discovered Balapur as a gateway to Bengal from the side of Tripura.
mint/location of Bengal coin has been presented. Coin1 of Nasir al There is evidence that Tripura once encroached up to Sonargaon
din Mahmud Shah (832AH/1427AD and 837-864AH/1433/4- of Bengal. It is also evident from historical commentary that Tripura
1459AD) of Bengal sultanate is similar to type B455, B458, and successfully captured a vast area of Bengal several times when
B459 (Goron and Goenka, 2001). Mints of these three types of coins Bengal suffered from an internal political crisis. During the reign of
are Dakhil Banjaliya, al-Firuzabad and Iqlim Muazzamabad Rajah Kans (Ganesh) and his son Jalal al din Muhammad Shah,
respectively. But the mint on the margin of reverse of coin1 clearly Tripura invaded Bengal (Blochmann, 1968). According to Rhodes
shows ‘Dakhil’ followed by ‘ba’+ ‘lam’ + ‘alif’ followed by ‘Pur’. and Bose (2002), Dharma Manikya of Tripura (1431-1462AD)
There should have been an ‘alif’ between ‘ba’ and ‘lam’ though that enlarged the boundary of the Tripura kingdom taking advantage of
letter is not visible and may have been merged with vertical stroke the weakness of the Bengal sultans. Reign of Dharma Manikya
of ‘lam’. These forms name of a location, most likely the mint of began during the political crisis in Bengal when Nasir al din
the coin, ‘Dakhil Balapur’. Figure 1 shows closer view of the Mahmud Shah was probably engaged in a power struggle with Jalal
reverse margin where the name of the mint is written. Figure 2 is al din Muhammad Shah (1415-1416AD/818-819AH and 1418-
the hand sketch of how the name of the mint is seen under 1432/3AD/821-836/7AH) and his successor Shams al din Ahmad
magnifier. Shah (1433/4AD-837AH). Therefore, it is not unlikely that
Norshingdi district or a part of it came under the Tripura kingdom
during the early years of Dharma Manikya of Tripura in 837AH. A
recent find of a few coins also shows a probable unsuccessful
rebellion in the period of Nasir al din Mahmud Shah in 832AH
during the reign of Jalal al din Muhammad Shah (Islam and Nasir,
2015). After securing his control over Bengal sultanate Nasir al din
Mahmud Shah probably later regained those lands from Tripura.
According to Blochmann (1968), with the restoration of the Iliyas
shahi dynasty by Nasir al din Mahmud Shah Bengal recovered her
ancient limits. Therefore, another possibility is that the word
Coin 1 ‘Dakhil’ indicates the seizure of Balapur as an eastern limit by the
Obverse: nasir al dunya Reverse: nasir al islam Bengal sultanate. B455 and B458 (Goron and Goenka, 2001), which
wa’l din abu’l mujahid wa’l muslimin khallada are similar in type to Coin 1, but with different mint names, bear the
Mahmud shah al sultan mulkahu dates 842AH and 841AH on them. The date of B459 (Goron and
Goenka, 2001) could not be read. Therefore, it can be presumed that
Metal: Silver this type of coin of Nasir al din Mahmud Shah was issued during
Mass: 9.82 g the early years of his reign. This fits into the argument that the coin
Mint: Dakhil Balapur was issued at some time during Nasir al din Mahmud Shah’s
Date: Off flan expansion of the boundary of Bengal which may have taken place
during the early years of his reign after he has secured his position
in Bengal.
21
have accepted these coins as the product of a Sasanian mint located
somewhere in Balochistan, Sind, or Southern Punjab.
Dissenting voices on this point included Joe Cribb (2002) who
suggested that the practice of minting only gold, a failure to produce
smaller denominations, and the peculiar symbols on the coins
indicated that this was not a Sasanian mint but a Hunnic kingdom
producing very close copies. The current author is preparing a
catalogue of the known examples of this series (about 120) based
on Cribb’s previous research in the area and agrees entirely with the
assessment that these are very unlikely to be official Sasanian
issues.
In 2014-15 Rebecca Darley, Jonathan Jarrett, Maria Vrij, and
the current author, undertook a project to examine Byzantine coins
in the Barber Institute, Birmingham. This project was supported by
the company Bruker, who manufacture XRF machines, and staff in
the Chemistry Department, University of Birmingham. As part of
the project a small group of contemporary coins were selected from
the collection to be tested. It was initially intended to test two
Figure 3 (Source: Google map) Sasanian coins, but upon examination these turned out to be Hunnic
issues from Sind.
Note The use of X-Ray Fluorescence to measure coins is relatively
The author is an Associate Professor at IBA, Rajshahi University. well established. It has the advantage of being able to quantify a
The author is grateful to Stan Goron and John Deyell for their wide range of different elements, but it measures only the surface.
support and guidance in writing this article. The author is grateful Questions of how representative the surface of a coin is of the whole
to Mosharrof Hossain for technical support. coin, and which particular XRF techniques are most appropriate and
Reference how best to calibrate the machines or interpret the results are still
Blochmann, H. (1968), Contribution to the Geography and History controversial.
of Bengal, Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal (reprint 2003), The two coins which were tested are shown in figures 2 and 3.
Pp. 27-28. The coins were donated to the Barber in the 1970s by Philip
Goron, S. and Goenka, J. P. (2001), The Coins of the Indian Whitting. Whitting had initially acquired S0073 from the auction
Sultanates, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New house Baldwin’s in 1967, and notes at the Barber indicate it was
Delhi, Pp. 187-217. previously owned by W.V.R Baldwin, who had apparently acquired
Islam M. S. and Nasir, N. (2015), Revisiting Nasir al Din Mahmud it ‘before April 1947’. Whitting subsequently acquired the other two
Shah’s reign in Bengal: A study based on literature and coins in January 1968, also from Baldwins. Both use the crown and
numismatic evidences, journal of the Oriental Numismatic reverse type of Shapur II, have marks (unreadable) where a Pahlavi
Society, No.223, Pp. 24-26. inscription would be expected, and are of the same type, though
Rhodes, N. G. and Bose, S. K. (2002), The Coinage of Tripura, different dies.
Library of Numismatic Studies, Kolkata, P. 102.
THREE COINS OF THE HUNNIC KINGS

OF SIND IN THE BARBER INSTITUTE
By Robert Bracey
A series of gold coins closely resembling those of the Sasanian
Emperors of Iran but often with the addition of a Brahmi character
before the king’s face (see fig.1) have been relatively well known
for a long time. Examples were published by Paruck (1924), Fig. 2 Hunnic Coin of Sind with Shapur II crown, from Barber
Cousens (1929) and Göbl (1984), the last of whom thought they Institute (S0074, 7.27g)
were issued in Kabul.
Coin S0074 was initially tested using a small desk-top machine,
which showed that different points around the centre returned very
different results. This suggests that the small punch in the centre of
the face is a ‘plug’, and additional piece of gold inserted for some
reason from a different source.
Fig.1 The character śri before the faces of the king

It was, however, the work of Robert Senior (1990; 1991a; 1991b;
1996; 2002) which brought these to wider attention and suggested
for the first time that they were issued in Sind. His work also
showed that they were part of a larger series, some of which had
symbols other than the Brahmi śri. The coins use the same crowns
and types as Sasanian coins from the time of Shapur II (AD 309- Fig. 3 Hunnic Coin of Sind with Shapur II crown, from Barber
379) until the period of Piruz (died AD 484) or shortly there-after. Institute (S0073, 7.11g)
Senior, and most Sasanian specialists after him (Schindel, 2004:
Both coins were subsequently tested several times. The full results
app.III; Tyler-Smith, 2007: 355; Nelson, 20111; Alram, 2015: 15)
are shown in table 1. It will be apparent to the reader that substantial
22
variations are possible even when the same coin is tested using the whether they have more or less than Sasanian, or other Hun coins?
same machine. Compare, for example, the amount of silver (Ag) Tests on three Ardashir II types at the BM produced results between
detected in tests 3 and 4 on coin S0073. 17.89 and 18.35, all lower than the single SG result available for
Unfortunately interpreting XRF data is not straight-forward. Shapur II. So the SG result suggests the debasement of this series
How many of the other elements detected are actually present in the (some of the Peroz types are nearly silver) began very early.
coin, or are simply being detected on the surface, is an open The XRF results are still useful as they tell us something about
question. This problem will be addressed by the project in the the relative amounts of copper and silver in these coins, which the
future. However, there is one significant issue that is very relevant SG is unable to do. Silver is denser than copper, so in calculating a
to this series. Are these results comparable with data gathered from gold content from an SG value it is important to understand how
other sources? much silver/copper is added to the coin. The dominant practice in
debasing coins throughout the third/fourth century AD in
Afghanistan/Pakistan, under the Kushans and the Kushanshahs
S0073 S0074
seems to have been to use a mixture of copper and silver (Sachs &
Obv Rev Obv Rev Blet-Lamarquand, 2003). If this same mixture were assumed for the
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hunnic Sind types it would inflate the gold content relative to other
coins of the region as the XRF indicates they were debased entirely
Au 74.4 73.0 73.6 72.3 75.0 77.1 72.8 76.2 by adding silver4. The obvious question of whether the issuers
Ag 19.4 20.4 21.5 14.5 15.7 15.5 13.8 13.1 received expertise from a Sasanian mint rather than a
Kushan/Kushanshah mint remains for future research.
Cu 0.63 0.64 0.73 0.26 0.32 0.35 0.31 0.26
Al 0.76 0.74 0.59 2.25 1.55 1.04 1.59 1.52
Ba 0.03 0.03 0.03
Bi 0.00 0.02
Br 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.00 0.00 0.05
Ca 0.80 0.57 0.26 1.01 0.51 0.66 1.39 0.77
Cl 0.33 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.42
Cr 0.05
Fig.4 Hunnic Coin of Sind with Shapur II Crown, BM
Ge 0.00 0.01 1921.0331.43, 7.31g, published Paruck #253, Göbl #1352/1
Ir 0.08
Finally, the Barber institute also has a single coin (fig.5), which
Fe 0.17 0.16 0.14 0.44 0.35 0.26 0.43 0.31 appears to be a cast copy rather than an original, and has a crown of
the same type as Ardashir II (AD 379-383). Four other examples in
Mg 0.29 0.19 0.13 0.67 0.47 0.29 0.52 0.37
this series using Ardashir crowns are known, and one other of the
Hg 0.02 same type as the Barber example, but that coin is struck from a
K 0.33 0.39 0.31 0.92 0.83 1.15 2.26 1.76 different die. So this coin is also of interest for the series as it is
probably a copy of a genuine example not otherwise published.
Re 0.11
Rb 0.06 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.00
Se 0.06 0.07 0.02 0.07 0.00 0.00 0.04
Si 2.39 2.39 1.87 6.05 3.99 2.60 4.75 4.35
Na 0.45 0.41 0.68 0.62 0.46 0.87 0.66
S 0.56 0.34 0.30 0.55 0.33 0.28 0.65 0.33
Ti 0.05 0.06 0.10 0.12 0.11 0.09
Zi 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.00 0.06 0.04 0.05
Table 1: Results of XRF Tests on the Coins3
Several British Museum coins from this series were examined Fig.5 Cast(?) of Hunnic Coin of Sind with Ardashir II crown, from
using the technique known as specific gravity2. In this the weight of Barber Institute (S0098, 7.37g)
the coin as measured in air is compared with its weight as measured
in a fluid, in order to calculate the coin’s density. As gold (specific
gravity 19.32) is much denser than the material it is usually alloyed Acknowledgements
with (copper with an SG of 8.93 and silver with an SG of 10.49)
this is a very good indication of how pure the coins are. Images of British Museum coins are reproduced courtesty of the Trustees of
One of those British Museum coins (fig.4) is of the same type the British Museum, those from the Barber Institute, Birmingham, UK, with
the kind assistance of Maria Vrij. XRF resuls are courtesy of the All That
as the two examples from the Barber. When measured it has a
Glitters project. Robert Bracey is currently working for the ERC funded
specific gravity of 18.71, which was interpreted at the time as Beyond Boundaries project.
indicating a gold content of 92.1%. This is clearly much higher than
the values suggested by XRF. Even if we assumed most elements Notes
were only present on the surface and re-calculated using the gold, 1. Nelson’s 860, 861, 879, 880, 916, 927, 928, 929, 951 are all part of this
silver, and copper then S0073 would have 77.6 to 83% gold and series.
S0074 83 to 85.1%, which by the table in Oddy (1998: table 1) 2. The specific gravity measurements were all conducted by W.A.Oddy, see
would equate to SGs between 16.3 and 17.2. The problem of how Bracey & Oddy (2010) for details. They were also sampled for another
to reconcile results from such different techniques remains. technique, neutron activation, in 1969 by A A Gordus, but though Gordus
However, the important thing is relative results, whether published many results on Sasanian silver I have been unable to find a
different groups of these coins have more or less gold than others,
23
publication of data from these coins or to discover if unpublished notes Oddy, W. (1998) “The Analysis of Coins by the Specific Gravity
survive. Method” Metallurgy in Numismatics 4: 147-157
3. The preparation of the coins varied, with 1&4 cleaned with acetone, and Paruck, D J (1924) Sasanian Coins, Bombay.
6 and 8 manually cleaned using a berberis thorn. 6 was calibrated differently
Sachs, C & Blet-Lamarquand M (2003) ‘Le Monnayage D’Or
to the other tests. All tests were conducted on an 18 minutes cycle using an
8mm mask on a Bruker S8 Tiger, and then normalised to produce a 100% Kouchans et de leurs succeseurs nomads: alteration et
total. Entries 0.00 represent detections of parts per million by the machine, chronologie’ International Numismatic Congress: 1659-1669.
while blank entries represent a failure to detect the element at all. Schindel, N (2004) Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum vol. 3, Wien.
4. No variation in copper/silver ratio is sufficient to resolve the discrepancy Senior, R (1990) ‘Coinage of Bahram Ghor leads to identification
between the SG and XRF resuls. of Sassanian mint at Sind’ The Celator October 1990: 14-15.
Senior, R (1991a) ‘The Coinage of Sind from 250 AD up to the
Bibliography
Arab Conquest’ JONS 129.
Alram, M (2015) “The Cultural Impact of Sasanian Persia along the
Senior, R C (1991a) ‘Coins of Vahran V indicates earlier mint
Silk Road – Aspects of Continuity” e-Sasanika 14.
activity at Sind than was previously thought’ The Celator Vol.5
Bracey, R & Oddy, W A (2010) “The Analysis of Kushan Period
No.2: 42-3.
Gold Coins by Specific Gravity”, Gandharan Studies Vol.4: 31-
Senior, R C (1996) ‘Some new coins from Sind’ ONS Newsletter
39.
149: 6.
Cousens, H (1929) The Antiquities of Sind with Historical Outline,
Senior, R C (2002) “Some Unpublished Ancient Coins” JONS 170:
Bhartiya Publishing House.
14-19.
Cribb, J (2002) ‘Sasanian-style coinage in post-Kushan Sind’
Tyler-Smith, S (2007) ‘Review of Sylloge Nummorum
Presentation to Oriental Numismatic Society, 6 April 2002,
Sasanidarum vols. 3/1, 3/2 by Nikolaus Schindel’ in Royal
London, unpublished.
Numismatic Society Journal, vol.167 (2007): 346-359.
Göbl, R (1984) Mūnzprägung des Kušānreiches, Vienna.
Nelson, B R (2011) Numismatic Art of Persia: The Sunrise
Collection, Part I: Ancient 650BC to AD 50, Classical
Numismatic Group.
CONTENTS OF JOURNAL 226

Page
ONS news and meetings: 1
Book Review: Brian Kritt, New Discoveries in Bactrian Numismatics, review by Simon Glenn 5
THE STORY BEHIND PALESTINE’S ORPHANS AND THE 1947 JORDANIAN 500 MIL LOTTERY NOTE by Tareq 6
Ramadam
ON THE UNIQUE DATED TETRADRACHM OF ANTIOCHUS I by Pankaj Tandon 7
MORE ABOUT THE VERY RARE GEORGIAN COINS FROM MEGRELIA WITH THE MINTNAME DĀDIYĀN by 9
Alexander V. Akopyan
SOME NOVEL PRE-ISLAMIC COINS FROM CENTRAL ASIA by Shinji Hirano 11
KUSHAN COINS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COINS AND MEDALS, THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN WARSAW 15
By Emilia Smagur
KUSHAN WIMA TAKTO (C. AD 90-113) VARIATIONS IN ANEPIGRAPHIC OESHO/ARDOCHSHO COINS by Heinz 17
Gawlik
A MYSTERIOUS HARIKELA TYPE SILVER COIN IN THE NAME OF LILA VARAHA by S. K. Bose and Milap Chand 18
Nakhat
A COIN OF TATAR KHAN OF BENGAL IN THE NAME OF GHIYATH AL-DIN BALBAN, SULTAN OF DELHI by Md. 20
Shariful Islam
DAKHIL BALAPUR- A NEWLY DISCOVERED MINT OF BENGAL SULTANATE by Md. Shariful Islam 20
THREE COINS OF THE HUNNIC KINGS OF SIND IN THE BARBER INSTITUTE by Robert Bracey 21
24

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earliest coins are struck over small denomination Ptolemaic sometimes was prompted by the division of power between

of power between Arab

The final talk, by Robert Bracey, on ‘Early Hunnic Kings of Sind’,

Figure 4: The McClean Coin

MORE ABOUT THE VERY RARE

By Alexander V. Akopyan (Moscow)

Fig. 4. ‘Abbās II, ‘abbāsī, Tiflīs, AH 1056/ AD 1646-7.

The only confirmed specimen of the Dādiyān mint at the time of

Weight: 1.3g, bronze broken?

Weight: 4.1g, bronze

Weight: 4.26g, bronze

Weight: 1.24g, bronze

Weight: 1.3g, bronze

Weight: 1.6g, bronze,

Weight: 1.6g, bronze

Weight: 2.3g, bronze

Weight: 1.6g, bronze

KUSHAN COINS IN THE DEPARTMENT

Museum number: NPO 49091

Museum number: NPO 49092

Museum number: 165933

Museum number: NPO 49090

Museum number NPO 49086

Fig. 2-3: Æ unit Type new. (12.5 – 13mm, 1.67g, 1oc)

Fig. 1-1: Æ unit Type 1 (12 – 13mm, 1.21g, 1oc)

Fig. 2-4: Æ unit Type new (12 –13mm, 1.06g, 10oc)

Fig. 1-2: Æ unit Type 1 (12 – 12.5mm, 1.21g, 4oc.)

Fig. 2-5: Æ unit Type new (11 – 11.5mm, 1.28g, 1oc)

The next group of illustrated coins (Fig. 2-1 to 2-5) shows an

Fig. 3: Æ unit Type 1 var. (12.5 – 13mm, 1.45g, 2oc)

Fig. 4: AE unit (1.2 g, 15 mm) with authorization of Indus Valley

A MYSTERIOUS HARIKELA TYPE

(Brahma said : “When the unlimitedly powerful Lord [Vishnu]

THREE COINS OF THE HUNNIC KINGS

Fig.1 The character śri before the faces of the king

CONTENTS OF JOURNAL 226

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