ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Secretary General Regional Secretaries Mr. - - Broome General Section: Mr. C. M. Webdale

Newsletter Editor Europe Dr. H.J. van der Wiel Dr. M. B. Mitchiner

UK. and Eire: Mr. K. W. Wiggins Annual Subscription £3.00; 21.151. 12-00; 5-00 dollars North America: Mr. P. D. Hogan Newsletter number 48; April 1977 European Secretary

We are very sorry to record Dr. Gorter’s sudden death earlier this month at his home. Dr. Gorter was a chemist

by profession and had recently retired and moved to his new home. He had been a general coin collector for many years before developing a wide interest in oriental coinage, particularly the more modern series. Through his activities as European secretary he was widely known among ONS members on the Continent and

last summer he met a number of English members when he and Mrs. Gorter stayed in this country during their holiday. More recently Dr. Gorter joined the editorial board of the new Dutch publication, De Beeldenaar. We offer our condolances to Mrs. Gorter. Dr. van der Wiel has kindly offered to take over the position of European Secretary. Members news

Following Michael Broome’s paper to the Royal Numismatic Society earlier this month there was an enjoyable

meeting over supper at the Charing Cross hotel. The American membership was represented there by Mr. Michael Bates of New York and Dr. Craig Burns of California. It has been suggested that meetings for UK

members might be arranged from time to time in Central London. To meet this suggestion it has been found

possible to hire a small hall adjacent to Lancaster Gate Tube station. Any proposed meeting could be held on

a Saturday afternoon from about 2.30 pm. But before a meeting can be arranged it would be helpful to know how much support there would be. A nominal charge would have to be made to cover the cost of room hire.

Those interested please contact Mr. Ken Wiggins (UK. regional secretary). Mr. Wiggins has details of some

Sassanian coins, Chinese coins (1890-1909) and Singapore merchants tokens for disposal.

The next Information Sheet will be Lewis Shaw’s paper on the coinage of Burma. It will be distributed during May. Coin collections in Museums

As a result of the request in the December Newsletter we have the following summary from Mr. Lewis Shaw

regarding Burmese coins in the Ashmolean (Oxford) and Fitzwilliam (Cambridge) Museums: -

Ashmolean - A good collection of over 70 coins

Flowered silver lumps of various sizes and types (probably 17th. - 18th. century) - Large lead medals of Tenasserim (18 th. century) - Arakan silver coins of 17th. - 18th. centuries - Bodawpaya (1781 - 1819): copper coins with the ““Two fishes’’ design - Mindon Min (1853 - 1878): silver and copper “‘Peacock’”’ coins; gold ““Chinthe” and lead “‘Hare”’ coins - Thibaw (1878 - 1885): coppers with “‘To”’ design

Fitzwilliam - A small collection of about 30 coins - Arakan silver coins of 17 th. - 18th. centuries - Bodawpaya: silver symbolic coins; coppers with “‘Two fishes’’ design © Mindon Min: silver and copper “‘Peacock’’ issues - Thibaw: coppers with “To’’ design - Republic: a proof set of 1956

A Date list of the Gold Coins of Hyderabad by P. L. Gupta

Some time ago the Oriental Numsimatic Society issued an Information Sheet by Richard K. Bright on Hyderabad coinage. When I saw this it reminded me of a list of Hyderabad gold mohurs I had prepared after examining a large lot containing no Jess

than 15,696 coins. During the period of Sino-Indian tension the Prime Minister of India appealed to the Nation to donate gold and when the conflict with Pakistan occurred the Indian Government issued bonds in exchange for gold. On both occasions the nation freely presented gold objects: jewellery and gold coins. Before melting these to use for the purpose for which they had

been invited the Indian Government appointed a committee to examine the artefacts and exclude from the melting pot those objects of art and rarity that should be preserved. I served as a member of both committees.

On one occasion the large lot of 15,696 gold mohurs sent by H.E.H. the Nizam of Hyderabad and described here, was placed before the committee. The lot was classified datewise; the number of coins for each date being recorded. Out of the total 15,696 coins the dates of 988 specimens could not be determined. The remaining coins were distributed between rulers

as follows: - Sikandarjah 22, Nasiruddaulah 292, Asafuddaulah 2,045, Mahboob Ali Khan 12,349. They covered the period AH. 1226 to 1321 whereas the list prepared by Bright covered the years AH. 1305 to 1368. Thus only

a very short period is included within both lists. As gold mohurs struck during the period covered by both lists were almost unknown to Bright the two lists are exclusive and the present record supplements Bright’s list for this short period. As the

present list may prove useful to coin collectors and scholars I take this occasion to publish it. Sikandarjah: AH. 1218 - 1244 Date AH Number of coins None None None None None None None

| None | None | |:— |:— | | Nasiruddaulah: AH. 1244-1273 | None | | None | None | Nasiruddaulah: AH. 1244-1273 None None None None None None None None None None None None Afzaluddaulah: AH. 1273 None Mahboob Ali Khan: AH. 1285 - 1330 1,575 2,174 2,762 None There is no unanimity among scholars concerning the date of the first machine struck coins. H.C.H. Armstead’, Framji K. Vicaji?_ and P.M. Chenoy*, who were associated with the Nizam’s mint (the first and the last were Mint-masters, the second

served as Assistant Mint-master) say that the first machine-struck coins were issued in AH 1312. Against this two coin collectors, P.S. Tarapore* and Hurmuz Kaus’ place the date of the first machine-struck coins much earlier, in the year AH. 1305. The former has published a silver coin bearing the date AH 1305 / RY. 21 and the latter possesses a proof in copper similar to the coin published by Tarapore. I regret that I had forgotten about the controversy when examining this lot of Mohurs, otherwise I would have made a note of machine-struck coins in the lot. Nevertheless the above list shows that only a few coins of the year

AH. 1311 were found in the entire lot of coins, while other years were well represented. This suggests that minting was reduced to a minimum as this was the period when the new machines were being installed at the mint. This interpretation is supported by the very high output noted for the next year, AH. 1312: a high output that was continued for several years, and which had

been made possible by the installation of the new machines. This also supports the statement of the mint employees. The coin

and the proof illustrated by Tarapore and by Kaus may well have been the products of hand minting: there is nothing in the

published photographs to demonstrate that they were necessarily machine-struck. Lastly, it might be interesting to note that one of the coins dated AH. 1311 has a milled-edge. It was probably a proof or pattern. Another coin dated AH. 1313 bears on the

reverse “1908” in an incuse; a novelty not known on any other coin.

The Story of Hyderabad coinage, The Indian Forces Annual, 1943

Notes on the Hand-minting of the Coins of India The Numismatist, July 1970 Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, V (1943), 783 - 784 Ibid., IX (1947), 128 - 130

AWN

oe” recent publications Articles

Artuk, The medallion of glory, Proc. 8 th. International Congress of Numismatics, 489
Artuk, The coins of the Vice-regency of Ala-el-din Keykubad, ibid., 495 - Bacharach, Foreign coins, Forgers and Forgeries in fifteenth century Egypt, ibid., 501 - Cribb, A group of Chinese forgeries overstruck on Korean coins, Seaby’s coin & medal bulletin, March 1977, 87 & 90-92 R.B.F. Dauwe, Ein Kleiner Fund Mamlukischer Munzen, Munsterische Num. Zeitung, 70, 1977, 4 - 6

Margaret S. Fearey, Kenneth A. Luther and John Masson Smith, Two Ilkhanid hoards?, Proc. 8th. Int. Congr. Num., 513 J-U, Gens, Two coins from the times of the British-Afghan wars, Spink’s Numismatic Circular LXXXV no. 3, March 1977, 106 - Kouymjian, Three unique gold coins of the Eldiguzid Atabegs of north-western Iran, Proc. 8th. Int. Congr. Num., 527

M. Lowick, Coins of the Najahids of Yemen: a preliminary inverstigation, ibid., 543
Oman, The nomenclature of Islamic coins: a tentative bibliographical approach, ibid., 553

A.W. Ritman, Arabo-Byzantijnen, Geuzenpenning, 26, 1976, 73 - 75

G. Rhodes, A Sino-Tibetan rupee, Spink’s Numismatic Circular LXXXV no.3, March 1977, 107-8
G. Rhodes, Two Assamese temple tokens, Spink’s Numismatic Circular LXXXV no.4, April 1977, 148
Sellwood, The drachms of the Parthian Dark Age, J. Royal Asiatic Society 1976, 2 - 25
Shamma, The political significance of religious slogans on Islamic coins, Proc. 8th. Int. Congr. Num., 559

A. Turk, An unrecorded type of bronze mould for Pu coins of the Wang Mang Inter-regnum, Seaby’s Coin & Medal Bulletin,

April 1977, 132 - 134 Qu: Wilski, Gegenstempel auf Munzen des Osmanischen Reiches, Geldgeschichtiliche Nachrichten, 11. Jahrgang, Nr. 54, Juli 1976, 195 (reprints available from Dr. Wilski) Books

Ariel Berman, Islamic coins. This is the catalogue of an exhibition held last winter. Published by the L. A. Mayor Memorial

Institute for Islamic Art. 461 coins; English-Hebrew text; pp. 155. Price 175 Israeli pounds / £8 - 50. (from Michael Broome) Mohammed Abu-i-Faraj al-‘Ush, Trésor de monnaies d’argent trouvé a Umm-Hajarah, Damascus 1972. pp. 113 in Arabic + 19 in

French summary, 18 pl. paper £3 or 5 dollars. Deals with Sassanians, Arab-Sassanians, Umayyads and Abbasids

Mohammed Abu-l-Faraj al-‘Ush, The silver hoard of Damascus, Damascus 1972. pp. 359 in English + 4 in Arabic, 47 pl.

hardback £7 or 12 dollars. Deals with Sassanians, Arab-Sassanians and Umayyads.

These two books can be obtained from Colin Barron (c/o Britsh Council, PO. Box 634, Amman, Jordan)

Proceedings of the 8 th. International Congress of Numisamtics, New York - Washington 1973, [APN publication no.4: 2 vols.,

pp. 683 + 77 pl. hardback £ 43-50. Available from B.A. Seaby (London) or A.G. van der Dussen (Maastricht, Neths.)

The titles of papers therein on Oriental subjects have been listed above. K.D. Bajpai, Indian numismatic studies, New Delhi 1976, pp. 188 + XII, pl. 10. Price 65 Rs. or 13 dollars.

D.B. Pandey, The history and coinage of the Yaudheyas, New Delhi 1976, 8 dollars

Both books available from Abhinav publications, E-37. Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016 A booklist from the same publishers includes M.K. Sharan’s study of ‘Tribal Coins’ and reprints of Elliot (Coins of

Southern India), Allan (IMC IV: Native States) and Paruck (Sasanian coins) New Journal

De Beeldenaar, founded earlier this year by amalgamation of De Geuzenpenning and De Florijn. Postbus 420, Zeist, Netherlands — Queries raised in earlier Newsletters

Mr. 1.0.0. Campell (Nebraska) comments on Mr. Kumar’s silver piece (NL. 46 of Dec. 1976) that it is a fantasy piece. He has discussed it in the Jan. 1977 issue of Numismatics International and a detailed commentary is due to be published in that journal (Apr./May).

Mr. Ken Wiggins comments on coins in NL. 43 that the inscription of the first has been read as ‘"”Bharmalji San 1244” and that

on the second as possibly “Jarvan Singji Rana’. He would appreciate any further suggestions.

Mysore coins countermarked “G. B.” by K.W. Wiggins

Over the years a number of Mysore 20 cash pieces (Craig 172) of the period circa 1823 - 1825, heavily stamped with the letters

"”G B”, have come to notice. There are two in the writer’s collection, others have been seen in several collections and further

specimens have been reported. Their existence in numbers would appear to indicate that they were so stamped for a specifi

reason, the most likely being that they were used as a token, tally or check piece by some European Estate in the صم‎

Coorg and Coimbatore area. The Mysore coins of Krishna Raja Wodeyar gradually went out of use from about 1845 to 1860, although contemporary writers

comment on their abundance in the bazaars of the region for long after. It is probable then that the pieces in question were

counter-marked and put into use during the latter half of the 19 th. century. Pridmore’ records two tokens of Ceylon bearing the initials “G B”. They are attributed to George Bird, one of the earliest

planters in Ceylon whose coffee estate was first opened in 1821 at Sinnapitya near Gampola. In the 1860’s Bird was still at

Gampola and specimens of his tokens have been found at Kandy.

It is unlikely, however, that Bird used the counter-marked Mysore coins in Ceylon for it appears that most specimens have been

found in India. I have not heard of any from Ceylon. Many of the Ceylon planters also had estates in Southern India but I have

not been able to trace any plantation owned by Bird in that area. One other name might be suggested as the issuer of these

countermarked coins. George Badenoch was the General Manager in South India for the firm of Pierce, Leslie and Co. Ltd. from

1883 until 1898. His principal office was in Cochin but the firm had branches in Calicut, Mangalore and Tellichery on the

Malabar coast, where there were coffee curing works. There were also other offices in the hinterland at such places as

Coimbatore and Mysore and in the Wynaad and Nilgiris districts where native produce was received for shipment to the coast. It seems likely that a use could have been found for a token or check in such transactions and there are on record a number of

machine made tokens for use by various firms in the South Indian Estates. Countermarked coins cannot be attributed with

accuracy in the absence of documentary evidence and persistant research may some day reveal further details concerning these Mysore pieces.

Pridmore, F., The coins of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Part II. Asian Territories (excluding India)