ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

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

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

Annual Subscription UK. and Eire: Mr. K. W. Wiggins £3-00; 11.11. 12-00: 5-00 dollars North America: Newsletter number 49

Announcement from the Secretary General June 1977

News has filtered through from North America that members have had long delays in recieving ONS material. It has proved impossible to persuade Pat Hogan to answer any correspondance on the matter (or on any

other matter) since he moved to Florida in January but the delays seem to be due partly to the withdrawal of the privileged printing facilities made available by courtesy of Mr. Schubert. To help overcome this OC) difficulty the last Newsletter was printed in the UK and bulk supplies sent by airmail to Pat Hogan but I do

not know if they have yet been distributed. This Newsletter is therefore being sent to individual members

from the UK to ensure that it arrives. Whatever problems Pat is having it seems clear that we need to involve more North American members in the organisation of the Society if the region is to survive. I am therefore seeking members willing to help with the distribution of ONS papers, the handling of Membership matters

and the task of Treasurer. It may well be that we should divide the region into two or three sections, each with its own officers and I would welcome views on this or any other matter. The full potential of the ONS

has never been realised in North America to the extent that it has in other regions in spite of the fact that over half the members live there. If you can help please write to me by return. Finally, we are short of money.

If you have not paid your subscription recently please credit 50011315 to the ONS account No. 0362467 at

the First National Bank, Iowa City 52240 and let me know that you have done so. We will sort out the details later. Our funds in this country are strictly limited and unless alternative arrangments can be operating by the

end of the year we may have to close down the North American region and incorporate its members into the General Section. If you want it to survive please write and tell me how you can help. Michael Broome Meeting on Sassanian subjects

Preliminary discussions have taken place in London on the possibility of organising a meeting in London

during 1978 on various subjects of Sassanian interest, including related dynasties. Anyone with suggestions

for subjects or prospective speakers please contact Michael Broome. Erratum

In Dr.Gupta’s paper published in the previous newsletter read “Afzaluddaulah 2,045 coins’’, not Asafuddaulah. — Some Recent Publications

A, Th, Arber-Cooke, A lost collection of Chinese coins, Spink’s Numismatic Circular, May 1977, 203

Adrian Hadidi, Umayyad Bronze coins from Amman, Annual of the Dept. of Antiquities, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, XX, 1975, 9-14 (in the Arabic section). This paper is in Arabic with drawings and photographs of 17 ‘standing Caliph’ type Arab-Byzantine coins

Gilles Hennequin, Nouveau Apergus sur l’histoire monetaire de l’Egypte a la fin du Moyen Age, Annales Islamologiques XIII, 1977

N.M. Lowick, On the dating of Samanid outsize dirhams, Spink’s Numismatic Circular, May 1977, 204-206

Kenneth M. MacKenzie, ‘Abdul Qadir - Muhyial-din, Algerian resistance leader, Numismatics International Bull. 11 no. 4, 1977 - Pridmore, British India - Numismatic or Philatelic? - Patna Postal tickets 1774, Spink’s NC., June 1977, 247-249

Ibrahim Tozen, Arab-Sasani Paralari II (Arab-Sassanin coins part 2), Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi Numismat Yayinlari No. 8, Istanbul

1. 20 pages of text with English summary and 2 plates: dealing with Abbasid-Sassanian coins. P.H. Vernon, The % Anna coins of Muscat and Oman AH 1312 - 1316, Spink’s NC., May 1977, 203-204

• Wiggins, Some unpublished coins of the East India Company, Spink’s NC., May 1977, 201 Books

1977 Lists of Books for sale have recently been published by: Cobham Numismatics: 63 St. John Street London EC1 (an extensive Oriental Book List) B.A. Seaby: 11 Margerat Street London Spink and Son Ltd.: 5-7 King Street, St. James’, London

A Silver Tanka of Muzaffer Shah I of Gujarat (AH 810-813: AD 1407-1410) by Jan Lingen ©

After the death of Sultan Mohammad IV (AH 792-795) of Delhi an attempt was made by Tatar Khan to

create a kingdom of his own. However, this attempt did not succeed and he fled to Gujerat to ask for support

from his father Zafar Khan, then the Governor of Gujerat. Zafar Khan was too shrewd to become involved in that fruitless attempt. Tatar Khan, however, became restive and, after having imprisoned his father, ascended the throne with the title Nasir-ud-duniya wa-ud-din Muhammad Shah (AH 806).

Zafar Khan, being still viceroy of Gujerat, sought the help of his brother Shams Khan, who poisoined the

hot-headed Tatar Khan while he was on his way to conquer Delhi. Zafar Khan now got back his liberty and declared his independance (AH 810). Remorseful as he might have been, he was loath to continue and declared his grandson Ahmad Khan (son of Tatar Khan) as his successor, who, however, could not wait for the

natural death of his grandfather and forced him to drink a cup of poison (AH 813).

Very little numismatic evidence has been traced for the period during which Zafar Khan ruled over Gujerat as “Shams-ud-duniya wa-ud-din Muzaffer Shah”. In the Indian Museum Catalogue Vol. II (Sultans of Delhi and contemporary dynasties) H. Nelson Wright mentioned that no coins of this ruler were known. Only in the Catalogue of the Coins in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay - ‘The Sultans of Gujerat, 1935”

• are coins struck in the name of Muzaffer Shah I mentioned. The coins catalogued there are two copper

pieces. One of these is dated AH 813. At the time this catalogue was compiled by C.R. Singhal no coins of this ruler in gold or silver were known; and no report has been made in later publications that I have been able @

to consult. I was therefore surprised to find a silver tanka of this ruler among some coins I recently acquired.

Inscription: Obv: Revs Weight: 11.1 grammes (171.3 grains) ا‎

9 ||إس‎

0) alias “Ge Nayeb Amir Al-mominin AIP Sams-ud-duniya wa-ud-din Kholdat Khilafat 812 Nuzaffer Shah Al-Sultan Translation: Deputy of the Commander of the Faithfull, may his Caliphate endure: 812

The weight standard conforms exactly to that of contemporary issues struck by the Sultans of Delhi.

The expression ضر‎

sb | al _4 7 is also frequently found on contemporary copper coins of the

Delhi Sultans. These correlations indicate that coins of the Delhi Sultans served as examples for the initial

coinage of Gujerat struck by Muzaffer Shah I as the independant ruler of Gujerat. A note on some coins struck at Muminabad-Bindaraban and at Islamabad-Mathura by M. B. Mitchiner

In many respects the decades around AD 1800 form one of the more obscure periods in the recent history of India. This was a period when the Moghul Empire was in the full flood of decadence and effective regional government was devolving upon local states that grew to exercise increasing autonomy: a period also when

the titular sovereignty retained by the Moghul Emperor gave way to the acknowledgement of British suzerainty. Widespread British suzerainty was only established after 1800 but during the half century

preceeding that date the authority of the Moghul Emperor had been severely undermined by two other major

powers, the Marathas and the Afghans. The Marathas progressively pushed their frontiers northwards from

original footholds at Satara and Poona while Nadir Shah Efshari of Persia and the Afghans who succeeded to

his eastern provinces detached the north-western provinces from the Moghuls. In 1761 these two powers came

face to face in battle at Panipat, near Delhi: Maratha versus Afghan without much notice being taken of the

Moghul. It was in the face of such Moghul impotence that many local dignitaries elevated their appanages into

effectively autonomous States during the second half of the 18 th. century and opened their own mints.

But the coinage often fails to illustrate the course of political events since most issues were still struck in the

name of the Moghul Emperor whose titular authority was still recognised; indeed several state mints were

only opened after official recognition had been sought from the Emperor.

The two mints considered here were situated close to one another, not far south of Delhi. Equally

important, for present purposes, these two mints lay in the borderland between two powerful states, the Jats of Bhartpur to the west and the Nawabs of Awadh (Oudh) to the east. Suraj Mal (1756-1763) of Bhartpur had

opened two mints in the last year of his reign and campaigned as far afield as Agra which he occupied in the

same year - a conquest that was soon to be lost to the Marathas. The Nawabs of Awadh were a family of

Persian descent first appointed to their charge over wide tracts of the Ganges valley in 1720. When the British

occupied more and more of the lower Ganges valley the centre of gravity of the Nawab domain shifted

westwards. New districts were incorporated on their western frontier and, for a while, the Nawabs held their

seat of Government in the western town of Bareilly. On their coins the Jats of Bhartpur adopted the dagger

as a State symbol while the Nawabs of Awadh signed their emissions with a fish. Meanwhile the later coins

struck for the Moghul Emperor at Delhi (Shahjahanabad) were signed with a symbol of the State Umbrella.

In the coinage of these two adjacent cities, Muminabad-Bindaraban and Islamabad-Mathura one can see

various combinations of these three State symbols; the Umbrella of the Moghul, the Dagger of the Bhartpur

Jats and the Fish of the Awadh Nawabs,. It is thus interesting to consider the flux of local political influences. The coins are as follows: -

Islamabad-Mathura, year 18 of Shah ‘Alam (1759-1806) AR rupee with standard Moghul inscription, 11.1 gm

Symbol: State Umbrella characteristic of late Moghul

coins struck at Delhi. (until year 26 AE paissa from this mint were purely Moghul in character)

Islamabad-Mathura, year 43 of Shah ‘Alam (1800) AR rupee with similar Moghul inscriptions, 10.8 gm Symbol: State Umbrella symbol of the Moghul

combined with Dagger symbol of the Bhartpur Jats whose lands lay just west of Mathura

Muminabad-Bindaraban, year of Shah ‘Alam AR rupee with similar Moghul inscriptions, 10.7 gm Symbol: State Umbrella symbol and Dagger symbol

Muminabad-Bindaraban, 1211, year 36 of Shah ‘Alam AE paissa with Moghul inscriptions, 7.6 gm Symbol: Fish emblem of the Nawabs of Awadh

Muminabad-Bindaraban, 1212 (for 1216), year 41 of Shah ‘Alam AE paissa with Moghul inscriptions, 7.6 gm Symbol: Fish as before Although the picture of political uncertainty is painted by this small group of coins the details need to be filled in from contemporary records. One may suspect, however, that the local dignitaries of the MathuraBindaraban region maintained allegiance to their northern neighbour and titular sovereign, the Moghul Emperor, while at the same time acknowledging varying degrees of subordination to their more powerful western and eastern neighbours, the Jats of Bhartpur and the Nawabs of Awadh. The coins shown here are in the author’s collection but the issues, albeit sometimes of different date, have all been published previously.

Some Forgeries of the Sikkim Paisa by N.G. Rhodes

Since writing my account of the Coinage of Sikkim (ONS Inf. Sheet No. 8, Jan. 1974) a number of forgeries of these scarce coins have appeared from sources in India. The false coins are crudely struck and are very similar in fabric to the genuine pieces, but differ in several points of detail. 1 show below a typical forgery, together with a genuine coin: -

5 مم رب‎ Genuine plies Bi

CAMAIOAIY Adz db

The obverse differs from genuine coins in that there is no sun and moon at the top, there is an arabesque below in place of the date and the bottom line of the inscription reads “‘pi Maraj” instead of “ti Maharaj’’. The reverse differs only in having a pellet outside each side of the square instead of an arabesque.

Apart from these details in the design the forgeries are struck from a slightly different metal. The genuine

pieces are struck in a red copper, whereas the forgeries are stained black and the metal is slightly yellower in tone when it does show through. I have so far noticed at least two obverse dies and three reverse dies, differing only in very small details from the illustration above. Some pieces are struck from two reverse dies, a

feature I have never seen on a genuine specimen.

Commemorative rupee of Jind State (India) by Jan Lingen

England being in Jubilee mood, it is a good opportunity to publish herewith a commemorative rupee of Jind,

a Native State in Northern India. It was struck on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Raja-i-Rajagan Maharaj Sir Ranbir Singh Rajindra Bahadur as his full name was. He was born in 1879 and succeeded his grandfather Raghbir Singh on the 3 rd. day of March 1887, whilst still a minor and was invested with ruling

powers in November 1899. His Golden Jubilee would have been on the 3 rd. of March 1937.

The dates on the coin are given in the Samvat era, thus 1943 and 1993. Samvat 1943, less 57 years, is 1886 but as the old Samvat year runs for about 2% months into the new 2 Christian year the accession date still falls in the old Samvat year. Samvat 1943 ended on the 24 th. March

1. Samvat 1993 was AD 1936/37 and the date of the Golden Jubilee still fell in the Old Samvat year, 1993.

Weight: 11,65 grammes \(=\) Diameter: 30.5 mm AGRA.

Metal: Silver

0 يلاد سار‎ ->.٠ / 7| IF Obverse: Jalus 1943 Samat AOL كك‎ Golden Jubilee Sarkar Jind “OLS Samat 1993

Reverse: This is particularly interesting as it retains the archaic legend of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1747-72).

In AH 1164 (AD 1751), during the 4 th. year of the reign of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the chiefs of

Patiala, Nabha, Jind and Kotla-Maler recieved the right to coin and from that day until 185 years later the same coin legend has been retained. It reads: Hokum shud az Qadir Commandment came from the incomparable Creator (God) Bichoon Beh Ahmad Bad Shah to the Emperor Ahmad Shah Sikkah zad bar seem wozar Strike coins on silver and gold so that its fame

aZ Owj mahi tabeh Mah may spread from the fish to the moon