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; 1.11. 12-00; 5-00 dollars North America: Mr. P. D. Hogan Newsletter number 50 August 1977 Notes for the Newsletters

It would be appreciated if more members could submit short notes on interesting coins or other numismatic

items for inclusion in the newsletters. At present most of the writing is being done by a fairly small goup of people. Some more forgeries

Following Mr. Rhodes’ note in the last Newsletter more information has come from Scott Semans of Ohio.

He writes of two groups of forgeries currently arriving from India: -

Sikkim Paissa. Letters and edges have a very ‘“‘sharp’’ feel; where a date should be there is a filigree on

some dies; generally the style of lettering is wrong, but it may take an experienced eye to spot this.

There are at least 16 different false dies, in combination, being used, so seeing several different dies

among a group of coins does not exculpate them. One other important sign - the fakes are much too

convex and “rock’ quite a bit on a flat surface. (see Mr. Rhodes’ note) - Tibet 21 Skar, date 15/55 (Y - A 19). Easy to distinguish as the “1” and “5” of 15 are connected on the

fake and the tail of the “‘S” is split. However, many dies may have been used, so caution is advised.

The style of this piece is generally wrong. To these one may also add that there is also a flood of false Ancient Indian silver ““Bent Bar’’ coins. A group

of these, pressure cast from about seven different moulds, has been around London for about three years, but

now forgeries of similar type, including a specimen from one of the same moulds, are arriving again. They have

been seen on the Continent and in America. The forgeries tend to have a similar general appearance with

details that should be sharp being rather rounded but they are not always easy to detect visually and by far

the best test is to weigh them. Nearly all genuine coins weigh more than 11 grammes but very few (if any) of the forgeries weigh more than 10.5 grammes

Mr. Wiggins has sent details of a forged gold mohur from Jaipur State weighing 162.5 grains. He writes: -

Some gold mohurs which appear to bear the names of George V and

Maharajah Man Singh have recently appeared in this country. The few

that have been seen bear the regnal year 3 of Man Singh, which & supposedly dates the coin to c. 1925. These pieces are undoubtedly co

fabrications and ought to be recignised as such by the crude engraving of the die when compared with genuine Jaipur coins of the same

period, by the extra leaf at the bottom right of the “‘Jhar’’ and by their low weight of 162.5 grains (10.53 grams). The Large Ottoman Copper Coins by Samuel Lachman

This discussion deals with the large copper coinage of the Ottoman Empire struck, in general, during the eighteenth century. Similar coins of brass and of silver-plated copper are also included. Copper, in this context, may be bronze since none of the coins has been analysed. The coins are all identical in type with the large silver coins of the same period. It is possible that some of these coins were struck from the same dies as silver coins (fraudulently?).

Although these coins are listed in several catalogues, only Ismail Galip’ states that Ottoman historians do not mention the striking of such specimens. No catalogue attributes any denomination to these coins. ‘heir weight is usually less than that of corresponding silver coins. It seems most probable that all these coins are counterfeits which were, at one time, silver plated. Some coins in the writer’s collection still bear traces of silver.

The following list comprises all coins traced by the writer. The references are indicated thus: - - BMC Stanley Lane-Poole, Catalogue of Oriental Coins in the British Museum, Vol. VIII: The Coins of the Turks in the British Museum, London 1883. Galip Ismail Galip, Takvim-i Mesktkat-i Osmaniye, Istanbul 1307 (AD 1890). LAC The writer’s collection. Pere Nuri Pere, Osmanlilarda Madeni Paralar, Istanbul 1968.

The coin types are indicated by the corresponding silver coins: -

Suleyman II AH 1099, Kostantiniye: Copper Yarim Kurus 30 mm., 8.05 gm. LAC Ahmad III AH 1102, Kostantiniye: Copper Kurus 40 mm., 16.79 gm. LAC Mustafa II AH 1106, Kostantiniye: Copper Kurus 38 mm., 15.35 gm. Pere 495 Kostantiniye: Copper Kurus 36mm.,18.4gm. Galip 590 Kostantiniye: Brass Kurus 38 mm., Galip 591 Kostantiniye: Copper Yarim Kurus 30 mm., BMC 422 Kostantiniye: Copper Yarim Kurus 29 mm., 8.40 gm. Pere 496 Kostantiniye: Copper Yarim Kurus 29 mm., 8.77 gm. LAC Edirne: Copper Kurus 37 mm., BMC 428 Edirne: Copper Kurus 39 mm., 14.4 gm. LAC (worn) Edirne: Copper Yarim Kurus 27mm.,8.15 gm. Pere 497 Ahmad III AH 1115 Kostantiniye: Silver plated Kurus 39 mm., 23.95 gm. LAC Kostantiniye: Silver plated Zolta 38 mm., 18.3 gm. LAC Kostantiniye: Copper Zolta 37 mm., 18.30 gm. Pere 536 Kostantiniye: Brass Yarim Zolta 30 mm., 11.08 gm. LAC Mahmud I AH 1143 Kostantiniye: Copper Kurus 38 mm., 18.45 gm. Pere 583 Kostantiniye: Silver plated Kurus 41 mm.,15.6gm. LAC Kostantiniye: Copper Yirmilik 31 mm., Pere 583 Abdul Hamid I 481187 Kostantiniye

year | Copper Kurus 38 mm., 14.25 gm _ Pere 685 year | Copper Kurus 38 mm., BMC 726 year 2 Copper Kurus 38 mm., BMC 727 year 7 Copper Kurus 36 mm., Galip 866

year | Copper Zolta 35 mm., 11.93 gm. Pere 6 Selim IT] AH 1203 Kostantiniye

year 2 Copper Yuzlik 41 mm., 25.75 gm. Pere 722 year 9 Copper Yuzlik 42 mm., 30.32 gm. Pere 721 year 18 Copper Yuzlik 44 mm., BMC 809 AH 1203 Misr (Egypt) year 16 Copper Kurus 35 mm., Galip 921

The theoretical weight of genuine silver coins was based on the following weights of the Kurus: -

Suleyman II, Ahmad II, Mustafa II 6 dirhems \(= 19.24 gm\) Ahmad III circa 8% dirhems \(= 26.46 gm\)

Mahmud I initially circa 8% dirhems \(= 26.46 gm\) later circa 7% dirhems \(= 23.25 gm\) Abdul Hamid I Selim IIL 5 10/16 dirhems 4 dirhems \(= 12.83 gm\) 18.039 gm. in 1780? Counterfeit Ottoman silver coins of the correct: weight and fineness were struck at Baden-Durlach but appear not to have been placed in circulation. It has also been said that such coins were struck at Vienna?. A report

about the striking of Ottoman coins at St Petersburg (= Leningrad) in 1808/09 was recently published’.

Ismail Galip, Takvim-i Meskukat-i Osmaniye, Istanbul 1307 (AD 1890), p: 257. Pierre Fréderic Bonneville, Traité des monnaies d’or et d’argent qui circulent chez les différents peuples, Paris 1806, p. 198.

Friedrich Wieland, Turkenmunzen aus Durlach, Berliner Numismatische Zeitschrift 1953, XIII, 13 - 20.

Marianna B. Severova, Turetskie monety chekanennye na Petersburgskom monetnom dvore (Turkish coins struck at the St. Petersburg

mint), Soobshcheniia Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha, Leningrad, vol. 40, 1975, 77 - 82.

Some Latin - Arabic coins struck by the Genoese at Caffa in the Crimea by M. B. Mitchiner

The Genoese commercial colony at Caffa in the Crimea was administered by a Consul General assisted by

an emissary from the ruling Mongol Khan who ensured that the annual tribute was paid. The colony at Caffa, formerly the classical city of Theodosia on the Cimmerian Bosphorus, was founded by the Genoese under suzerainty of the Golden Horde Mongols shortly before AD 1289. When Timur crushed Toktamish Khan of the Golden Horde during the 1390’s AD the power of that people waned and the new Khanate of Krim

emerged. During the interval between the final defeat of Toktamish Khan in 1393 and the foundation of the Krim Khanate by Hajji Giray I in 1420 the real power in the Crimea was Ulugh Mohammed, father of Haijji @. who remained nominally subject to the rather impotent later Khans of the Golden Horde. In later

cades Ottoman Turks and Krim Khans joined combat in the Crimea, a series of conflicts that ended with the sack of Caffa by the Turks in 1475 and the final end of the colony two years later. The majority of Caffan

coins are bilingual. They normally bear the Genoese “Gateway” design on one side enclosed by a Genoese

legend that often includes the initials of the Consul General (many Consuls General of the period AD 1289 -

1477 were listed by Schlumberger in Numismatique de l’Orient Latin, pp. 462-3), while the other side bears

the standard design, in Arabic script, of the Mongol suzerain. The three coins shown here are representative of

the three major periods in Caffan coinage: the period under the suzerainty of Toktamish Khan, the period

when Ulugh Mohammed dominated the Crimea under the nominal suzerainty of the later warring Golden

Horde Khans and the period of the Krim Khanate.

Suzerain: Toktamish Khan of the Golden Horde - AD 1376-93: AH 778 - 6

Genoese Consul General: not cited AR Dirhem. weight 1.0 gm. Obv. Genoese design: - Gateway with legend around COMUNE IANVEM

Rev. Mongol design: - Standard inscription of Toktamish Khan Sle als ol5S ‘تكئميش‎ JsbIl تاطلسلا‎

(This issue antedates the earliest coin known to Schlumberger by several decades) or Anonymous Khan of the Golden Horde - period AD 1400 - 1420

enoese Consul General: initials V. C. AE Follis, weight 0.6 gm. Obv. Genoese design: - Gateway with legend (C: A: F:) F: A: V: C: Rev. Mongol design: - - Tamgha of the Golden Horde

Suzerain: Hajji Giray Khan of Krim - AD 1420-66: AH 823-61

Genoese Consul General: - E. L. 5. (in Greek), probably Azzolino Squarciafico AD 1460 - 61 AR Denga, weight 0.6 gm. Obv. Genoese design: - Gateway with legend (MD) CAF EAC Rev. Mongol design: - Krim tamgha with Hajji Giray’s legend (slightly corrupt) lhe تاطلس ~ اى بن‎

sal (Ke © ©

The Abbasid - Sassanian coinage of Seistan by M. B. Mitchiner

Although silver dirhems of the normal post-reform type provided the basic currency of the Caliphate from the beginning of the 8 th. century AD’ there remained a persistant preferance for traditional Sassanian forms of silver coinage in several outlying eastern provinces. Sassanian style issues struck by Arab governors of Tabaristan provided a local currency for that province on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea during several decades of the Abbasid period?. Further to the east Transoxiana had a dual currency of standard Abbasid issues and local silver coins based on the previous currencies of the Hephthalite “Lords of Bokhara” and of the Choresmian kings. The Sassanian style ‘Bust / Fire altar’ drachms of Bokhara were issued until the Caliphate of Al Amin (AD 808 - 13: AH 193 - 98)? while the ‘Bust / Horseman’ drachms of Choresmia appear to have been issued for the last time during the governorship of Al Fadl ibn Yahya (AD 787 - 95)*. A comparable situation existed in the South Afghan province of Seistan where Sassanian style drachms were struck until the governorship of Tamim ibn Sa’id (AH 169: AD 785 - 86)5 alongside normal drachms of post-reform Omayyad and Abbasid “وعم‎. It is noticeable that the Sassanian style and Choresmian style drachms which

subserved the needs of local commerce in Transoxiana and Seistan during the Abbasid period tended to be

made of somewhat debased silver and were often rudely engraved whereas contemporary Islamic style dirhems struck in the same provinces were made of good quality silver and show a superior standard of engraving.

The Arab - Sassanian drachms of Seistan are a coherent series of rather base and crudely engraved coins in similar style to the specimen published here. The phrase’) الله‎ pay (In the name of Allah, the Lord) is often found around the obverse margin and some coins bear a longer marginal legend giving the mint nar

Zaranj* بسح الله

ضرب بزرنجح‎ (In the name of Allah, struck at Zaranj). Zaranj was the chief city of Seistan. The chronology of the series used to be debateable until Bivar? published a similar drachm whose marginal

legend named an ephemeral Abbasid governor of Seistan province, ‘lamim ibn Sa’id. The coin published here

is very similar to that published by Bivar; a second specimen of this unusual issue which provides a chronological key to the Abbasid - Sassanian coinage of Seistan.

AR (moderately debased) Drachm, weight 2.3 gm. Obv. Crude Sassanian style bust right with winged headress traces of pehlvi legend in front and behind marginal Arabic legend: -

Tamim ibn Sa’id (Governor of Seistan, AH 169: AD 785 - 6) su بن‎ pio!

In the name of Allah, the Lord

sty) يسم الله‎ Rev. Crude Sassanian Fire alter and Attendants design.

The currency reform of AH 77/79 (AD 697/9); but some Sassanian style drachms continued to be issued at a number of mints during the following few years.

From the Arab conquest of Tabaristan in PYE (Post-Yezdegird era) 111, until PYE 143 (AD 761 - 794: AH 144 - 178). For details see - Walker, A Catalogue of Muhammadan coins in the British Museum: I. Arab - Sassanian coins, 1941. - Walker, ibid., Pl. XXIX. @

British Museum. See also R. Frye, Notes on the early coinage of Transoxiana, Numismatic notes and monographs of the American

Numismatic Society 113, 1949 and M. Mitchiner, Early coinage of Central Asia 1973, Pl. VIII, 71c.

For details of this ephemeral governor see C. E. Boswoth, Sistan under the Arabs, 151110, Rome 1968, p. 84.

Post-reform dirhems had been struck in this province, bearing the two alternative mint names Seistan and Zaranj, since before AH 100 (= AD 718). See, for example, E. von Zambaur, Die Munzpragungen des Islams, Wiesbaden 1968.

For such coins see J. Walker, ibid., XXXVII, 9 and M. Mitchiner, the World of Islam, 1977 (in press), coins 298 - 299.

For example J. Walker, ibid., XX XVII, 10 and M. Mitchiner, ibid., no. 300.

D.H. Bivar, Fresh evidence on the “‘Sijistan Barbarous” series of Arab-Sassanian Dirhams, J. Numismatic Society of India XXX, 1968, 1-6