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; 11.51. 15-00; 6-00 dollars North America: Mr. 2. D. Hogan Newsletter number 54 April 1978 Members News

Mr. S. C. Wong of Singapore has a bronze coin mould for casting Pan-liang coins of the early Han dynasty

for disposal and also a small three-holed spade coin bearing the inscription (obv) Yu-yang (rev) 12 chu. Would

anyone interested please contact him. Mr. Ikbal Nathani of, has written to say that he has many coins,

mainly copper, for sale: these range in date from the Sultans of O Delhi to the 19th. century. Mr. Ch. A. Azami has donated a copy of his book, in Persian, on the Ispahbads

of Tabaristan. Anyone wishing to borrow it please write to Mr. C. M. Webdale, who now has it, enclosing

postage cost (about 30p). The Persian title of the book is - كيل شر كر شاه و تاديهيسا‎ )تاتسربط‎ Sjp (١سبهبدات‎ London meetings of the ONS: March and July.

Mr. Wiggins writes: “Twenty members attended the meeting at St. James’ Hall, Lancaster Gate, on the 11th.

March. It was a pleasure to meet Dr. van der Wiel from the Netherlands and several members from outside

London. The auction held at that meeting was successful and over £50 was raised for ONS funds. Grateful

thanks are due to Spink & Son Ltd., to Mrs. G. E. Watson and to Mr. D. Priestley who kindly donated coins

and books for auction. A further meeting will be held on Saturday Ist. July at 2. 30 pm. This will be at Mr. J. Cribb’s residence:. This address is close to the West Kensington Underground Station. Any members requiring further

directions or information please contact Mr. Cribb at the Department of Coins and Medals, the British

Museum. It is hoped that a few members from overseas will also be in London for the meeting.” © Some recent publications Papers

L. Bates, The coinage of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars I: additions and corrections, Museum Notes 22 of

the American Numismatic Society, 1977, 161 - 181.

Gabrisch, An unknown date of the Tibetan 10 srang note, Spink’s NC. April 1978, 189
Gunstone, Records of the Birmingham Mint Limited: part II, Spink’s Numismatic Circular, March 1978,

127 - 129 (includes coins of Cambodia, Thailand and Tunis)

M. MacKenzie, Manghirs from Ruha with Bird and Fish designs, Spink’s NC., March 1978, 130
M. MacKenzie, Selim III and Mustafa IV, silver and gold coins, Spink’s NC., April 1978, 182 - 184
Snartt, The rarity of East India Company coins: Bombay II, copper coinage, Seaby’s Coin and Medal Bulletin, April 1978, 112-114 Books
Album, Marsden’s Numismata Orientalia Illustrata: edited and added to by Stephen Album as a guide to

Islamic & Oriental coins. Attic Books, New York. 274 pp. 21-50 dollars. Also obtainable from Mr. Album. Jan Lingen and Kenneth Wiggins, Coins of the Sindhias, 12% by 8% ins., 108 pp., 512-50 5

Publications. Obtainable from B. A. Seaby Ltd., 11 Margaret Street, London W 1. A Larin Hoard from the North Konkan by K. W. Wiggins

The following correspondance, which is reproduced verbatim, was noticed recently in the India Office library.

It is concerned with the discovery of a hoard of Bijapur larins: a hoard which does not appear to have been published previously. It was apparently unearthed early in 1848 at the village of Sanganeshwar (17-06’ N:

73-36” E.), some 24 miles north-east of Ratnagiri. Ratnagiri, itself, is situated on the coast some 150 miles to the south of Bombay. Both Ratnagiri and Sanganeshwar were undoubtedly within the territory of the Sultans of Bijapur. The hoard numbered 397 pieces. Fifty were sent to the Court of Directors of the East India Company in London and an un-disclosed number were examined by Dr. John Wilson of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. The ultimate disposition of the coins is not known.

Several points of interest emerge from this manuscript. The Collector, in his letter, said that the larins

were stamped with the name of Allie Adil Shah and that the word Lari was on them. This would tend to indicate that at least some of the larins were struck during the time of Ali Adil Shah II (1656-1672). His

statement that laris were used during the reigns of the first Maratha Rajas of Satara probably deserves some

credence but the reference to 200 ‘‘Dabhole laree”’ in relation to land measurement is puzzling. This statement probably means that the land was worth 200 larins. There was no Indian measurement known as the laree -

the most common unit of land measure being the Gaz. ‘“‘Dabhole”’ undoubtedly means Dabuli: the town of

Dabul situated about 100 miles south of Bombay, being the site of a mint where Bijapur larins were struck.

Kharapattan is a village some 45 miles south-east of Ratnagiri. The note of Dr. Wilson is rather less

informative. If one of the larins bore the date AH 1031 this would correspond to the Christian date 1621-22

and fall within the reign of Ibrahim Adil Shah. There would not appear to be any known evidence for

assuming that three larins were equal to one rupee, especially if one considers their weights. The document

whose transcription follows appears by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationary Office. MSS. EUR. D. 636 Bombay: Public Department Letter dated 16th. April (No. 36) 1849

Transmitting 50 old silver coins from a number discovered in the village of Sungumneshwar in the Rutnagherry Collectorate. Examiner’s Office

16 April 1849 From -Government, Bombay 10 - Court of Directors

Page2 24 June 1848 From - Mr. Collector Coles To - Sec. to Government

Page4 22 February 1849 Note on the Lairi Coins Public Department

16 th. April (No 36) 1849 To the Honourable, the Court of Directors for the Affairs of the Honourable East India Company, London Honourable Sirs,

From the Collector of ) We have much pleasure in transmitting to your

Rutnagherry No. 609 D/ ) Honourable Court fifty old silver coins from

24 th. June last ) a number recently discovered in the Village of

Sungumneshwar in the Rutnagherry Collectorate. From Dr. Wilson dated ) We beg to transmit for your information a copy

22 nd. February last. ) of each of the two letters noted in the margin giving a description of these coins. We have the honour to be With the greatest respect,

Honourable Sirs, Your most faithful obed’t and

humble Servants, Bombay Castle. (Signed) - P. Willoughby 16 th. April, 1849 - A. Blane Extract from the Proceedings of Government in the General Department..

No. 609 of 1848 - 3951. From the Collector of Rutnagherry, dated 24 th. June, 1848. Sir,

As some silver coins that have lately been found appear curious, I have the honour to forward

twenty pieces for the inspection of His Lordship in Council. They are stamped with the name of Allie Adil

Shah King of Beejapour who reigned about the year 1557 and are called “‘Laree” as will be seen by the

inscription on them. Three of them were equal to one Rupee. They were current during the reigns of the

first Rajahs of Sattara but were not afterwards used. I have found them mentioned in a Takeed Putr written

by the Punt Amalya in 1710-11 to the Havildar and Carkoons of Kharapattun stating that 200 ‘“‘Dabhole Laree” of uncultivated land of the Survey of Annajee Dutto was given to Krishnumbhul bin Wishwanath

Cheet Majunkur of Kharapattun. The coins (three hundred and ninety seven in number) were discovered by a

Ryot in digging the foundation of an old house in the village of Sungumneshwar of this district.

I have the honour to be etc Rutnagiree (Signed) G. Coles Collector’s Office Collector 24 th. June, 1848.

Note on the Lairi Coins forwarded by Government for examination by the Society.

I can add but little to the curious notices of these coins given by Mr. Coles of the C. by whom they were sent

into Government more especially as none of the inscriptions upon any of the specimens we have received are complete.

They unquestionably belong to the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur whose power lasted from AD 1501 -

The name of Ali Adil Shah as remarked by Mr. Coles is found on some of them but whether this was

Adil Shah the First or second we have no means of judging. The former prince who began to reign in 1557 was

assassinated AD 1579. The second succeeded to power in 1660 and died in 1672. On one of the coins I

observed the date AH 1031 corresponding with the year of Christ 1641 when Muhammad Adil Shah was in authority.

The form of the coins is remarkable. They consist of a silver wire about a twelfth of an inch in diameter

but nearly in the middle and not struck but. pressed for about two thirds of their length between the lips of

a small vice having Arabic letters cut on its inner surface and they are thus flattened and extended to about

the eighth of an inch in breadth except near the extremities where the two portions of the were not brought

into contract stand out from one another and make an angle. As they have no figures and the lettering does

not cover all the surface of the coin and as they are of unequal size and weight, though averaging about three

to an Adil Shahi rupee, with a specimen of which coin, now very rare, I have compared them, their marks

must be considered as warranting the quality and not the quantity of the metal, and they must have been tried

by weight more than number when circulated. In this respect they resemble the stamped bars of the precious

metals used in remote times. The name Lair which they bear in Arabic and means custom or excise and

custom house Perhaps the original type of them was got from Arabia. Bombay (Signed) John Wilson 22 nd. Feb’y, 1849 True copy Signed H. Carter Secretary B. B. R. A. Society. True extract - B. Lumsden Secretary to Government