ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Secretary General Regional Secretaries Mr. - - Broome General Section: Mr. G. P. Hennequin

Newsletter Editor Europe: Dr. H. J. van der Wiel Dr. M. B. Mitchiner UK. and Eire: Mr. K. W. Wiggins

Annual Subscription £4-00; H.F1.18-00; 9-00 dollars North America: Mr. P. D. Hogan Newsletter number 69 December 1980 New Regional Secretary

Mr. Gilles Hennequin of Arras has taken over the position of secretary to the General Section of the ONS

in succession to Mr. Tony Webdale. Tony Webdale retires after putting in several years of hard work on behalf

of our society. As regards payment of annual subscriptions members of the General Section are advised that

Mr. Hennequin can only accept directly sums that are made payable in French Francs. Sums in other

currencies should either be paid direct to our Treasurer (Mr. V. A. Brown), or they may be sent to Mr. Hennequin for forwarding to the Treasurer. Members news

London meeting: Over thirty members attended a meeting at St. James’ Hall on 8th. November. It was a

pleasure to welcome from the Continent. A number of recently joined UK members also attended. An

auction of member’s duplicates and donated items realised £131 - 70 for the Society’s funds. Thanks are due for refreshments.

The Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies (cfr. N/L no. 68) has now acquired a plot of land at

Nasik where the Institute will be built. It is hoped that the buildings will be ready early in 1982. Literature

and photographs are still urgently needed. Please contact.

has a number of Afghan coins for disposal. They are mainly Durrani and Barakzai copper and silver coins.

has amplified his interests to read: “Interested in the operation of Modern Imperial and Republican Chinese

mints, origins of machinery, dies etc. (1 875-1950)’.

(685) is collecting literature on the coinage of the Isfendiyar Beyliks and would welcome help in locating

articles on this subject. Mr. Saran Singh (710) is looking for specimens of Sikh coins of the Punjab (Amritsar,

Lahore, Multan mints) and the Mora rupees of Ranjit Singh. His interests are ‘Penang, Straits Settlements.

Sarawak, British North Borneo, Tin and Gold coins of the Malay States, Singapore and Dutch Merchant

Tokens and earlier coins of these regions, plus Sikh coinage’. Mr. Sidi (708) has extended his interests to

‘Islamic coinage in general, Fatimid in particular: he is also looking for coins of Zanzibar, Mombasa. Lamu,

Kilwa, Mafia, Harar, Mogadishu, the East India Company, the Ottoman Empire, the Arabian Penninsula,

and Islamic Glass weights’. He has numerous World Coins to exchange. Mr. K. C. Jaria (652) has a silver striking

(4.20 gm) of a Chandragupta ‘Archer type’ stater (cfr. BMC VI, 3) and would welcome comments from members.

The University of Calgary (Institute for the Humanities, 2500 University Drive.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4) will be holding the ‘“‘Nickle Conference 1981”? on Numismatics aid the Ancient World during

October 19 - 23. Will any member who is interested please contact the Institute.

Regarding the unread Islamic word(s) on the coins though to have been struck in the Sultanate of Sambak (cfr. N/L 62-63 and 64) Dr. Domrow suggests the Malay word bélanja which means ‘outlay’ or ‘disbursement’.

It is a word that occurs commonly on Malay native coinage (cfr. Pridmore articles in Spink’s NC. for Patani, Trengganu, Pahang etc.). In this context the word may occur either straight (belanja) or affixed (belanja’an).

On the Sambak coins Dr. Domrow would read ‘belanjah’.

| belanja rib mee belanjaan w* Wib belanjah “sub — — Some recent publications

Broome, M. R., Three rare third century AH dinars, Seaby’s Coin and Medal Bull., Sept. 1980, 276 - 277

Broome, M. R., Four coins of Mecca - a preliminary note, Spink’s Numismatic Circular, Nov. 1980, 400 Broome, M. R., Early post reform dirhams of ‘Abd Al-Malik, Seaby’s C & M Bull., Dec. 1980, 374 - 377 Campbell, I. C. G., Changing patterns of collecting… a very brief introduction to the Coins of India, NI Bull.,

Nov. 1980, 297 - 304 Digby, S., The Broach coin-hoard as evidence of the import of valuta across the Arabian Sea during the 13th. and 14th centuries, J. Royal Asiatic Society, 1980 no. 2, 129 - 138 Hennequin, G., Numismatique Arabo-Islamique, Annales Islamologiques XVI, 1980. Hebert,,ل‎ Mihrban, Numismatics International Bull., Aug. 1980, 244 Hebert,,ل‎ Naima and Numismatics, NI Bull., Nov. 1980, 305 - 306 MacDowall, D. W. and Ibrahim, M., Pre-Islamic coins in Herat Museum, Afghan Studies, II, 1979, 45 - 53 Maheshwari, K. K., Coins of Kochhiputra Satakarni, Numismatic Digest (Bombay), 11111, Dec. 1979, 29 - 30 Maheshwari, K. K., A new portrait coin of Yajna Satakarni, Numismatic Digest (Bombay), 1111, June 1979, 1-3 Mitchiner, M. B., A Kushano-Sassanian Drachm of Varahran Kushanshah, Spink’s NC., Oct. 1980, 347 - 348 Mitchiner, M. B., Plated tetradrachms of Heraios, tyrant of the Kushans, Spink’s NC., Dec. 1980, 447 - 448. Mitchiner, M. 8. and Goron, S., An Indian rupee struck at Banares in the name of the Persian ruler Nadir

Shah, Spink’s NC., Dec. 1980, 445 - 446 Munzel, K., ‘Fada’ - eine Islamische Munzstatte?, Jahrbuch fur Numismatik und Geldgeschichte, 28/29, 1978/79, 139 - 140 Munzel, K., ‘*Abd Amir al Mu’minin, ein titel auf einem mittelalterlicher Siegelstein, ibid., pp. 141 - 142. Pridmore, F. and Vice, D., Singapore merchants’ tokens 1831 - 1845 and the East India Company’s Sumatra

coinage, Spink’s Numismatic Circular, Sept. 1980, 302 - 304 Singh, J. P., On an octagonal Chinese legend coin of Pratapa Simha, NI Bull., Aug. 1980, 245 - 247 Singh, Saran, The Coinage of the Sultanate of Brunei, 1400 - 1980, Brunei Museum Journal 1980 Singh, Saran, The coins of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, 1876 - 1980 (contact Mr. Singh for details) Snartt, P., The rarity of East India Company coins (contd.), Seaby’s C & M Bull., Sept. 1980, 279 - 280 Snartt, P., The rarity of East India Company coins (cont.d), Seaby’s C & M Bull., Oct. 1980, 302 - 305 Snartt, P., The rarity of East India Company coins (contd.), Seaby’s C & M Bull., Nov. 1980, 343 - 347 Snartt, P., The rarity of East India Company coins (contd.), Seaby’s © & M Bull., Dec. 1980, 377 - 378 Tarascio, V., King Frederick II and the end of Kufic lettering on Sicilian coinage, Seaby’s © & M Bull., Nov. 1980, 340 - 343

Westphal, H., Fatimid small change from Syria, Spink’s NC., Dec. 1980, 443

Wiggins, K. W., Two unsuccesful mints of the East India Company, Spink’s NC., Oct. 1980, 349 - 350

Wright, R. N. J., The Hong Kong mint taels - a reappraisal, Spink’s NC., Nov. 1980, 396 - 399 Books

Michael Robinson and Lewis Shaw, The Coins and Banknotes of Burma, 9 x 6’4’’, 160 pp, art board cover,

fully illustrated with nearly 300 photographs of coins, 14 plates of banknotes and 2 maps. Published privately by the authors who are both ONS members and available from them: due in December. Reduced price for ONS members until Jan. 31st. £9 - 50 (23 dollars) incl. post. Much new material is

brought together, including information from contemporary chronicles and particular emphasis is given

to the period from the 16th. century onwards. Martin Price (editor), Coins: an illustrated survey 650 BC to the present day, 370 pp, over 2000 illustrations,

Cloth bound in slip case: Hamlyn, London, £ 25. Several authors of individual sections are ONS members.

Publication available from the Publications Office, Madras Government Museum, Egmore, Madras, T.N., India

1. • Sankara Narayana, Catalogue of Vijayanagara Coins in the Madras Government Museum, Bull. of the

Madras Government Museum, New series, General section, XIV no. 1, 1977

The next ONS publication will be Occasional Paper no. 15, ‘The Larin - Trade Money of the Arabian Gulf, by Mr. R. van Laere. Mukden 20 and 10 cash coins of 1922 by R.N. J. Wright

There are various types of Imperial Chinese 20 cash - and innumerable 10 cash - re-struck or copied in

Republican times which still have to be assigned a mint and a date. One example which was pinpointed at an early stage was the Hu Poo 20 cash (Y. 5.1) which was struck at the Wuchang mint between 1917 and 1925. However, other mints such as Tientsin and Nanking are credited respectively with striking 54 million 20 cash (25% US. copper and 75% brass) per month in 1924:, and 136% million ‘double cents’ (90% copper and 3.4

mace weight, for Anhwei province) in the same year? 3 - Kann made an estimate of 50 million 20 cash coins struck at Mukden between 1918 and 1926’ and there are indications of a mint at Lanchow coining 20 cash pieces in 1925. The Japanese, local warlords and ordinary counterfeiters are other possible sources. The relative popularity of the old Imperial coins with the re-strikers was based on the fact that the population of China had a more lingering faith in the older looking products of the Empire, than in the new designs produced by the Republic. In Imperial times the 20 cash coin had an official weight of 4 Mace Kuping, or 14.9 grams, a thick flan and it was well struck in red copper. The re-strikes of the Republic had a reduced weight, generally between

11.0 and 11.5 grams, thin flans and they were often adulterated with metal from old cannon or square hole cash, so giving them a brassy look. The quality of the striking was often poor. Besides some varieties of the Hu Poo coins, these light-weight re-strikes would appear to include: -

Tai Ching 1907 (Y. 11.3); 1909 (Y. 21.1 and Y. 21.13: thin flan versions); 1909 (Y. 21.2: a copy with a cloud or rosette instead of waves); 1909 (Y. 21.3: a coarse copy of.لآ‎ 21.1a) These are either re-strikes or copies of the ‘general’ issue coins theoretically struck solely by the Tientsin Central Mint between 1907 and 1910.

The U.S. Mint Report for 1923 had a rare comment on the work of the Mukden mint for 1922, indicating that the mint ‘“‘coins nothing but copper 1 and 2 cents’’. This raises interesting possibilities, as Woodward, in his invaluable 50015. illustrates some varieties of a particular hybrid of the 10 cash (Y. 20.2) and states that they were produced by the ‘Kirin (Mukden) mint’ and first made their appearance in 1922. (As far as is known the Kirin mint(s) was destroyed in the great fire of Kirin in 1911 and Mukden was the only mint operating in Manchuria in 19226 ). Examination of one of these coins, and a 20 cash type Y. 21.2, weight 11.4 grams (Sketch), shows that they are both of the same design, e.g. loose copies only of the originals; the main distinguishing features being the substitution of a cloud or a rosette for the waves under the dragon, and the tail of the dragon bending down at the end instead of curving upwards. It seems possible, therefore, that these were the ‘1 and 2 cents’ reported as being coined at Mukden in 1922: although, in view of their relative scarcity, it is probable that the Mukden mint churned out other types of copper coin in the years before and after.

References: - Yeoman, Standard Catalogue of World Coins, 1980 Edition - Chinese Economic Bulletin 1924, no. 175, p. 11 Public Record Office, London, FO - 228 - 2921

Also quoted as 58% million for Nanking in 1924; E. Kann, ‘The History of minting in China’, the China Journal, Shanghai 1939

ibid. 5. - M. Woodward, The minted ten-cash coins of China, reprinted USA 1971, p. 46 6. O.N.S. Occasional Paper no. 10

A proposed Tientsin Token Coinage by R.N. J. Wright

1926 was the peak year for ‘Warlord’ power in China, and the nation’s currency suffered accordingly. It

may be of interest to readers to know that the Tientsin Municipal Council made tentative plans during that year to solve the cash shortage by having tokens minted at the Royal Mint in London. Nothing eventually

came of the proposal, but the provisional details were for:

120,000 bronze | cent tokens with milled edge, diameter 0.808”

20,000 cupro-nickel 10 cent tokens with milled edge, diameter 1.422” The design was to be:

Obverse: BRITISH MUNICIPAL COUNCIL. TIENTSIN. in a ring surrounding the arms of the council, with an outer ring of Manchu characters.

Reverse: At the top ‘Bei Mei Tang Yi Yuan’ (One hundred pieces equal to one dollar) followed by the inscription: TOKEN FOR ONE CENT OF A DOLLAR (or) At the top ‘Shih Mei Tang Yi Yuan’ (Ten pieces equal to one dollar) followed by the inscription

TOKEN FOR TEN CENTS OF A DOLLAR

Reference: Public Record Office, London - FO - 228 - 2921