ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY Secretary General Regional Secretaries
ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY Secretary General Regional Secretaries
PAr. - - Broome General Section: Mr.G. P. Hennequin
Newsletter Editor Europe: Dr. H. J. van der Wiel Or. M. B. Matchiner
UK. and Eire: Mr. K. W. Wiggins Annual Subscnption £400; H.F1.18-00; 9-00 dollars North America: Dr. Craig Burns Newsletter number 73 August 1981 Members news
Mr…. (175) has changed his interests to Moghul, Durrani and Barakzai coins, plus the Malla issues of Nepal.
He is seeking mint/date/regnal year combinations of Durrani coins not represented in the Lahore
Museum catalogue. Dr…. (665) is looking for Indian temple tokens with butterfly motifs. Mr…. (708)
has some copies of Zambaur’s ‘Munzpragungen des Islams’ (1968) which he would like to exchange for other
books on Islamic coinage. Mr…. (80) writes that he is ““seeking someone knowledgeable in Chinese written
language, culture, cosmology and religion to help in preparation of sales listing of a huge collection of
Chinese amulets. My goal is identification of each piece as to transliteration, symbolism and intended use
and to develop a meaningful structure for a catalog listing. Excellent opportunity for academic study before collection is dispersed”’.
We are very sorry to report the recent death of Mrs…. (556) who will be sadly missed by her many friends.
Mrs. Watson played an active part in the London numismatic scene, particularly since her husband’s death
some years ago. Among her wide circle of friends and acquaintances some ONS members will remember her
making tea at ONS meetings and others will remember spending enjoyable evenings of numismatic gossip at her home in north London. ONS news
ONS has now become a member of the International Numismatic Commision.
The ONS annual accounts for 1980-81 show that the society remains solvent. Copies of the accounts are
available from the treasurer, Vic Brown, at… (send SAE). The Information sheet (no. 22) on the Sikhs,
part 1, has now been distributed to members. The next publication will be an Occasional paper by Joe Cribb on ‘Catholic medals used in China’. Kushan colloquium
The ONS is sponsering a colloquium on Kushan (including Kushano-Sassanian) numismatics to be held in
London at the British Museum on Sth - 6th. November 1981. For details please contact Mr. J. Cribb in the
Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum. Some recent publications
Ali, M. Amjad, Coins of the Nawab of Kalyani, Numismatic Digest (Bombay) IV, 1980 i, 70 - 72
Andrews, C. C., Kirkouk - Korkouk - Kirkuk, Numismatics International Bull. Apr. 1981, 112 - 113
Arroyo, H., Un titre monétaire inedit du Sultan Saljukide Sanjar ibn Malik Shah, 511 - 552 AH, Revue
Numismatique XXI, 1979, 218 - 224
Arroyo, H., The Mahdist coinage of Amul (750 - 760 AH), Seaby’s C & M Bull. Aug. 1981, 226 - 227 Auge, ©, Curiel, R. and Le Rider, G., 65 530665 de Bard-e Nechandeh et Masjid-i Solaiman: les trouvailles monétaires, Memoires de la Delegation Archéologique en Iran XLIV (Mission de Susiane),
Paris 1979, 165 - 184 (including 57 Sassanian lead coins) A note on the pice of the East India Company struck at Ahmadabad by Ken Wiggins
At the conclusion of the third Maratha War in 1818, the city of Ahmadabad was ceded to the British by the
Gaikwar. Ahmadabad had been the site of a mint from the time of Akbar and one was maintained there by
successive Mughal emperors and then continued by the Marathas and the Gaikwar. The coins of Ahmadabad have been discussed extensively by Taylor! and Master. Their articles cover practically all the issues of this mint until its closure in 1835.
From 1818 until 1835 the mint at Ahmadabad was operated by the East India Company and coins were
struck continuously throughout the period. The principal coin issued was the rupee, but some copper coins,
now quite scarce, were also struck. These copper pice have not been widely published and their scarcity is
accounted for by a report of the Collector of Ahmadabad in 1832 which stated that the pice circulating in his
district were Ahmadabadi and Bhownuggari but that there was only a very limited amount of the former in
circulation. The report went on to explain that the Ahmadabadi derived from the mint at Ahmadabad and had
only been struck on two occasions since the British had come into possession of the city; in 1820 and in 1821.
The output was not large but the minting figures were not given. The report also explained that the
Bhownuggari was the product of the mint at Bhownuggar (Bhaunagar) which was shut down in April 1832.
Masters? lists two Ahmadabad pice - to one of which he gives the probable date AH 1233. This cannot
be correct as this date corresponds with AD 1817-18, at which time the British had not yet occupied
Ahmadabad. The writer has only encountered specimens dated AH 1234 and AH 1236, and these dates may
represent the occasions when the two issues were made. It will be seen from the coin illustrated as Fig. 1 that
the die exceeded the flan used by about one third and most known specimens only show a portion of the
legend. The whole die design is shown as Fig. 2 and gives the complete legend, which is: -
Obv.
_Falus of % ef Rev. | Ahmadabad 1-2 95 Shah Akbar et year 12 Js fro 1234 اباد فلوس
These pice weigh from 118 to 120 grains and they exchanged at 70 to the rupee.
Taylor, G. P., The Coins of Ahmadabad, J. Bombay Brahnch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. XX.
Master, A., The post-Mughal coins of Ahmadabad, or a study in Mint-marks, Numismatic supplement to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. XXII (1913)
> gh CG & 1-1
oly NO سم
Denominations on contemporary Arab coinage by Gilles Hennequin
Attentive students of classical Arabic grammar may feel puzzled by the spelling of some denominations on contemporary Arab coinage. We all learnt that from 100 upwards any number’s complement (in this case the monetary unit) takes singular indirect case (-in). Why, then, the suffix -an on the 750 dirhaman shown here?
Combining regular upwards unfolding of complex numerical expressions (units-tens-hundreds etc: cfr. dates in words on medieval Islamic coins) and right-toleft writing, Arabic numbers look externally identical to Western ones: right to left from the units (cfr. dates in numerals on later Islamic coins).
In the case of one- or two-digit figures, current usage usually remains consistent with classical rules. Thus 1 is normally followed by singular subject (-un), 2 by dual (-an: eg. 2 girsan, Lebanon: cfr. Krause & Mishler, Standard Catalog 1979, p. 1099), 3 to 10 (for all practical purposes 5 or 10) by plural (guriis, fulius, darahim, dananir etc: ‘2% piastres’ either girsan wa-nisf or 24% guris, Lebanon, ibid). There are some apparent aberrations, such as 2, 4 and 10 fils along with 5 and 10 fulus (Iraq, ibid., p. 985). All other two-digit figures (20, 25, 50) are followed by singular direct case (-an: long alif), still with some hard to explain exceptions (20 fils: without long alif: again Iraq, ibid.).
On the other hand, current usage may depart from classical norms when dealing with figures of more than two digits (the units being usually zero) since in such a case contemporary Arabs pretend to read their numbers the way Westerners read theirs, ie. downwards from left to right instead of upwards from right to left in classical Arabic, with the grammatical result that it is the digit to the right, and no longer the one to the left as mandatory in classical Arabic, which determines the spelling of the whole numbers’ complement. Thus, if the tens are not zero (only practical possibility: 5), the complement follows the ‘11-99’ rule (see above 750 dirhaman). Only if the tens are zero does the classical rule still apply (eg. 500 filsin: Iraq, ibid. 987 etc).
The philological expertise of Dr. M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (SOAS., London) is gratefully acknowledged.
Solitary reverse symbols on early Indian coins by Robert Tye
After the disintegration of the Mauryan Empire around 200 BC, local coins were produced, very largely in copper, throughout India. It is a reasonably accurate generalisation to say that the coins fall into three styles;
those of the North-west derive from struck Indo-Greek types; those in the North-east from the archaic cast
copper coinage; whilst the coins of Central and Southern India are inspired by the punchmarked silver in
design. Allan has previously noted that the coins of Ujjain “’ are struck on the same principle as the
punchmarked coins “ (BMC. cxlii) and Biddulph (Coins of the Pandyas) looks to Ujjain copper for prototypes for the Southern (Pandya) coinage.
The Central and Southern coinages, in common with their prototypes, the punchmarked silver coins of
classes V and VI, very frequently bear a solitary reverse mark. In the case of Ujjain and Pandya copper issues
these marks (nos. 8 and 13 respectively) have long been recognised as having geographical significance. Might
it not therefore be the case that the reverse marks on punchmarked silver coins also signified local governors or provinces? (1)
Allan, and more recently Mitchiner, have grouped together under the single head of Ujjain a number of
coins with differing reverse marks (eg. nos. 8, 10 and 12). My limited observations suggest that these differing
symbols may well have represented different cities in and around the ancient state of Avanti. (II)
It might also be of some significance that one of these symbols (no. 7) spans the punchmarked silver
coinage and struck copper coin period, and the possible intervening period of punchmarked copper coinage.
I should be most interested to receive information, or comment, regarding these two related hypotheses (I and II).
Amongst the known marks are those illustrated here as nos. 1 to 14:
Punchmarked AR nos. 1 - 7 Punchmarked AE nos. 7 - 8
Avanti nos. 7 - 12 Pandya no. 13 Satavahana no. 14 i 5S & g
3 لم & WK Oh
82 أ it eg 1+
Balog, P., The coinage of the Ayyubids, RNS. Special publication no. 12, pp. xii + 334, London 1980 Becht, G. H., The dragon of Hung Hsieng, NI. Bull., May 1981, 143 - 144
Bouchenaki, Mounier, La monnaie de l’Emir ‘Abd-el-Kader, Algiers 1976. Curiel, R., Pad Nam i Yazdan: sur quelques monnaies des gouverneurs ‘Abbasides du Tabaristan, Travaux de
l’Institut d’Etudes Iraniennes IX, 1980, 151 - 158
Curiel, R. and Gyselen, R., Une collection de monnaies de cuivre Sasanides tardives et Arabo-Sasanides, I,
Studia Iranica IX ii, 1980, 163 - 184: 11, Studia Iranica X i, 1981, 61 - 83 Deyell, J. S., Banda Bahadur and the first Sikh coinage, Numismatic Digest IV, 1980 i, 59 - 67
Dobbins, K. W., Indo-Hellenistic coins from Taxila excavations, Numismatic Digest IV, 1980 i, 11 - 19
Easton, G., Q-metal of Travancore, NI Bull., Apr. 1981, 106 Etzel, D., Cho-gin identified, NI Bull., May 1981, 156 (recent Viet-namese casting for US servicemen)
Hebert, R. J., The seal of Mustafa, NI Bull., Apr. 1981, 101 - 102
Hebert, R. J., A double dirhem of Abu Sa’id dated AH 716 and struck at Sivas, NI Bull., Apr. 1981, 120 - 21
Hennequin, G., Mittelalterlich-Islamische Glasgegenstande in Strassburg, Der Munzensammler, July-Aug. 1981
Hennequin, G. and Abu-l-Faraj Al -‘Ush, Les monnaies de Balis, pp. 116, pl. 11, Damascus 1978 Indian Books Centre, 40/5, Shakti Nagar, Delhi 110007, India publishes reprints of numerous classical works on Indian coinage
Jacob, K. A., The coins of Cilician Armenia, NI Bull., March 1981, 69 - 82
Kaus, H., Metallic Pass to the Viceregal Estates, India, Seaby’s C & M Bull., May 1981, 127
Kurkman, G. and Diler, O., Coinage of ‘Ala’iye, pp. 134 + 32, 23 dollars: from the authors, PK 121, Tesvikiye, Istanbul, Turkey.
Lachman, S., The silver coins of Trablus Gharb towards the end of the Qaramanli rule, Spink’s Numismatic
Circular, July-Aug. 1981, 241 - 242 Lowick, N. M., Une monnaie Alide d’Al Basrah datee de 145 H., Revue Numismatique XXI, 1979, 150 - 5
MacKenzie, K. M., The onluk of Trablus Al Gharb during the reign of Selim III, NI Bull., May 1981, 139 - 40
Maheshwari, K. K., Post-Kushana copper coin-types from Punjab, Numismatic Digest IV, 1980 i, 20 - 8
Mitchiner, M. B., The date of the early Arakanese, Pyu and Mon coinages (‘Symbolic coins’), Seaby’s C & M Bull., May 1981, 128 - 132
Mitchiner, M. B., An early Graeco-Indian Half Satamana weight, Spink’s NC., May 1981, 161 - 162 Mitchiner, M. B., Coins struck at Meshad by the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Iranian pretender
Nadir Mirza Efshari, Spink’s NC., July-Aug. 1981, 238 - 239
Morris, G. B. (editor), British Museum Occasional Paper no. 25, 1981; Dept. of Coins and Medals: new
acquisitions no. i (1976-77), pp. 159, pl. 41, £5 - 50
Olcer, Cuneyt, with illustrations by G. Kurkman: available from the authors at PK 121, Tesvikiye, Istanbul:
publ. no. 5: The ornamental copper coinage of the Ottoman Empire, pp. 190 + 16, pl. 8; 20 dollars
publ. no. 6: Ottoman coinage during the reign of Sultan Abdulmecid Han, pp. 120 + 47 + 10, pl. 6; 15 dollars
publ. no. 7: Ottoman coinage during the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz Han, pp. 144 + 29, pl. 6; 15 dollars
publ. no. 8: The coinage during the Karaman Beglig, publ. due soon, 20 dollars
Panish, C. K., Old India’s Hundi notes, NI Bull., May 1981, 135 - 137
Panish, C. K., A seldom seen medal of the Buddhist Great Council of Burma, NI Bull., Apr. 1981, 127
Panish, C. K., Malharshahi rupees of Bagalkot, Numismatic Digest IV, 1980 i, 52 - 58
Rebello, F., Coinage of Antonio Teles (1626 - 1628), Spink’s NC., June 1981, 200 - 201
Reis, R., Cowries, NI Bull., June 1981, 181 - 183 Romdhane, K. Ben, Supplement au Catalogue des monnaies Musulmanes de la Bibliotheque Nationale: monnaies Almoravides et Almohades, Paris
Shastri, A. M., Silver coins of the Yadavas of Devagiri, Numismatic Digest IV, 1980 i, 29 - 45
Surana, P. J., Maratha coins of Sashti, Numismatic Digest [V, 1980 i, 49 - 51
Tiwari, A., Inscribed punchmarked coins from Eran-Vidisa region, Numismatic Digest IV, 1980 i, 1 - 8
Vaz, H. 8. F., Indo-Portuguese money, pp. 608, Braga 1980 (£11 from B. A. Seaby)
Walker, J. H., A bit of bakshish with the brass (contd.), Spink’s NC., May 1981, 159
Wicks, R. S., Bull / Trisula coin issues of the fifth to eighth century from Arakan, Assam and Bengal: a revised typology and chronology, ANS Museum notes 25, 1980, 109 - 131