ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

In this issue we feature Michael L. Bates. Michael has been Curator of Islamic coins at the American Numismatic Society since 1977, having started there in 1970 as Assistant Curator under George C. Miles. Bates, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, received his A. B.

from The University of Chicago in 1963 and his Ph. D. in Islamic History from the Department of Near Eastern Studies of the same university in 1975. His thesis was on the history of Yemen in the twelfth century and its conquest by the Ayyubids, with some references to the numismatic evidence (these references were extracted and revised in his first published article, ‘Notes on Some Isma’ili Coins from Yemen”? in ANSMN 1972).

The coins Bates collected from pocket-change as a boy had a way of being spent by the time two or three accumulated, but he has always been fascinated in the small ® material remains of human culture. As a numismatist, he is most interested in coins as evidence for social and economic history. For the last fifteen years his main research and

publication has been on the monetary history of the Umayyad era. Another of his specialities, resulting from the study of a mixed Crusader/ Ayyubid dirham hoard that Miles gave him to study in his first year at the Society, is the Arabic coinage of the Crusaders.

Bates spent two years in Cairo as a graduate student, and has returned there to serve twice as numismatist for the excavations at Fustat. He also worked in Kuwait as consulting curator of the coin collection of the Museum of Islamic Art. Since 1979 he has been a member of the Council of the International Numismatic Commission. Meetings and conferences have taken him to most European countries and several in the Middle East.

His 19-year-old son Andrew has just finished his first year of college and works at the ANS as a computer cataloguer during vacations. Members’ News

1…has written to say that the better part of his collection of Bactrian, Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian coins is available for sale by private treaty. Any members interested should contact him. Details of the coins and prices are available.

2… Informs us that the December 1990 auction by Miinzzentrum (Rubenstrasse, 5000 K6éln 1, West Ger- many) will include a good collection of Indian copper coins, many in very nice condition.

We regret to report the recent death of Ray Hebert. Ray was a well-known and respected writer on Islamic numismatics, with a number of his articles appearing in this publication. In recent years he had been in charge of the oriental cabinet of the Smithsonian Institution. He was featured in Newsletter no. 119. At the time of his death he was working on a bibliography of Turkish and Islamic coinage. He will be sadly missed in the world of Islamic numismatics and our sincere condolences are extended to his family.
American member… recently put together an exhibition of Indo-Muslim coins at the Free Public Library in Springhill, New Jersey.

OBITUARY - Ciineyt Olcer (1925-1990)

Ciineyt Olcer, one of the most important numismatists of the present time, and a great

expert in Ottoman coins, died on January 31st, shortly before his 6Sth birthday.

He was born on March Ist 1925 in Istanbul. But since the remembrance-book of the family was in Ankara at that time, this latter town became his “‘official”’ birthplace. Both his grandfather and his father had been engineers and following this tradition Ciineyt also studied structural engineering at the Istanbul Technical University from 1942 until 1948. Then he worked for 3 years for the government highway-engineering department. After that period he worked as a consultant for 4 years. In 1963 he became director of the industrial region of Bursa. It was here that Olcer became interested in the old coins of his native country and started to collect his first pieces. He was not content merely to collect coins. Only 3 years later, in 1966, he published his first and perhaps his most important book about the silver coins of the last six sultans of the Ottoman Empire (Son alti osmanli padisahi zamaninda istanbulda basilan giimiis paralar). It was not until the publication of this book that we knew the different years of issue with their mintages and we obtained an idea of the rarity of these coins. This book made the Turks interested in their own coins and the number of collectors increased rapidly. The prices of the coins increased in the same way, tenfold or even hundredfold according to the growth of the number and the knowledge of the collectors and dealers.

From 1963 until 1968 Olcer was director at the Iller Bankasi in Ankara, and from 1968 until 1976 he was director of the Turkiye Is Bankasi in charge of the building planning department in Istanbul. When he had the opportunity at the age of

51 years he retired to devote himself completely to studying the coins he loved. In 1980 he was back at work. The Prime Minister of Turkey had appointed him General Director of Museums and Antiquities. During that time he fought energetically and with success against law No. 1710 (from 1973) which had made coin collecting in Turkey nearly impossible.

Altogether Olcer wrote 17 books: Five volumes dealing with the coins of the last six sultans, one volume about the coins of the sons of Bayazid, one about those of Mahmud II and the last one about the coins of Selim I. Of special importance are also two volumes describing rare Ottoman coins found in the museums of Europe and the Soviet Union. Other volumes are devoted to the banknotes of the Turkish Republic and to the Anatolian Beyliks (Aydin and Karaman). Two un-

finished volumes will be edited by his friends: the long expected supplement to his Mahmud II book and a volume about the paper money of Abdulmecid.

Ciineyt Olcger was very much involved in the Turkish Numismatic Society (Tiirk Niimismatik Dernegi), which was founded in 1968. In the mid-seventies he became its president, but he had always been the real motivator. Since 1976 the society has issued a bulletin, the “‘Biilten’’, which publishes a large number of important numismatic articles, most of them dealing with Ottoman numismatics, Olcer always encouraged authors to publish the results of their research in “this” Bilten. He himself published 53 scientific papers in the course of time. His last paper in Biilten No. 27 dealt with an extremely rare Nasri of Tlemsen which was minted in the name of Sulayman Kanuni.

For the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the society he edited a commemorative book for Ibrahim Artuk, who had been the first president of the society. This book is written in Turkish and English like most of the books from Olcer’s hand.

Naturally Ciineyt Olcer had a large coin collection, the basis of his research work. His widow, Dr. Nazan Oleer, is attempting to transfer this important collection to the Tirk ve Islam Museum in Istanbul, as a memorial to her husband and to the benefit of the admirers of Ottoman coins. Ciineyt Olcer will be greatly missed by the many friends he had all over the world. Hans Wilski 111 Jarique dé NumismAtica Hispano-Arabe

The above conference, following on from those in Zaragoza(1986) and Lérida (1988) will take place in Madrid in the National Archaeological Museum from 13 to 16 December 1990. Organised by the Departamento de Numismatica y Medallistica of the aforementioned museum in collaboration with the Museo Casa de la Moneda, the conference will be devoted to the subject of Museums and collections of Hispanic Muslim coins. The coordinators will be 1253 Carmen Alfaro Asins and D. Juan Ignacio Saenz-Diez. Participation is free of charge but the number of places is limited, Any member interested in attending should write as soon as possible to “‘III Jarique”, Departamento de Numismatica y Medallistica del M.A.N., Serrano 13, 28001 Madrid, Spain. New and Recent Publications

Spink Numismatic Circular for June 1990 contained an article by David Sellwood entitled “The End of the Parthian Dynasty’”’ and an item by F. Rebello entitled ““Gold Coinage of D. Afonso VI and an unrecorded date in a Sao Tome’’. The

date in question is 1679. The July-August issue contained a review article by V. Arefiev about Russian Works on Islamic numismatics.

$=$ A number of articles on oriental numismatics have appeared in recent issues of NI Bulletin (Numismatics International): February: Some Notes on Assamese Tea Garden Token by Nicholas Rhodes March: Vietnamese coins - Dinh Dynasty (968-80 AD) by Howard A. Daniel III June: The Stacked Casting Method in China’s Hsin Dynasty by Tom Keener

The Amirs of Nimruz by the late Ray Hebert July: The Coins of the Zaidi Imams of the Yemen in the 3rd Quarter of the 19th Century by Samuel Lachman August: Franco-Algerian Exonumia by Kenneth M. MacKenzie

Earliest European Coin with Date written in Figures by Samuel Hughes (a bi-lingual copper fractional follaro of

Roger II, Norman king of Sicily with Arabic inscription and date 533 (1138/9 AD). Some Difficulties in dating an early Tibetan Coin by Wolfgang Bertsch.

World Coin News for 14 May 1990 contained an article by Richard Wright entitled ‘“‘Dating the Manchurian Twenty Cents” as well as comments by Tom Michael on an impressive collection of Annamese gold coins.
Steve Album has published his lists 66, 67 and 68; Scott Semans his list 55 and Omar Hamidi his list 27.
Ding Fubao’s Chinese Coin Catalogue adapted for Western users:- A new working aid for collectors of Chinese cash-type and earlier coins is now available. The 1940 catalog of 2,749 cash coins by Ding Fubao (formerly Ting Fu-Pao) has been adapted by George A. Fisher, Jr., for use by collectors who

cannot read Chinese. Ding’s catalogue is entirely in Chinese.

Fisher transliterates the names and legends of all coins in Ding’s catalogue, adds coin numbers, and gives issue dates where known. He also translates Ding’s 1940 values, and adds appropriate notes translated from Ding’s text. He has written the Chinese characters found on coin reverses on the pages for clarity where Ding’s rubbings are unclear.

Fisher has added several useful appendices to the Ding catalogue. A thorough index - a rarity in Chinese coin catalogues, including Ding - is provided. Since Fisher uses the modern pinyin transliteration system for the first time in any

coin catalogue, he includes conversion tables from and to the Wade-Giles system, almost universally used in the past.

Seven pages of counterfeit coins from Ding’s 1938 catalogue are also shown; they were left out of his 1940 work. Fisher includes interesting tables on Manchu writing and the Manchu mintmarks, along with a map and list of Qing Dynasty mints. Probably the most useful appendix is the extensive concordance of Schjéth catalogue numbers with Fisher’s numbers for Ding’s rubbings. It is workable both ways for the two sets of numbers. Included in the concordance are current prices for hundreds of coins from many pricelists, both U.S. and Asian, of the 1980s.

Fisher also compares two new catalogues from mainland China with Ding, adding appropriate notes in the text. The two catalogues are the pre-Qin Volume 1 of the Zhongguo Lidai Huobi Daxi (Great Series of Chinese Dynastic Coinage, Shanghai, 1988) and Zhongguo Gu Qian Pu (Illustrative Plates of Chinese Ancient Coins, Beijing, 1989).

The loose-leaf photocopy production is entitled ‘Fisher’s Ding’. With 253 sheets of 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper, it weighs nearly three pounds. It is available from the author at 10749 W. Saratoga Pl., Littleton, Colo. 80127, for $30.00 plus $2.00 for packing and domestic postage. Foreign surface postage and packing is $5.00. Copies punched for the U.S. standard 3-ring binders will be sent unless unpunched is specified.

Newsletter no. 3 (August 1990) of the Indian Coin Society contains an article describing two rupees of Sher Shah Suri from Qila’ Raisen as well as details of some modern fake punch-marked coins from New Delhi.

Review - PRICE LIST OF SINKIANG CASH COINS by Dr. Hong Sie Chen

2nd edition, 104 pages, illustrated. 10 3/8” x 7 3/8’’, card cover. Available from the author: Dr. H. 8S. Chen, 212 Liteh Street, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C. U.S. 5 8.50 postpaid surface mail, or U.S. $ 11.00 postpaid air mail. International money orders are acceptable in New Taiwan Dollars $230 surface mail or $300 air mail. Published September 1987.

This is a very comprehensive book dealing with the cast coins of Sinkiang. It covers the period from Chien Lung (173695) to and including those of Kuang Hsu (1875-1908). A total of 326 different coins are illustrated by clear rubbings, and a few by photographs. They are grouped together in sections, according to the mint to which they are attributed. Each coin is assigned an identification number for reference purposes. Brief remarks about each piece appear in Mandarin Chinese, although Western readers would find the illustrations themselves to be of prime interest.

Pieces ranging in size from the one-cash coins to the large, multiple cash pieces appear throughout the book. Rubbings of the seldom-encountered 500 and 1,000 cash pieces of the Kashgar mint are included. The Rebel coins with Turki legends are also illustrated, with one rubbing of the Kashgar mint and four different specimens of the K’uche mint.

Coin valuations are presented for most specimens in four grades, expressed in New Taiwan Dollars, which are relatively stable figures easily converted to other currency values.

This is a remarkable work because it presents such a vast - and possibly complete - assemblage of all of the cast coins of Sinkiang under one cover. Readers will also appreciate the author’s perception in pointing out minor variants of a similar type piece - both in the obverse Chinese calligraphy and the reverse Turki mint marks. This book should be a “must”’ for all serious collectors of the series. Lester D. Snell

The Nicholas Lowick Memorial Fund for the Promotion of Oriental Numismatic Research

This fund was set up by the Royal Numismatic Society as a permanent memorial to its former Fellow and Officer, Nicholas Lowick, Curator of Oriental Coins in the British Museum 1962-1986. Nicholas was not only a leading international authority in his field, but is also remembered as a generous friend to all interested in Oriental Coins, scholars, enthusiasts, collectors and dealers alike.

Since 1988 the Society has made annual awards from the Fund to promote the study of the subject to which Nicholas devoted his career. Annual awards from the fund will be one or two grants of up to £400.00 each towards travel and accommodation costs to enable the successful applicant(s) to study some aspect of Oriental Numismatics.

The 1989-90 awards were made to Mr Robert Tye of South Uist and Professor Thomas Noonan of the University of Minnesota, USA. Mr Tye used the grant to pursue his research project on the classification of the base silver ‘jital’ coinages (commonly known as bull and horseman coins) of medieval India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which involved a visit to the coin collections of the Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Professor Noonan’s project was focused on the fineness of medieval Islamic silver coins (AD 700-1100), which included a visit to the coin collections of the British Museum, London and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Earlier awards have been made for research on Arab-Byzantine and Axumite coins. The Society would like to stress that application is open to all. The recipients so far have included a collector, a dealer, a history professor and a research worker. The main criterion on which the Society makes the awards should forward Oriental Numismatic Research.

Applications should be made in writing to the Society by 1st March each year. The application should consist of:

a description of the project for which the grant is sought, 2. details of intended expenditure, 3. a curriculum vitae of the applicant and 4. one written reference from an academic of recognised position. Awards will be made in the May of the same year.

Those wishing to apply or enquire should write to the Honorary Secretary of the Royal Numismatic Society, c/o the Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG.

Donations to the Fund are still welcome and should be sent to the same address. Cheques should be made payable to The Nicholas Lowick Memorial Fund. The Earliest Qajar Coins of Tabaristan

The mint of Tabaristan first appears in Sasanian times, and is best known for the series of half dirhams struck by the local rulers, the Ispahbuds, and by their successors, a series of Arab governors representing the Abbasid caliph of Bagdad. There were also a few purely Islamic silver and copper coins struck at Tabaristan, the earliest dated 102 Hijri, a dirham of purely Umayyad type, the latest dated 194, a dirham of the caliph al-Amin (193-198/ 809-813). Thereafter there is an hiatus of just over a millenium in the coinage bearing this mint name, until the first Qajar coins of 1236 (1820-21), silver riyals struck in the name of Fath ‘Ali Shah, king of Persia 1211-1250/ 1797-1834.

Tabaristan is not the name of any city, but rather that of a province, the land of the Tapurs, as its inhabitants were known to Greek and Roman geographers.! The province lay on the southeastern littoral of the Caspian sea, from approximately Chalus in the west to Bandar-e Torkeman in the east (to use the modern designations), and from the Caspian shore in the north to the summit of the mountain ranges to the south. The chief towns of the district were Sari and Amol, though in later times, a new town named Barforushdeh (now Babol) rose to some prominence.

The abandonment of the name Tabaristan after 194 Hijri did not mean the suppression of coinage in that province, at least not for very long. After a gap of about sixty years, coinage was begun at Amol (Arabic: Amul) in 253/867 by the local Shiite prince, al-Hasan b. Zayd. From then until the early 11th/17th century, Amul produced a fairly constant stream of coinage, joined by the equally prolific mint at Sari (Arabic: Sariya) from the 350s/960s onwards and by Barforushdeh from the middle of the 9th/15th century.

With the exception of few copper coins of Sari discussed below, the three towns ceased to be cited as mintplaces at some juncture during the reign of Shah ‘Abbas I (995-1038/ 1588-1629). This highly esteemed ruler maintained an especial liking for the province, which had by then come to be knownas Mazandaran. The origin of the latter name is obscure, although it seems to have replaced the term Tabaristan around the time of the Mongol invasions. Shah ‘Abbas constructed two important palace compounds in the province for his own use, at Ashraf and Farahabad. The latter is known as a mint on

a few rare coins of that sovereign, but seems to have been abandoned not long after the death of its founder.? In the last two years of his reign (1037 & 1038), coins of Shah ‘Abbas were struck with the mint name Mazandaran. This was an isolated issue, for coinage at Mazandaran did not resume until exactly a century later, in 1138, under the late Safavid ruler, Tahmasp

11 (1135-1145/ 1722-1732). Thereafter, the mint operated under that name with only casual interruptions for nearly a century.? The latest confirmed date of the mint is 1234.4

At some time between 1234 and 1236, the provincial mint name reverted to Tabaristan, of which the earliest attested coins are dated 1236. Coins of this year are unpublished, though Zambaur is said to have recorded a specimen in his now lost notes on unpublished coins in various European and Turkish collections.5 From then until the closing of the mint in 1292, an extensive series of coins, principally in silver, have been reported or have been noted by the author in unpublished public collections. In all probability, production was continuous over the interval 1236-1292, though there remains several short

lapses amongst the coins cited in the literature.

Where was the actual location of the mint signing itself first Mazandaran and then Tabaristan? The most plausible place is Sari, which replaced Amol as capital at some time in the 14th century, and has remained the chief administrative town of the region ever since, though eclipsed in population and commercial importance during much of the 18th and 19th centuries by Barforushdeh. Rabino, in his geographical description of the province, noted that the name Tabaristan was “revived for a short period (1250-1290/ 1834-1873) as a Mint name on coins struck at Sari.”® But there are copper coins struck during the years 1257-1261 bearing the mint name Sari, concomitant with silver and gold issues citing the mint as Tabaristan.? This evidence suggests that the ‘‘Tabaristan” mint ought to have been located elsewhere, perhaps at Barforushdeh. The most accessible historical chronicles of the period provide no clues, either to the precise location of the mint or to the circumstances of the changeover in the provincial name. Reza Qoli Khan reports only that Fath ‘Ali Shah visited Mazandaran during

the second qaurter of 1233 for hunting and feasting.® For the time being, the question must remain open.

The two coins of Tabaristan 1236 illustrated here share the same obverse die, which bears the typical inscription of Fath ‘Ali’s type D coinage, 41-5011647 ebn al-soltan Fath’ali Shah-e Qajar. The reverse is inscribed, Zarb-i Dar al-Molk Tabarestan 1236. On both coins, the ‘2’ and ‘3’ of the date are retrograde. The two differ by a strange error on coin no. 2, in that the

first letter of the mint name lacks its vertical stroke, so that the name appears as “‘Sarestan”’. The shared obverse die assured that both were products of the same mint.

For a basic description of the province, see W. Barthold, An Historical Geography of Iran, tr. S. Soucek, Princeton 1984, pp.230-235. 2. None of the coins of Farahabad have been published, but there are several examples formerly in my collection, now at the University of Tubingen. Coins were not struck at Ashraf by Shah ‘Abbas, but there are silver and copper coins known, both in a private collection in London, from the reign of Soleiman (1694-1722 AD). 3. The only major gap spans the years 1149-1160, most of the reign of Nader Shah. This reflects that ruler’s policy of concentrating coin production at a very limited number of locations rather than any local developments in the province. 4. Silver, riyal, in the name of Fath ‘Ali Shah, published by H. L. Rabino, Album of Coins, Medals, and Seals of the Shahs of Iran (1500-1948), Oxford 1951, no. 558 (Plate 22). There was a gold toman in the Fonrobert collection (no. 4687) allegedly dated 1237, but it was not illu-

strated, and the descriptions in the catalogue are thoroughly unreliable. Fraehn, in his Nova Supplementa, listed a toman of 1236, also un-

confirmed. 5. E. von Zambaur, Die Munzpragungen des Islams, Wiesbaden 1968, Tafel 24. 6. H. L. Rabino, Mazandaran and Astarabad, London 1928, p.1. Asa banker, Rabino lacked proper academic training, and was overly credulous and often remarkably naive. His facts and figures must always be regarded with caution.

Coins of 1257 and 1261 at Tiibingen, 1259 in the ANS. W. H. Valentine (Modern Copper Coins of the Muhammadan States, London 1911) published a Sari copper of xx61 (p.145. no. 97), which he interpreted as 1161, but is shown to be 1261 by the Tubingen specimen. 8. Reza Qoli Khan, Rouzat al-Safa, vol. 9. Tehran 1339 (1960/61) p.557.

New Denomination of Algerian Resistance Leader Abdul Qadir Discovered by Jiirgen Mikeska

In the N.I. Bulletin of April 1977 Mr. Kenneth M. MacKenzie! wrote an excellent article about the history and coins of the Algerian resistance leader Abdul Qadir.

Now 13 years later and after over 10 years in the Ottoman coin business I can say that the coins of Abdul Qadir are not so easy to find in the market.

The 5 asper copper piece and the billon kharub are the ones that usually turn up, because they were struck for several

years. The Kharub coin of Mascara, on the other hand, is very difficult to find because it was struck only in one year. The next denomination, shown in Krause Mishler as 1/8 Rial Budju - in my opinion a 1/6 Budje because of its weight - can sometimes be found, but the 1/8 Budju (1/6 Budju?) shown in Fonrobert? or Niitzel3 with script on both sides does not turn up in the market. The 1 Rial Budju is also hard to find. Recently I was able to obtain a piece, which from its weight, is obviously a 1/2 Rial Budju. It has on the one side the well known legend ‘“‘duribe fi Taqdemt 1256” but on the other side an inscription, which is different from that of the other

1256 pieces. The diameter is 22mm and the weight is 2.88 gr.

Faure “oe وقام‎ a! ا و‎ / - so) 25 و‎

11251 min victory of duribe struck Allah wa-fath God and conquest fi at qarib is near Taqdemt Taqdemt {2S6 Reference books:

Kenneth M. MacKenzie, Abdul Qadir b. Muhyi al-Din, Algerian resistance leader, Numismatics International, Bulletin April 1977. 2. Fonrobert, J., Sales catalogue, Australia/Africa/Asia by Weyl 1878. 3. Nutzel, H., Katalog der Orientalischen Munzen v. 2. 1901. 4. El-Djilali, Quelques considérations sur la monnaie de l’emir Abdelkader, 1966.

City Goddess Types on Indo-Scythic Coins by R. C. Senior

In another small article! I have described how one City type bearing the Ss

monogram was issued at mints both in Arachosia and Gandhara, and described other probable issues of Arachosia. This note covers the other City types.

On the City Goddess coins of Azes I/Azilises there appears a main control mark, usually a monogram but in one case just a kharosthi letter, often accompanied by a fixed kharosthi letter that remains constant for each issue. In addition there is

always another kharosthi control mark that changes and this may be supplemented by dots or further symbols/letters. The purpose of the changing letters is problematic; on some issues they seem to be indicating a sequence, possibly a dating system, by their repeated use with additional letters/dots. On other coins one finds the same groups of letters used tying certain monograms together in some sort of bond. The variety of letters used is fairly small on these City Goddess issues and to understand them fully one needs as complete a picture as possible. The tables are compiled almost entirely from coins in my own collection and I would welcome details of any further coins not listed here.

All the coins in this article seem to have a Gandharan source and have a complementary copper issue of the ‘King mounted/Bull type. Stylistically the coins in tables 2 and 4 are closer together, being cruder and smaller generally, whereas those in tables 1 and 3 are broad and of very fine style. The coins in 2 and 4 also exhibit dots on a few specimens - the dot on the table 3 coin may be a die fault, it is not so obvious as on the other coins.

The coins of each monogram of Azes and Azilises in the first two tables are obviously very close and can hardly have been issued concurrently but must succeed one another. So-called ‘joint’ coins are known of both monograms with Azes obverses and Azilises reverses and I believe that these are mules; other mules are known and the extreme rarity of these ‘joint’ coins excludes their issue as a true joint coinage. Because the Azilises type is on the reverse it suggests to me that the Azes coins are the LATER coins because if the mintmaster used an old die with a new one, in my experience it is almost always the older one that survives on the reverse (anvil die?) of the coin.

The coins in table 4 are the rarest of the group and may have been issued by a small local mint, possibly related to the mint of the Azilises issues in table 2.; 1. ONS Newsletter 123.

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Coins of Vidisha: A City State by Dilip Rajgor & Shanker Tiwari

The ancient city of Vidisha is situated three kilometres north-west of modern Vidisha City in Madhya-Pradesh, India. Its name is spelled differently in different works, being also known as Vessanagar, Basnagar, Vaishyanagar, Vishvanagar, Vaidisha and Bedasa in Pali literature, Ramayan, Mahabharat, Puranas etc. It is interesting to note the different meanings of the word Vidisha: Vidisha is a combination of Vi and Disha, indicating different ways to go in different directions.! It is equally interesting to note that one of the thousand names of the Hindu God ‘Vishnu’ includes ‘Vidisha’.2

Until 1961 no coins of this city state were known, but in May of that year Balachandra Jain published an account of twenty-one coins purchased by him for the Government Museum, Raipur, from a coin-collector of Vidisha.3 The coins are said to bear on the obverse a wheel of eight spokes and on the reverse, traces of three Brahmi letters read as ‘Ve disa’, As no proper line-drawing or photograph was published, scholars did not pay much attention to this article. In the intervening years no further account of this material has been rendered. Interestingly enough, on the 1989 Calendar of the Academy of Indian

Numismatics and Sigillography, Indore, a square coin of Vidisha is published but the legend is misread.

The uniface, inscribed coins of Vidisha can be classified as follows:

Type 1. Copper, 7.18 g, 2.245 x 2.154 cm, thickness 2.11mm. Provenance - Modern Vidisha City Obv: Three-arched hill surmounted by crescent, tree in railing and legend in Ashokan Brahmi ‘Ve di sa sa’. Rev: Blank. This was published on the calendar of the Academy of Indian Numismatics and Sigillography, Indore.

Type 2.	Obv: Three-arched hill surmounted by crescent, tree in railing and legend in Ashokan Brahmi (Ve) di sa sa, as ل‎	YU
retrograde as ‘sa sa di ‘Ve)’	Rev: Blank.	Y 48 6
Copper alloy with patches of white metal, 6.515 رع‎	1.69 x 2.38 cm,	Provenance - Nadner, situated on the right bank of the Narbada river in Budni Tahsil, Madhya-Pradesh.
Copper alloy, 7.300 رع‎	2 x 1.7 cm,	Provenance - Modern Vidisha City.

retrograde as ‘sa sa di ‘Ve)’ Rev: Blank. Y 48 6

Copper alloy with patches of white metal, 6.515 رع‎ 1.69 x 2.38 cm, Provenance - Nadner, situated on the right bank of the Narbada river in Budni Tahsil, Madhya-Pradesh.

Copper alloy, 7.300 رع‎ 2 x 1.7 cm, Provenance - Modern Vidisha City. Notes

‘Vidisha’ (in Hindi) by Maheshwari Dayal Krake, Madhya-PradeshHindi Granth Academy, Bhopal, p.VI.
Ibid. 3. Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, Vol. XXIII, p.307. A Quarter Mohur of the Dogra Rajas of Kashmir

Bill Warden has sent details of a 1/4 mohur of Ranbir Singh (1857-85 AD). The coin is dated VS 193x, weighs 2.3 grams, and has a diameter of 15mm. It bears the same JHS legend as the contemporary rupees. It has been assigned KM no. for Kashmir of Y22. Minor Denominations of Nara Narayana of Cooch Behar by N. G. Rhodes

A quarter rupee of Nara Narayana (AD 1555-77) was published by Vasant Chowdhury and Parimal Ray in 1975, but without illustration.! At that time the quarter rupee was thought to be unique, but in recent years a few specimens of both half and quarter rupees have appeared in Calcutta, all of the same type. I illustrate below specimens of both, together with a full rupee of similar style:

Rupee Obv: “Sri Sri/ Siva Charana/ Kamala Madhu/ Karasya”’ in four lines. Rev: “Sri Sri/ man Nara Nara/ yana Bhupala/ sya sake”’ in four lines,

with date “1477” under exergue line. Diam. 26mm. Wt. 10.6 g.

Half Rupee. As rupee, but for the size. Diam. 19mm. Wt. 5.31 g.
Quarter Rupee. As half rupee, struck with the same reverse die, but dimensions of the coin are smaller, so not all the inscription is on the flan. Diam. 14mm, Wt. 2.63.ع‎

The rupees of Nara Narayana are found in several distinctive styles of which this, with the date under exergue line, seems to be rather scarce. Presumably the different styles represent the products of different mints, or of different periods during the reign, but unfortunately no analyses of hoards or findspots are available that might enable a more accurate attribution to be attempted. All that can be said is that the minor denominations were struck at the same mint, and at about the same time, as this particular variety of rupee. 1. JNSI 1975, pp.114-6.

Paramandi and Pratapa Deva of Kashmir by N. G. Rhodes

The coins of the Hindu kings of Kashmir are generally very common and have been well published, the most useful listing

being that of Kenneth West.! In my collection there are a few coins that can usefully supplement the information given by previous authors. Paramandi Deva

No king of this name is mentioned in any numismatic publication, although West follows previous authors in ascribing one piece, with an incomplete legend, to Paramanaka Deva who is said in most histories of Kashmir to have succeeded Jaya Sinha

Deva in 1155 and to have ruled until 1164. In Kalhana’s Rajatarangini the sons of Jaya Sinha were said to be Parmandi and Gulhana.? Coins are known in the name of Gulhana, and there are three varieties of coin in my own collection that are clearly in the name of Paramandi Deva, as follows:

Obv. ‘‘Sri Pa-“ (seated goddess) ‘‘-rama-‘’; ‘’-(n)di” on 2nd line, left of goddess. Rev. ‘‘Deva’’ to right of standing raja.

As last, but obv. legend arranged differently with “‘Para-‘’ on Ist line 1. of goddess and ‘‘-ma(n)di’’ on 2nd line divided by goddess.

Obv. ‘‘Srimatpa(ra)-‘’ on upper line, and ‘‘-ma(n)di” on lower line, divided by a triangle of drapery, apparently all that remains of the seated goddess. Rev. As last.

No. 1 is similar to the coin attributed by West to Paramanak, but completes and corrects the legend. No. 2 is similar to a piece that West was not able to attribute, and on which he could read only ‘“‘PaTi?”. No. 3 has not been published before, and is interesting in that the figure of the seated goddess has almost totally vanished, having been replaced by part of the legend.

These coins, issued in the name of the eldest son of Jaya Sinha, are certainly attributable to the period after the death of Jaya Sinha around 1155, and they demonstrate that the name Paramanaka should be corrected to Paramandi in the dynastic lists. Pratapa Deva

A coin in the name of Pratapa Deva was listed by West, but as no king of this name appears in the dynastic lists, he was unable to propose a date for the issue. In my collection I have a specimen of this coin (no, 4) that was struck with the same

reverse die as a coin of Raja Deva (no. 5). It should be noted that the die was first used by Pratapa Deva, and then slightly re-engraved before being used by Raja Deva. These two coins demonstrate, therefore, that Pratapa Deva must have ruled immediately before Raja Deva’s accession, probably around 1214. Notes

NI Bulletin, 1978, pp.69-78. J. Deyell, ‘A Guide to the reading of ancient Indian coin legends”, NI Bulletin, 1977, pp.11-3 is also useful. 2. by M. A. Stein, 1979 reprint, vol. II p. 233; my thanks to Bill Spengler for pointing out this reference to me. Some modern silver forgeries of Burmese coins by M. B. Mitchiner

Forgeries of the early silver coins of Arakan, bearing the king’s name above a seated bull, were first seen by the writer on the London market about ten years ago. Attention was drawn to them by a short note in ONS Newsletter 61 (August 1979), but they were not illustrated.

Forgeries of the same class are now surfacing again and causing confusion on the English, German and American markets. Some new designs appear to have been added to the repertoire and, in the case of the Priticandra forgeries, the quality of manufacture has been improved.

In general terms, the designs are crude corruptions imitating known types. The ‘bull’ issues tend to show a sketchy design in shallow relief on a flan that is too regular and is sometimes finely striated. The inscriptions are epigraphically faulty and sometimes fictitious. The ‘middle size’ specimens of ‘Vijaya’ are fabrications in an unrecorded size of an unrecorded ruler - probably based on the rare (large size) silver coins of Dharmavijaya. The best produced forgeries are the large size coins of Priticandra. They can most readily be characterised by the incorrect spelling of the king’s name. His name begins with the two characters Pri - Ti ter On the forgeries the name begins Pr - Tam 4TM

The ‘insect’ forgeries have flans that are thicker and more irregular than those of the ‘bull’ forgeries. The ‘insect’ appears to have been inspired by the type of ‘sankh shell’ encountered on the earliest Arakanese coins (e.g. Robinson & Shaw, The Coins and Banknotes of Burma, 1980, 3.17-19).

Most of the forgeries have been given a black patination and this has sometimes been cleaned off areas of high relief. This kind of patination/corrosion is not particularly difficult to produce artificially: for example, controlled heat to oxidise the silver, or immersion for a period of time in such organic debris as a cesspit to produce the sulphide. Some forgeries bear small patches of fairly easily removed surface soil deposits.

A number of light-weight forgeries of the commoner ‘rising sun’ coins have also been exported to the west from Burma (also from Bangkok) showing the same form of black (?cesspit) patination. Their designs are from several dies and are generally permutations of known varieties. The original designs are of a simple character, so the designs of the forgeries sometimes

differ little from their prototypes. The false designs may be in shallow relief and poorly expressed on the flan - as with the example shown here. The edge of the false flan tends to be sharp and it may give the impression that the flan has been recently cut with shears from a sheet of silver. 1. Insect / insect 7.70 gm

‘Vi-ja- ya’ 3. i-ja- ya’ 3.66 gm 6. Rising sun 6.45 gm

In summary: beware of ‘“‘coins” with sketchy designs, unduly shallow relief, flat flans of uniform thickness and with sharp edges, and a partly cleaned suspect black patination.

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