ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

ONS News

The ONS in collaboration with the Society for South Asian Studies is organising a one day seminar on oriental numismatics on

31 August. The venue will be the British Museum Coin & Medal Department. Proceedings will start at around 11 am and there will be a dinner arranged for the evening. For further details contact Joe Cribb at the British Museum.

Eleventh International Numismatic Congress - Brussels 8-14 September 1991. ONS Workshop Session on South Asian Numismatics The Oriental Numismatic Society has arranged an informal meeting for delegates interested in any aspect of the coinage, medals, or tokens of India and the surrounding countries. The aim of this Workshop Session 1s to learn about work in progress and to hear of the

various problems that numismatists in different countries have encountered. No written papers will be presented but an abstract of the material to be given verbally, if available, would be useful to the rapporteur.

The chairman of the session will be Dr. William Spengler of the University of Wisconsin and everyone with an interest in the subject will be welcome to attend. Delegates should note that the time available for individual presentations must, of necessity, be limited and is unlikely to exceed 10 minutes.

Research Centre for Islamic Numismatics: Tiibingen, Germany

A new research centre, dedicated to the study of Islamic numismatics and its relationship to associated disciplines, was officially opened on the 2nd May 1991 by the Vice-Chancellor of the Eberhard-Karls-University of Tiibingen. It is under the aegis of the Department of Oriental Studies and has been established with a major grant from the Volkswagen Foundation.

The cenwe is known as the Forschungsstelle fiir Islamische Numismatik and has a full time professional custodian in the person of Dr. Lutz Ilisch whose work in this field will be known to all students of the subject. The centre is international in its scope and the controlling Committee has members from Denmark, Sweden, and the United States as well as professors from the relevant sections of the Department of Oriental Studies.

The Forschungsstelle has acquired a magnificent collection of over 30,000 Islamic coins as its basic research material. This has

been put together over the last 20 years by Steve Album as his personal collection. Steve has prepared a hand-list to the collection as

a preamble to its eventual publication in sylloge style. The coins will be made available for study by both professional and nonprofessional scholars, by appointment, but at present, facilities have to be limited.

A series of biennial international symposia are planned. The first of these will be held in the Forschungsstelle between the 16th and 18th October 1991. Papers will be presented on the problems of east/west relations in numismatic circulation and trade, and with coin finds. It is intended that the programme will cover all periods from the beginnings of Islam to the 19th century.

Full details are available from: Dr. Lutz Ilisch, Forschungsstelle fiir Islamische Numismatik, Wilhelmstrasse 26, D-7400 Tiibingen, Gennany. MB

The fifth Tubingen week-end conference on Moslem numismatics was held April 27-28, attracting some 35 participants from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Britain (ONS Secretary General M Broome), the Low Counwies, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Turkey and the USA.

Six papers were given, two in English and the rest in German, chiefly on Rum-Seljugq and Ottoman topics. In addition to the now familiar succession of the saturday afternoon and sunday morning working sessions, saturday dinner, saturday night coin-and-book informal session and sunday lunch, this year’s event included a long-awaited visit to Tiibingen University’s newly established Institute of Moslem Numismatics, which moved into its current premises in one of the older buildings of the University at the end of

1990 and has since become about fully operational under keeper L. Ilisch.

The sixth conference will take place April 25-26, 1992. GPH

New & Recent’ Publications

History of the Currency in the Sultanate of Oman by R. E. Darley-Doran. Published by Spink & Son for the Central Bank of Oman, 1990. Lavishly produced in full colour throughout. Text in Arabic and English. 144 pages. £40 (plus £3 postage & packing).
Recent Spinks Circulars have had the following items of interest: Feb. 1991, vol. xcix, no. 1. A Chinese Mule, by David Hartill; An Undescribed Medal of the Khalifa, by Dick Nauta. March 1991, vol. xcix, no. 2. A new Aksumite coin from the early Christian period, by B Juel Jensen; The struck silver coins of

the Aksumite king MHDYS and the cast forgery, by B. Atkins, B. Juel Jensen, C. Mortimer & S. Munro Hay; East India Company copper coins of Chinapatan, by K. Wiggins.

June 1991, vol. xcix, no. 5. An “Ottoman Countermarked” piece of eight, by A. Harley & J. Cribb.

NI. Bulletin vol. 26 number 4 (April 1991) has the following items: On Saka 1648-49 coins of Siva Simha (of Assam), by Jai Prakash Singh; French Indo-China Emergency Coinage 1938-1941…?, by Anton Fox; The Snow Lion on Tibetan Coins, by Wolfgang Bertsch.
Bratindra Nath Mukherjee: ‘The Indian Gold: an Introduction to the Cabinet of Gold Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta’ 1990, 100pp with plates. Indian Rs 200, available from Indian Books Centre, 40/S Shakti Nagar, Delhi-110 007, India.

A. Farooqi: ‘The Economic Policy of the Sultans of Dehli’ 1991, 152pp. Indian Rs 105. Available as above. Also available from the same source are: Bhandakar, D.R.: Lectures of Ancient Indian Numismatics, 1990, Rs 95. Dutta, Mala: A Study of the Satavahana Coinage, 1990, Rs 700. Guillaume, Oliver: Analysis of Reasoning in Archaeology - the case of Graeco-Bactrian & Indo-Greek Numismatics, 1991, Rs 125. Handd, Devendra, Ed.: Numismatic Studies, 1991, Rs 260. Joshi, Maheswar P.: Morphogenesis of Kunindas, cir. 200BC - cir AD 300 - a Numismatic Overview, 1989, Rs 340. Murthy, A.V. Narasimha, Ed.: Studies in South Indian Coins, 1991, Rs 200. Sharma, Savita: Early Indian Symbols - Numismatic Evidence, 1990, Rs 500. Sivaramamurti, C.: Numismatic Parallels of Kalidasa, 1983, Rs 80.

Robert Tye has published his list 22, and Stephen Album his list no. 76. Steve’s list contains the following unpublished coins: - Buwayhid: Abu’l Hassan b. *Adud al-Dawla (in Khuzistan AD 983-986), AU dinar (4.41g), Suq al-Ahwaz AH 374, citing his brother Abu’! Fawaris and his cousin Fakhr al-Dawla.
Makassar: al-Hadi (unidentified ruler of the late 16th century), AU mas (7), 2.49g, undated. ui. Makassar: ‘Ala al-Din, AD 1593-1638, AU mas (?), 2.53g, undated. Steve comments that these pieces are from a small recent hoard containing about 8 pieces of al-Hadi, 10 of ‘Ala al-Din, plus about 100 small kupangs of the latter ruler. The denomination ‘mas’ is conjectural. Surviving specimens show a very narrow weight range, with nearly all specimens in the range 2.48-2.54 grams.

iv. Umayyad: anonymous AE fals (3.31g), ca. AD 710-715, Dir’ aat mint, undated.

Jodhpur (India): Umaid Singh, AD 1918-47, AE 1/4 anna (2.82), VS 2000. rae Hana 2) ips ne

Members may be interested to know about the Bulletin of the Asia Institute published by Iowa State University Press, 2121 South State Avenue, Ames, IA 50010, USA. To date the Bulletin has published five volumes on a wide variety of Asian historical and cultural subjects, including numismatics. Each volume costs US $50 plus postage. A number of reports are issued each year, a recent one featuring the activities of ONS members Richard Frye and Martha Carter. The editorial office of the Bulletin is at 3287 Bradway Boulevard, Birmingham, MI 48010, USA. Further details can be obtained from either of the above addresses.

The Early Western Satraps by R. C. Senior

The Abbe Boyer in 1897 argued that the Western Satraps’ coins are dated in the Saka era of 78 AD and Rapson in 1908 (BM Catalogue page cv) stated “That the dates of the Western Ksatrapas are actually recorded in the years of the Saka era, beginning in 78 AD, there can be no possible doubt.” Perhaps it is time that some doubt was thrown upon these conclusions because the chronology of this period has been confused by the inability of numismatists to fit the successive Scythian/ Satrap/ Kushan coinages into a logical sequence.

I propose that the Western Satraps dated their coins and inscriptions in the Vikrama (Azes) Era of 57 BC and not the Saka era of 78 AD. There is therefore a huge discrepancy of 135 years!

Evidence for the early dating of the Western Satraps (A) The primary evidence is the overstrike of a coin of Nahapana by a Sases (coins (fig. 1) of Sases and (fig. 2) Sases overstruck, are enlarged). This coin (2) was found in the Taxila excavations by Marshall. We know that Sases was a successor of both Azes and Gondophares (see Occasional Paper no. 25) and issued coins in Arachosia, Gandhara, Sarhind region and Sind. His rule falls into the time span c. 20 BC - 20 AD. This is after the deaths of Azes and Gondophares and his defeat of Gondophares I’s successor Abdagases. As shown in the Occasional paper no. 25, Gondophares I ruled c. 60/50 BC until c. 20 BC and Azes from 57 BC to c. 20 BC. If Sases overstruck Nahapana then Nahapana must fall into this period ((fig. 3) coin of Nahapana). We have dated inscriptions relevant to Nahapana from Nasik (concerning his son-in-law Usavadata) of year 42 and of year 46 from Junnar Cave. These simply cannot be dated in the Saka era and must therefore be equal to years 15 and 11 BC. This would make Nahapana and his predecessors Satraps of the Scythians. (B) Aghudaka is the first known satrap and comes two kings before Nahapana. His coinage consists of copper coins only, bearing a Nike on one side. On some coins, e.g. fig. 5 (enlarged), this Nike is extremely close in design to that on some coins of Gondophares (fig. 4), while on others (e.g. fig. 7) (my coin) it resembles that found on the coins of Abdagases from the Kabul region (fig. 6). It is of interest perhaps that my coin actually was found in Afghanistan, not in Saurashtra as is usually the case. Nike is the common reverse of Scythian coins from Arachosia and Azes had issued there a copper coin previously with bow and arrow reverse (fig. 8). The

arrow is very close to that appearing on Nahapana’s coins. (C) We know that Castana (fig. 9) was of a different line from Nahapana and in the Andhau inscription of year 52 (5 BC) his name appears juxtaposed with that of his grandson Rudradaman and accompanied by the title Rajan, Ksatrapa being absent. I have a coin with such an inscription (fig. 10). It is possible that Rudradaman broke away from his Scythian overlords but by year 72 (15 AD) he records in the Girner inscription that he is ‘The Great Satrap Rudradaman’. It may be that he transferred allegiance to the Kushan, reverted to Scythian suzerainty or simply that the title Satrap no longer meant that he was under anyone’s rule. In fact in the Junagarh inscription he boasts of not having received the title Mahasatrap from any overlord. (D) Several of Rudradaman’s early coins bear legends beginning with ‘BACILEOC’ in greek (fig. 11) and this seems more plausible for this period than one 135 years later when good greek had long disappeared. (E) The new chronology for the Scythians places the first Kushan rulers much earlier too and Kujula Kadphises could have begun striking coins as early as 25-20 BC because he overstruck Gondophares’ coins and the posthumous Hermaios tetradrachms. He lived to

be an octogenarian and many people believe that he issued the standardized coins in the name of Soter Megas that preceded the coinage of Wima Kadphises. The Gandharan tetradrachms of Soter Megas (mounted king/ Zeus right) certainly follow closely on the heels of

the Sases coins. It seems certain to me that Kanishka founded the Saka era of 78 AD and Wima’s extensive coinage probably filled a

gap of some 30-40 years before that. The Soter Megas coins could have been issued c.20-40 AD and this would fit the bill exactly for the coin that I illustrate next (fig.12). It is a coin of Soter Megas countermarked by ‘Swami Damaghsadasa’ - Damajadasri I, who ruled sometime between years 72 and 100 (c. 15-43 AD). I think it is clear that the coin was countermarked while still current from the fact that it was done carefully so as not to obliterate the portrait. Is it also possible evidence for the transfer of allegiance from the Scythians to the Kushan? (F) The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Dr. P. H. L. Eggermont of the Netherlands gave a paper on this subject in ‘Papers on the date of Kanishka’ published in 1968. He dates the Periplus to c. 30 AD on the evidence of the identification of two Arabian kings who were identified. The Periplus deals with events in Sind, where the Parthian kings were constantly fighting one another, and Broach and Saurashtra. He mentions a king Manbanos who could be Nahapana and Saraganos who is thought to be Satakarni. A king of the latter name defeated Nahapana and overstruck his coins. Dr. Eggermont considered that the Periplus was describing the last years of Kujula Kadphises reign before Vima’s succession and invasion of India. This would not be out of place. The transfer of the dating of Western Satrap coins and inscriptions from the Saka to the Vikrama era solves a great many problems and for the first time the chronology of

the Scythian and Kushan periods begins to make sense..

The Coinage of Sind from 250 AD up to the Arab Conquest by R. C. Senior

Though the Sassanian Empire was a very large one, its borders were not static. They fluctuated according to the strength of the Empire’s rivals, principally the Romans. The changing fortunes of the protagonists are well documented for the western borders and

also, to a much smaller extent, along the northern and north-eastern borders. What was happening in the south-eastern provinces, however, is shrouded in mist and myth. The eastern provinces generally were subject to a different kind of problem to those suffered by the western ones. Instead of having the Roman army to contend with, the Sassanians faced invasion by a succession of warlike peoples, the Kidarites, Chionites, and Epthalite Huns. Just as the Huns played a part in overwhelming the Roman Empire, their cousins did the same to the Sassanian Empire and they had barely recovered from the effects when they succumbed to the Arabs.

The Province of Sind, the floodplain of the Indus river from its mouth to the city of Multan, was the furthest extent of Sassanian dominion in the south-east. There is scant evidence from Iranian sources as to exactly what was taking place there but the following is

a summary of what is believed to be its history in the early Sassanian epoch.

Shapur I (AD 241-272) appointed several of his sons to rule Armenia, Mesene and Gilan. Another son, Narseh, was appointed ‘King of the Sakas’ ruling in territory in eastern Iran which included Sind. When Narseh eventually became king he listed among his subject kings not only the kings of the Kushan and of Khwarezmia but of Paradene and Makran in present day Baluchistan. The long reign of Shapur II (AD 309-379) saw an expansion in the size of the Empire. It also saw the troublesome incursion of the Chionites in the north-east. Shapur II is recorded as having a brother who was also called Shapur and who was placed as ‘King of the Sakas’ of Sind, Seistan and Turan up to the edges of the sea. Until now no coinage has been allocated to Sind but there are a few remarkable gold coins in the name of Shapur which have an inscription before the king’s face (fig. 1). Attempts have been made to read this inscription as a Pahlavi mint name but it is in fact a Brahmi word written vertically. This is the first Sassanian coinage of Sind. The word reads SRI which means Lord. The tail on the word shows that it has a short vowel ‘i’ instead of the long ‘i’ it would have had if it had been in a classical Sanskrit form. The honorific prefix Sri was introduced in India by the Imperial Guptas and the first certain Brahmi inscription to use it dates from the reign of Samudragupta c. AD 335-380. This ties in well with Shapur II’s dates. My thanks are due to Prof. Dr. G. von Mitterwallner for this information.

There are a few variants of this coinage by Shapur. Shapur II was succeeded by Ardeshir I (AD 379-83) and he is thought to have been the son of the aforementioned Shapur ‘King of the Sakas’. This might explain why he also issued a coinage in Sind, which is known from the unique coin in the British Museum (fig. 2). This coin also has the word Sri before the king’s face but the reverse has

‘fire altar with attendants’ in place of the so-called ‘old fire-altar’. All these coins weigh just over 7 grammes but tend to get larger and thicker as time passes and the coins get baser. No coins have yet been found for Shapur III (AD 383-88) but this might be because he was much troubled by wars on all his frontiers, suffering a serious reverse against the King of the Kushan. In fact no gold coins are known for this king at all. Since no coins of this type are known for Varhran IV either, it may be that the province was temporarily lost.

Yezdgird I (AD 399-420) had a more peaceful reign and seems to have recovered the province. In 1908 six gold coins of his were discovered at Larkhanah in Sind and one of these was acquired by Whitehead and is today in the British Museum (fig. 3). These coins were cruder than the Ardeshir coins and of baser gold. Two types were found, five with the ‘attendants’ reverse and one (fig. 4) with the ‘fire altar’ reverse.

Newly discovered are two coins that continue the sequence. Both are of Varhran V (AD 420-38) but they differ in several respects. The first (fig. 5) is baser than the last coin but not so base as the next. It has the Pahlevi letters VV placed between the word SRI and the king’s face. A crescent appears above the word SRI and there is a circle below. In the time of the Sakas (Scythians) who preceded the Sassanians, the lower Indus was called Saka-Dvipa, Dvipa meaning river country. Possibly VV has some relation to the word Dvipa. The next coin (fig. 6) has a sun above Sri in place of the crescent, and the circle and VV are absent. Coin 5 was acquired in Kutch and 6 came from Baluchistan.

These two coins have a bearing on the legends about Varhram V. He was famous from Sassanian times and beyond for his prowess as a hunter, lover, poet and musician. He is the hero of many legends and was depicted by many Persian artists long after the Sassanian Empire had passed away. He earned the nickname Gur (wild Ass or Onager). One interesting fact about him is that, as was the case with Shapur II, his mother was a jewess. One legend has it that he was given in marriage the daughter of the Maharaja Adhiraja of Magadha and Kanauj who also ceded to him the provinces of Makran and Sind. These unique coins in some measure bear out this legend of Varhram’s exploits in the east.

These are the last known coins of this type issued in Sind bearing the word Sri but some base gold coins are known bearing the portrait of a hun wearing a headdress like that of Peroz (AD 459-484) and with a Tamga in place of the SRI (figs. 7, 8). The reverse of these coins is almost identical to the Varhram V coins. Peroz was captured by the Hepthalites during the early years of his reign and until now no gold coins of his pre-capture first type were known, but recently in Pakistan a very base coin was found that filled this gap (fig. 9). Presumably after this issue, possibly from the Punjab area, Sind was ceded to the Hepthalite Huns and other similar coins with possible legends (e.g. fig. 10) are known. Peroz’s later coins have a winged headdress and there are very thick and very base gold coins known with similar headdresses, sometimes with ‘fire altar’ reverse (fig. 11). I have seen other coins of similar but even cruder style that must be the final issues in this province which, until the Arab invasion of the eighth century AD, declined in importance. Until now no coinage was known for Sind but as we can see it has quite a rich heritage and a fairly continuous coinage issued for a period of c. 300 years.

Photographs of the above coins can be found in an article covering this subject which I wrote for the CELATOR in October 1990/ February 1991.

SIND c. 425 A.D. Ecbatana Ctesiphon ٠ Persepolis Persis The Sassanian Empire

Copper Coins of Mirza Muhammad Baqi Tarkhan of Sind by Hans Herrli

In 1990 I bought at Phalodi (District Jodhpur/ Rajasthan) 18 small copper coins which originally seem to have been part of a hoard of about 80 pieces found in western Rajasthan.

The obverse of all the coins shows a bird surrounded by floral ornaments. Although it lacks the characteristic fan-tail, the bird could, especially in a Rajasthani context, be a peacock, and when a few of these coins reached dealers in Delhi they accordingly came

to be known by the name of “peacock paisas of Jodhpur”.

All the coins bear varieties of a single reverse legend but among the about 40 coins that I was able to inspect only one showed a legible mint name: Tatta

vas balda AH year fulus

ee zarb

On some coins the “he” of “balda” is missing - the mint name reads “balad Tatta’. The Arabic words “balda” and “balad” both

mean “town, city” but in India “balad” had a somewhat wider meaning and could also stand for “country”.

As the years read on the coins range from AH 979 to 988 they were struck during the rule of Mirza Muhammad Baqi Tarkhan who ruled Lower Sind, the territory which in AH 1001 became the Mughal sarkar of Thatta, from AH 975 to 993.

A few, usually badly struck and badly preserved pre-Mughal and early Mughal copper coins of Thatta have found their way into different collections but we do not yet understand their metrology. The copper coinage of Mirza Muhammad Baqi Tarkhan was probably unrelated to Akbar’s coinage but by weight and size the copper coins of Thatta may well have circulated as “damris” (1/8 of a dam) in the western provinces of the Mughal empire. The “flower” countermark found on some of the coins should perhaps be seen in conjunction with this possibility.

AH 983*

2.389

AH 985

2.9 AH 988

2.329 2.32g 2.28g

2.47g**

*

Coins with a “flower” countermark ** The only coin showing a legible mint name “Tatta”

An R. C. Senior miscellany

A Unique Tetradrachm of Zeionises? In 1947 R. B. Whitehead published without a photograph a tetradrachm of Zeionises that came from the W. S. Talbot/ Poddar collections. He gives a full description of it there but until now this unique piece has not been photographed and since the dispersal of

the Poddar collection its whereabouts have been unknown. From an old Calcutta collection has now surfaced the coin illustrated here. It corresponds exactly to Whitehead’s description and may or may not be the coin he saw. This particular coin has a surface that under a glass seems a little rough but other coins of this ruler exhibit a similar appearance due in part to their careless striking. In style the coin far surpasses the usual types of Zeionises and is on a par with the unique British Museum coin with the three-figure reverse. Apart from the Nike on the reverse in place of the usual deity with cornucopia and the unique field letters, the obverse Nandipada differs from

the known coins and the legends are in good style with a fairly clear Greek obverse legend.

لل وقوه 1

Zeionises as Mahachatrapa Most catalogues list the reverse inscription on Zeionises silver coins as reading ‘Manigula Chatrapasa putrasa Chatrapasa Jihuniasa’ The Satrap Manigula’s son Satrap Zeionises. In the late 1970s a small hoard of Zeionises silver tetradrachms was found and among them were several coins of coarser execution which bore the new legend of: ‘Manigulasa putrasa Mahachatrapasa Jihuniasa’ Manigula’s son the Great Satrap Zeionises. In fact a similar coin was exhibited in Calcutta in the 1920s but not generally noticed by

subsequent cataloguers. I illustrate 2 such specimens from my collection.

Muhammad bin Sam’s Horseman Tanka When H. N. Wright published the 11gm gold horseman tanka in his book on the Sultans of Dehli (Coin 3a) it was thought to be unique. It was bought in Rawalpindi by H. R. Nevill and is now in the Delhi Museum. The British Museum has an identical specimen from the same dies, provenance unknown. Some years ago I acquired the third known specimen which had been found in the Indian Punjab. Now a fourth specimen, like the previous three, from the same dies, has surfaced. It is by far the best preserved and its source was Afghanistan. The allocation of these coins to Bengal must therefore be questioned since at least three of the four were found in western ‘India’. The smaller 1/4 tankas often do come from Bengal but several of these too have come from Pakistan suggesting that they were brought back by soldiers from that region. The Ali Mardan coins have been found near Mardan leaving one to believe that Ali was ‘of’ Mardan and his troops returned home from Bengal with the coins that he had struck there possibly to pay them for their services. The Muhammad bin Sam coins seem in a different category however and their scarcity is attested to by the fact that all four specimens are from the same dies. Is it possible that this was a special presentation coin issued to commemorate the Holy month of Ramadan, which appears on the coin with the date 601 A.H.

A New Sikh Gold Coin Apart from the Multan siege pieces, the gold coins of the Sikhs are extremely rare. A few mohurs are known for Amritsar but to date only one unique mohur is known for Lahore and none for Multan. A recent discovery is a 1/5 (? wt. 2.21 gms) gold coin struck from rupee/mohur dies. The mint is off the coin but the type corresponds to the dual date type 188(5)/96 of Lahore. This unique coin is extremely fine and an important discovery to match the unique 1884/88 dated mohur. A Sikh 1/2 Mohur of Amritsar

In ONS information sheet no. 22 Stan Goron and Ken Wiggins listed one double mohur of 1884/85 and three mohurs of 1858, 61 and 68 samvat. No fractions were listed. Below is a photograph of a 1/2 mohur of Amritsar dated VS 1877 which is in a private collection

in London. Herr Hans Herrli of Germany is in the progress of producing a corpus of Sikh coins with the collaboration of the Numismatic Institute at Nasik. A full account of Sikh coinage will be very welcome. $=$ tes Nimak Mint Identified?:

Several rupees bearing the dates 1804 and 1805 from the Sikh mint of ‘Nimak’ have appeared on the market over the last year or so. The original finder tells me that they all came from the same place. This is a small village on the opposite bank of the Jhelum to the

city of Pind Dadar Khan and the name of the village is - Namak Miyani. A Silver Coin of the Republic of Eastern Turkhestan by N. G. Rhodes

I am grateful to Mr R. T. Somaiya of Bombay, for allowing me to publish the very interesting silver coin of the Islamic Republic of Eastern Turkhestan, illustrated below!.

Obv. Crescent moon and star over wreath, with legend in Arabic Zarb Kashgar Rev. Legend in Turkish in centre, (1)? Muskuk, sanah 1252 within circle, and reading anticlockwise around, Sharket Turkhestan Cumhuriyet Islamiyesi. Weight c. 11 g, diam. 30 mm.

The Turkish word Muskuk means ‘struck’*, or hence ‘coin’, but in this case the intention seems to have been to strike a rupee-sized coin. The legend around the reverse can be translated as “The Islamic Republic of Eastern Turkhestan”, and the date 1352 AH corresponds to April 1933-April 1934.

This Islamic Republic was proclaimed in September 1933, but was neither popular among the people, nor successful in resisting the Chinese, and by February 1934, the Chinese had largely reasserted their control over Turkhestan.* The copper coins struck by this short lived Republic are well known, but differ from this silver piece in proclaiming the Uighuristan Republic; | can offer no explanation for the different nomenclature. Notes

As far as I am aware, this coin has only been previously published, in ///ustrated Catalog of Sinkiang Gold and Silver Coins, by Liu Gwo-ming & Ma Tak-wo, Taipei 1990, p.165, coin no. E87, but with no description of the type, no reading of the inscription, and with an illustration very much reduced in size.
Note that the convention of putting the numeral in brackets is also found on certain Afghani coins - e.g. (1) Afghani, KM 910 & 921. 3. My thanks to Steve Album for assisting me in reading the Turkish inscription.
The confused history of this period in Turkhestan is described in Turkhestan Tumult, by Aitchen K. Wu, London 1940, pp.247ff.
The copper coins of this Republic are illustrated in Krause & Mishler, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 18th ed., p. 387, nos. D38.1-E38.2.

An Unrecorded Token of the Indonesian Horse Trade from Soembawa by Frank A. Turk

The piece illustrated here was part of a coin hoard discovered in the Riouw Islands (to the north of Sumatra and just south of Johore) some 6 or 7 years ago. Only a few of these coins are yet on the market but those known, of many different kinds, appear to range from

the mid-18th century to a little later than the mid-19th century. On present evidence this would appear to set an approximate time-span for the dating of this token.

The piece is thick, hexagonal and has an extreme diameter of 19 mm. It is cast in “white bronze” or, maybe, tin and is covered with a very dark grey patina. The whole style of the piece is that of earlier, mediaeval native bronzes of Indonesia (11th and 12th centuries); it owes nothing to China and very little that is demonstrable to India. Such a style one supposes would be likely to linger on in local folk art which is obviously the source of the design of this piece. Side 1 shows a pony and rider delineated schematically. We may know it for a pony because the rider’s foot is very close to the ground, so that it is probably about 13 hands high. It has a “blood” head, carried well on a fine neck and with a pair of long ears. The rider wears a helmet-type hat and carries what may be 2 polostick with which he strikes towards the horse’s rear.

Side 2 is somewhat more obscure, appears to depict a person in some kind of high headgear, seated on top of a big package (full saddle bags?) with the knees of the person bent and feet turned backwards. The pony proceeds at a mere amble, not galloping like that on Side 1 and is of a much more robust build without the hint of the “blood” head.

Tokens issued in connection with a trade in horses are known from many parts in the world, possibly the most spectacular being the huge piece issued for the centre of horse trading in the province of Nambu (17th cent.) in Japan. However, I can think of none which depict two contrasting breeds. It is this characteristic that, with considerable certainty, locates the place of issue as Soembawa an island east of Lombok in the Indonesian archipelago. It seems obvious that one of these breeds is a draught horse and the other a superior riding pony. Full-sized horses do not occur eastward of the Bay of Bengal. Sumatra itself has two breeds of pony, the Acheen and the Batabara, both considered horses for draught purposes. Of these, the Acheen was considered one of the finest, being exported to Penang and Singapore and even Japan to draw carriages and, occasionally, was sent to India. The only breeds considered superior to Acheen are those of Soembawa which combined the qualities of size, strength and fine heads. Three breeds are produced on this island and on the neighbouring island of Sumba (Sandalwood Island). This last caused them to be called Sandalwood ponies by Europeans, who considered them ideal for the game of polo in the early 19th century. It is in fact Soembawa that produces the “arabs” of the archipelago. The three native breeds were: 1) The Tambua; 2) The Bhima; 3) The Gunong Api, the three being rated in the same descending order of excellence and rarity. The horses were bred on the savannahs in the interior of the island and the best were reared, keeping them at complete liberty, in Central and East Sumba until sold. They were traded over a very wide area indeed despite the fact that the three mutually incomprehensible languages of the island, Soembawa, Bhima and Tomboro were written in little known characters. The first two written with the Bugis characters and the third in those of a totally obsolete alphabet. This must have somewhat inhibited trade in these very fine ponies. After the eruption of Mt. Tomboro on the 11th of April 1815 the island was only thinly inhabited and doubtless the equine population would have been similarly reduced. It has been recorded that within a radius of 210 miles of the volcano, the ashes thrown out made a covering, on average, 2 feet thick.

Perhaps it is not too fanciful to see the token as dating from that year or the following one: the animals being scarce, it might have been useful to traders to issue a token to those who had paid a deposit on either type of pony if they were willing to complete the purchase a year or two later. If this is not the case one would have to consider it a mere advertising piece but this seems most unlikely, both out of consideration of the fine bronze of which it is made as of the fact that all the ponies were so famous throughout the area from India to the Philippines that an advertisement would have been otiose. Whatever its purpose it must have had reference to both riding and draught ponies and perhaps indeed it entitled the purchaser to either or both.

More on ‘Chih-Ping’

Frongois Thierry, Curator of Oriental Coins at the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, has written to say that the coin discussed by Glen Margolis in Newsletter 128 is listed in the Wakan kokon senkakan of Kuchiki Kyukyo published in Tokyo in 1798 (Vol. III, B, p.

11a), in the Fugo senshi of Yamada Kosho (Nagoya 1827-29, Vol. I,.م‎ 6a) and in the Kosen daizen of Imai Teichiki (Kochi 1888, IJ, 4 ries the recently published book Zhongguo guqianpu of Mr Liu Jucheng (Peking 1989), this coin is listed under the number XVII-

A Copper Paisa from Kangra by N. G. Rhodes

In Bob Senior’s 1991 list of coins for sale, no. 418 is described as “Rajas of Kangra, AE Paisa in the name of Bahadur Shah II, 1252, UNIQUE”.

As with most claims of this nature for Indian coins, it is certainly not unique. as a die duplicate exists among unidentified Indian coppers in the British Museum,! but it certainly is rare and unpublished. A photograph of the BM coin is shown below, and the Senior coin, which is now in my collection, is identical in every respect except for the weight.

Obv Lv Ley? ae لك‎ Sikka Shah Bahadur

Rev iL ls 2 Zarb, Kangra Diam. 22mm, Wt. 10.46g (NGR); 7.60g (BM).

There appears to be a letter after the word “Kangra” on the reverse, but the meaning is uncertain. The symbols that Bob Senior thought were a date on the obverse are probably part of the legend, so there is no reason to suppose that the coin was struck in 1252 AH (1837 AD) which, in any case, was one year before the accession of Bahadur Shah II.

In order to put the coin in context it is worth considering the history of Kangra in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.” From the time of Akbar until 1783 Kangra fort was held by a succession of Mughal Governors, while the Rajas of Kangra ruled the state under the suzerainty of the Mughal Emperor. By the late eighteenth century the power of the Mughals had evaporated, and there was political confusion in northern India. The Punjab had been ceded to the Durranis, but their control of the country was not complete, and various Sikh adventurers began to carve out territory. In 1783, Jai Singh Kanheya, one of these Sikh chieftains, captured Kangra fort from the last Mughal Governor. The fort remained in Sikh hands until 1787, when it was ceded to Sansar Chand, who was becoming increasingly powerful as the independent ruler of Kangra. By the early nineteenth century Sansar Chand’s reputation had spread far and wide, and he had increased his territory, but he made enemies among his neighbours, who appealed to the Nepalese to help them crush the power of Kangra. In 1805 the Nepalese invaded and the power of Kangra was broken. Kangra fort was, however, virtually impregnable and Sansar Chand was able to survive under a state of siege until, in 1809, the Gurkhas were ousted by

a Sikh army, under Ranjit Singh. In exchange for this assistance, Kangra fort was ceded to the Sikhs. Once again Sansar Chand ruled his state, owing allegiance to an outside power, and with a Sikh Governor installed in the fort.

Sansar Chand died in 1823 and was succeeded by his son Anirudh Chand who ruled until the late 1820’s, when he fled the state after unacceptable demands were made by Ranjit Singh. Thereafter the state was made over to zamindars under the control of Sikh officers. In 1846, after the end of the first Sikh war, the state and the fort were ceded to the British, although the transfer was not effected without some delay, as the Governor of the fort held out against the British for two months and some of the hill chiefs rebelled about 1848 after when it was clear that the Bntish were not going to restore them to their dominions.

Even with this information, it is not easy to determine exactly when this copper coin could have been struck. The obverse inscription, “Bahadur Shah” most probably refers to the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II (1837-58), but as “Bahadur” means “brave”, it may just be an epithet describing another ruler. Throughout most of the reign of Bahadur Shah II, however, Kangra was firmly under

the control of Ranjit Singh, who never acknowledged the Mughal Emperor on his coins. On the other hand, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah ‘Alam Bahadur Shah I (1707-12), there is no reason why a copper coin should have been struck in Kangra; in any case, all coins of this Emperor have the name “Shah “Alam”, with “Bahadur” as an epithet, rather than plain “Bahadur Shah”. Perhaps the most likely period of issue, therefore, is after 1846, either just before the fort was ceded to the British, or during one of the uprisings of c. 1848.

In any case, the fact that both specimens are relatively unworn, and were struck with the same pair of dies, indicates that the issue was of short duration and that it did not circulate widely, as might be expected of any coins issued in the late 1840’s, as the British would have rapidly forbidden the circulation of such an unauthorised issue. The metrology is comparable with the contemporary copper coins of Charhat Singh of the neighbouring state of Chamba, but is heavy compared with that of the later coppers of Kashmir. As a result, this attribution must be regarded as very speculative, although it is the most convincing that I can come up with at present. NOTES

ex Mrs. Talbot, 1922. 2 My source for the history of Kangra is: J. Hutchison & J Ph. Vogel, History of the Punjab Hill States, Lahore 1933, vol. 1.

Printed by Galata Print, The Old White Lion, Market Street, Llanfyllin, Powys.