ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER No. 138 Autumn 1993

ONS News

  1. The ONS accounts for the year ending 31st March 1992 have been finished. Members may obtain a copy from their Regional Secretary. Please remember to include return postage in order to keep costs down.

Members’ News

1…. has a number of Indian coins for sale…. is interested in acquiring coins of Jaipur, Narwar, Alwar and the Kachwaha Rajputs for his collection.

un. William B. Warden, Jr., our American Regional Secretary, has been elected a Fellow of the American Numismatic Society. Congratulations!

Other News

  1. An international symposium on coinage and monetary circulation during the pre-Islamic/Islamic transition period was scheduled

to take place in Tiibingen on 20-23 September this year. It is hoped to include a report on this in a future Newsletter.

  1. The Fourth International Conference of ARAM - Cultural Interchange in the Umayyad Era - is scheduled to take place at Oxford University on 27-30 September this year. Numismatic papers by Dr Michael Bates and Andrew Oddy are included in the provisional list of papers.

  2. ‘ICANAS 34’ (The 34th International Congress of Asian & North African Studies) took place 23-28 August in Hong Kong under the auspices of the University of Hong Kong. Two papers on numismatics were given:

Gilles P. Hennequin (Paris, France): Islamic coinages from South and Southeast Asia (unpublished or scarce varieties in the Paris mint collection).

Nina V. Ivotchkina (St. Petersburg, Russia): Chinese currency in its cultural context. The 35th congress has been scheduled provisionally for Budapest in July 1997.

  1. The lecture programme of the Royal Numismatic Society, London, includes the following items of potential interest to members:

16 Nov. 1993: David MacDowall - The Interpretation of Roman coin finds from India.

18 Jan. 1994: Luke Treadwell - The coinage of Iraq & Iran during the Buyid period (930s-1040s AD). Meetings take place at the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London WC1 at 17.30.

  1. The Society of South Asian Studies, Numismatic section will be holding an Indian Coin Study Day on 20 November 1993 at the Department of Coins & Medals, British Museum. The subject will be Coins in Archaeology. Details from Joe Cribb at the Department.

  2. The British Museum has published an information sheet detailing the coins on display in its various galleries together with some suggested reading.

  3. Seaby Publishing has recently been incorporated into 8 T Batsford Ltd. The chief executive, Bobby Cox, will continue to develop the booklist under the Batsford imprint.

  4. The International Numismatic Commission has agreed that Lutz Ilisch will be the coordinator for the oriental section of the Survey of Numismatic Research 1990-1995 to appear at the Berlin Congress in 1997.

New & Recent Publications

  1. Parthian Coins & History - Ten Dragons against Rome, by Fred. B. Shore. ISBN 0-9636738-0-7. From the publishers:

Classical Numismatic Group is pleased to announce its recent publication of a new reference work on Parthian coinage by noted expert Fred Shore. This reference, Parthian Coins & History - Ten Dragons against Rome, is the first of its kind to present both a detailed numismatic catalogue of Parthian coinage and an introductory history to the Parthians themselves.

The first nine chapters of this work cover the history of the Parthian Empire from its origins circa 238 BC to its collapse before the new Sassanian dynasty of Persian kings in 224 AD. It discusses the Parthian people, culture and customs, and their interactions with the Roman Empire, Parthian subsidiary kingdoms and the peoples and kingdoms on the eastern borders of the Parthian Empire.

The balance of this work is a detailed catalogue of the Fred Shore collection of Parthian coinage, one of the most comprehensive in private hands. In addition to many unpublished varieties, several types previously attributed to “Unknown Kings” have now been assigned to specific rulers as proposed by Shore. This reference will be of use for both the advanced collector and the beginner who is looking to explore the fascinating coinage of the Parthians and the history it reflects.

The author, a professional numismatist for the past fifteen years, has been a student and collector of Parthian coinage and history since 1958. This new reference numbers 188 pages in a 6” x 9” hardbound format and is illustrated throughout. It includes a map, monogram table, glossary and index. The retail price is $35 (U.S.). Also available separately is a Rarity & Value Guide for this work by the same author. Priced at $3.95 (U.S.), it is cardcovered. Both are available from the publisher: Classical Numismatic Group at P.O. Box 245, Quarryville, PA 17566, USA or its subsidiary: Seaby Coins, 7 Davies Street, London W1Y 1LL, England. Dealer inquiries are invited.

  1. Essays in Honour of Robert Carson and Kenneth Jenkins, edited by Martin Price, Andrew Bumett & Roger Bland, published by Spink, London 1993, ISBN 0-907605-38-9. Price £70. This collection contains a couple of essays on Oriental numismatics, viz:

David Sellwood - Parthian Mint Operations. Joe Cribb - The ‘Heraeus’ coins; their attribution to the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises, c. AD 30-80.

  1. The March and May 1993 editions of the Indian Coin Society Newsletter include the following items:

Devendra Handa - A Unique Terracotta Proof-coin from Sanghol. Subodh Pethe - Fanams of the Keladi Nayakas of Ikheri. V M Kalpande - Unpublished rupees of the Bhonsla Rajas of Nagpur. Devendra Handa - A rare square Ujjayini copper coin. Maj. M K Gupta - An unknown coin of Jehangir. 5 U Bhandare - Maratha coins of Gwalior.

Lists received

  1. Stephen Album (P O Box 7386, Santa Rosa, Calif. 95407, USA). Lists 98, 99 and 100. Congratulations! 2. Scott Semans (P O Box 22849, Seattle, WA 98122, USA). Book list B58. This contains a lengthy listing of books on oriental numismatics both currently available and due in the near or not too distant future. 3. WB Warden Jr. and N. Economopoulos (P O Box 356, New Hope, PA 18938, USA). List Historia Numismatica IV. Ancient & Oriental coins. 4. Jean Elsen (Tervurenlaan 65, B 1040 Brussels, Belgium). List 153, containing a good number of Sasanian and other Oriental coins, and the 1993 numismatic book list (all series). 5. Persic Gallery (P 0 Box 10317, Torrance, CA 90505, USA). List 33 of Islamic, Indian, Baktrian and Central Asian coinages.

Ottoman copper coins from al-Mokha in the Yemen Dick Nauta, Khartoum.

Introduction Besides the town of Zabid whose copper coinage was discussed in an earlier article! a number of other places in the Tihama coastal plain of the Yemen were important to the Ottoman occupying forces. Of these Hodeidah (al-Hudaydah), Mokha (al-Makha) and Aden (‘Adan) are well known as early seaports which invariably played a role in attempts by outside conquerors to obtain a foothold in the Yemen (see map). The names of these towns occur throughout the history of the area. The history of the town of Taiz (Ta’izz), though considerably further inland and at an altitude of some 1500 meters, is closely tied up with that of these coastal lowland towns. Taiz was an important stepping stone from the lowlands to the highlands and vice-versa. Whoever was in control of the Taiz fortress al-Qahirah on the lower slopes of the imposing Jabal Sabir controlled one of the important routes to and from the highlands and thus, Sana’a.

It is surprising that especially from these coastal towns and trading ports relatively few examples of Ottoman coinage have come to us; amongst these, the copper coins are particularly poorly represented. So far, only the following facts regarding the copper coinage from these lowland mints have come to my notice:

  • from Hodeidah one copper coin” has been described; - from Taiz so far no copper coins have been described; - from Aden only one small copper coin has been described;? - from Mokha so far only one small copper coin has been recently published.* An older reference in Zambaur’ mentions “three little copper coins from Mokha Bandar” of date 970 (9757). It is however not clear from the text what kind of coins these are. Only the year would indicate these to be Ottoman coins.

In the present article I shall be dealing with the copper coins of Mokha, also variously known as Mocha, al-Mokha, al-Makha or al-Mukha etc. (Arabic: Li Ve ٠ Sa’dah Kawkaban e e Dhi Marmar * San’a! 31-1010 33ج ٠ ‎.٠ 04 8وى

Map of the Yemen showing the (approximate) location of * the ten mints so far substantiated. For an indication of scale: linear distance between Aden and Sa’dah is almost 500 km, between Aden and San’a’ almost 300 km. In the ٠ rough, dissected highlands terrain, the actual ground distances are of course considerably more.

GULF OF ADEN

Historical setting Mokha is situated at about 100 km due south from Zabid on the east coast of the Red Sea, some 80 km north of the Bab-al-Mandab, the southern entrance to the Red Sea, and about 95 km slightly south of due west from the inland town of Taiz. As the main source of coffee in the 17th and 18th centuries, Mokha gave its name to the coffee drink ‘Mocca’.

Daring most of the first Ottoman occupation of the Yemen the town of Mokha was the main port of entry for Ottoman troops and materials.

It was, according to contemporary accounts, a fortified town and as the country’s main port it must have had considerable strategic importance. Nevertheless it features rather insignificantly in the contemporary sources that have been consulted and analysed by Lachman.’ Indeed, it is mentioned only once or twice, and only in a subsidiary manner, unlike Zabid and Aden which both

had their share of warfare in these turbulent years of the early 10th/16th century.

The exact date of Mokha’s fall and occupation by the Ottoman naval forces I have not been able to ascertain from the sources at my disposal. It was most likely in the year when Khadim Suleiman Pasha on his way to help Indian rulers against the Portuguese in Goa first took Aden in 945H/1538 and on his return from India, after an unsuccessful expedition, next turned his attention to the Red Sea ports of the Yemen in 945H/1539.8 I cannot find evidence to suggest that Mokha was occupied by the Mamluks or their Levend successors before the actual Ottoman conquest of Red Sea ports. As with Zabid, it was only in 945H/1539 that the Ottomans themselves came to take charge of their Yemen dependencies and found that these were governed by well-established rulers who were not immediately prepared to hand over their power to the Ottoman overlords.

About the actual capture of Mokha and its subsequent history as an Ottoman port I have found no details. Mokha was in Ottoman hands up to the very last year of the Ottoman occupation of the Yemen and was only surrendered to the Zaydis under agreement in

1045H/1636.? Thus it was exactly a hundred lunar years under Ottoman occupation.

From the Ottoman period onwards up to the middle of the 19th century Mokha was the main trading port of the Yemen. Dutch, British, French and later American traders tried, with varying degrees of success to set up trading stations in Mokha, but were rarely successful for any length of time. Through Mokha were undertaken nearly all successive efforts of traders, soldiers, adventurers, diplomats and sundry foreigners to enter Yemen territory. From here such intruders would be escorted to San’a’ and, more often than not, be expelled again at very short notice or might fare even worse. After Aden was purchased by the British in 1839 and made into a free port, Mokha, already weakened under the oppressive rule of successive Zaydi governors, soon lost to Aden what little commercial importance it still held and slid into relative oblivion, never to regain its former status.

Typology. Unlike the early Ottoman coinage of Zabid struck by the Levend in the name of the Ottoman Sultan during the years before the actual Ottoman occupation (932-945H/1527-1539),!° no similar coinage of Mokha has come to light. In fact, no coins in any metal from this mint and attributable to the reign of Sultan Suleiman I have so far been published.

The following information on copper coins minted in Mokha is based on 16 coins. Although of varying quality, strike and weight, the coins appear all to be of one type, that is one type of obverse and one type of reverse; variations in arrangement and calligraphy within obverse and reverse occur. In fact, none of the 16 coins are struck from matching dies. On the whole the coins are poorly produced generally weakly and only partly struck. Fortunately they all show enough detail of obverse and reverse to confirm their being of one main type. Figure 1 is a composite drawing based on details that were clear in certain coins, reconstructing the general type as to its most striking features in order to assist in its reading and identification.

fig. 1 Obverse Reverse J dG M9 FO Avo فى ةئنسن‎ LS duriba mahrusah bandar Makha (fi) sanah 975

This translates as: “struck [in the] well-protected port/ Mokha (in) [the] year 975/977”!! Weight: 6.35 - 1.84 g; diam: 17.9 - 11.3 mm; thickness: 3.3 - 1.4 mm.

The most striking feature in the coins from this mint is the spelling of the mint name. It does not conform to Arabic practice. In the Yemen the town is invariably called al-Makha, with the article prefixed to the noun, just as with Hodeida, which locally invariably is known as al-Hudaydah, with the article attached. It is thus surprising that the Ottomans who must have heard the town being called alMakha, removed the article in the spelling of the name, leaving the bare Mokha, as was later also done in European languages, possibly under the influence of the Ottoman practice.

Surprising is also the omission of the article ‘a/-‘ that would have been expected with the word mahrusah (guarded, protected) as it is usually found on San’a and Misr coppers. The grammatical reasons for this are not clear.

The word fi on the reverse occurs in only some of the bigger coins, and not very convincingly so, but there seems no other explanation for the vague marks in the NW corner of the reverse.

In only three coins are there indications of a dotted border outside the plain border circle. In a few other coins there are just plain circles definitely without dots. In one instance the mim of Mokha coincides with the border and a recess has been left in the border circle to accommodate this. Most coins have no traces of either plain or dotted circles, the planchets being too small to have taken that detail.

The pleasing use of a ‘heart-shaped knot’, ingeniously taking the place of the ta’ marbutah of the words mahrusah and sanah, and thus on both sides of the coin, confirms the typical Ottoman character of the coins.!2 This omament may occur in a horizontal position at the left end of the word sanah or mahrusah i.e. with the heart pointing downwards, or it may occur in a vertical upturn of line, the heart thus pointing to the left. This latter position is shown in the drawing above, reverse, whereas the former is shown in the obverse of the coin.

The coins come with two different dates. It has not been possible to ascertain whether or not these dates represent distinguishable subtypes on the basis of which those coins without dates might be attributed to either one or the other year. The earliest readable year of coins from Mokha is 975H/1568 of which there are 7 in this sample, and the only other, and therefore last year found is 977H/1570 of which there are 3 coins with clear date. The remaining coins have no readable year or lack the third digit of the year. However, since they are of one type, it may be tentatively assumed that they are of either one of these years. This would mean that these coins all belong to the reign of Sultan Selim II (974-982H/1566-1574) although no Sultan’s name is mentioned on them.

It is tempting to speculate as to the reasons of these two dates. They could be brought into connection with the arrival of new Ottoman governors (Pashas). Lachman in his important analysis and listing of persons, facts and events of the period concerned}? mentions the following Ottoman pashas being appointed or arriving in 975H/1567: Rus Hasan Pasha (Zabid, later also San’a); Ozdemiroglu Osman Pasha (San’a’); Vezir Koca Sinan Pasha, start of the second conquest of the Yemen.!4 In this context it is interesting to note that the only Ottoman copper coin from Aden is also dated year (9)75; see note 2.

For the year 977H/1570 Lachman lists Behram [Bahram] Pasha, who stayed till 983H/1576. In connection with this year it is

  • noteworthy that a coin from Zabid likewise is dated From the data available it appears that after 977 no more coins were struck in the lowland mints of the Yemen. This applies not only to the copper coins, but to silver and gold as well (the last of which were struck in the name of Sultan Suleiman I with accession date 926 most likely struck after about 963), with the exception of Taiz (silver) and possibly Hodeidah (silver).!©

One coin is a mule, clearly showing on both sides the same obverse, and thus no year.

Metrology and Terminology As with the Zabid copper coins, there is a whole range of weights, diameters and thicknesses for coins of basically the same type. The variation in the small sample of 16 coins is considerable. It would be quite meaningless to try to arrive at averages of weights where the standard deviation is so large and the sample so small.

In order to illustrate this variation, in the table below I have listed, in order of decreasing weight groups, the weights, diameters and thicknesses for the coins with year 975, year 977 and those without year. (wt.= weight in grams; diameters and thicknesses in mm.)

Year 975 Year 977 Without year wt. diam. thick. wt. diam. thick. wt. diam. thick. 6.35 17.9 3.3 5.58 16.5 3:3 4.9 17.6 vant | 4.59 16.3 3.0 4.43 14.8 16.1 2.2 3.36 14.5 3.51 15.9 3.29 14.3 25 لذب 16.6 3.25 15.5 2.0 2.8 2.77 14.7 2.0

1.98 16.0 1.6 1.92 15.4 1.8 1.84 15.7 1.4 (mule)

The group of coins in the range between 3 and 4 grams appears to have most representatives, i.e. six pieces. But this does not mean much when taking into account the remaining weights which could hardly be considered the higher resp. lower extremes of that middle group in the 3-4 gram range, nor would these seem to represent cohesive weight groups that might constitute multiples resp. fractions of that assumed ‘middle* group. It will have to be seen whether the eventual appearance of more coins from this mint will assist in solving the question of its metrology.

As to the names applied to these coins and their denominations, if these existed, nothing can be said at this juncture. Further study of the total corpus of Ottoman coinage from the Yemen in the light of the contemporary historical texts from various sources may eventually yield some information in this respect. NOTES

  1. Nauta, Dick, “Ottoman copper coins from Zabid in the Yemen” in Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter, no. 137, 1993, pp 10-14. 2. Kiirkman, G., “Yavuz Sultan Selim adina Yemen’de darb edilen ilk bakir sikke” in Tiirk Niimismatik Dernegi, Biilten No. 25, 1988, pp. 17-18 (although I do not find the calligraphy of the mint name convincing for Hodeidah, I must admit that I cannot come up with a better suggestion for the attribution of this coin). 3. Suchy, Vladimir, “‘Adan as the Mint-Place During an Ottoman Period” in Spinks Numismatic Circular, June 1992, pp. 148-149, item 3. 4. Lachman, Samuel, “The Ottoman Copper Coins Struck at Mocha” in Spinks Numismatic Circular, March 1993, p.44.

  2. Zambaur, Eduard von, Die Miinzprdgungen des Islams, Wiesbaden, 1968, p.229. Lachman, note 4 above, attempted to trace the 3 coins mentioned by von Zambaur and writes that the coins were sold by J. Schulman Auction in 1905, lot 2299, and that the coins were not illustrated in the auction catalogue. Their current whereabouts are apparently unknown. 6. Serjeant, R. B. and 1. Lewcock (Eds.), San’a’, an Arabian Islamic City, World of Islam Festival Trust, London, 1983,.م‎ 7. Lachman, Samuel, ‘"”The Numismatics of the Yemen in the 10th/16th Century” in Spinks Numismatic Circular, May 1992 - November 1992, pp. 113302.

  3. Ibid, p. 148b. 9. Serjeant et al., op. cit., p. 74b.

  4. Nauta, Dick, op. cit., pp.11-12, coin types I-IV, figs. 1-4. 11. The reading of this coin by Lachman (op. cit. under note 4) is unfortunately erroneous. The mint name Mokha (without al-) was misread as fi, which can quite easily happen where the sharp point on the letter kha’ is not clear and the letter alif is very short. The obverse reading is equally erroneous, where the letters of duriba were misconstrued into ‘bender-i’ and the letters mim-ha’-ra’ of the word mahrusah have been interpreted as Mokha. Below

the word bandar and to the right of it there appear in some of my coins some additional strokes, letters, which I have not been able to explain. They are too vague to reproduce them here, and we shall have to wait for more and better coins to explain this additional word.

  1. For general remarks concerning this ornamental element of Ottoman coins see note 13 of my article mentioned above, note 1. Similar use of this ornament in calligraphy on later coins may be found in the silver coins of 1318H/1900 of the Zaydi Imam al-Mansur Mohammed (1307-1322) where

on both obverse and reverse the word Allah in different contexts has been decorated with the knotted ta’ marbutah. Another example is the ending of the name Mombasa on the 1306H/1888 2 1 pysa coin of the British East Africa Company.

  1. Lachman, S., op. cit., p. 114b, “Ottoman Beys and Pashas”, items 11, 12 and 13. 14. In the years prior to 975H, the sons of the Zaydi Imam Sharaf al-Din, Mutahhar and his brothers Shams al-Din and Ali were leading the Yemeni armies in their opposition to Ottoman rule. They had made great strides and were well on their way to oust the Ottomans from the Yemen when the Porte could at last be stirred to send reinforcements and a new governor who were able to reverse this trend and who reestablished Ottoman power in the Yemen. This period after 975 is sometimes referred to as the reconquest or second occupation of the Yemen.

  2. Nauta, Dick, op. cit., p. 13, type IX, fig. 9.

  3. Popp, V., G-R. Puin and H. Wilski, “Ottoman coins of the Yemen”, in A Festschrift Presented to Ibrahim Artuk on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Turkish Numismatic Society. TND, Istanbul 1988, pp. 251-262.

A new Sasanian mintmark? - Gurnet I wish to describe here a drachm of Kavad I (488-97 and 499-531). The coin is of year 35 of Gébl type 111/2 and the mint is clearly نكا‎ Si; ‘I’n; ALAN. We can have two interpretations for this mintmark:

  • error in the engraving of AIRAN. According to Dr. Mochiri, the first com from AIRAN appears under Kavad I, year 32. Nevertheless, mistakes in the engraving of mintmarks is a rarity, particularly for important mints such as AIRAN.

  • “I’n(‘n) is the Sasanian name of Albania, South-East of Georgia. Curiously enough, year 35 of Kavad is also the date of the first appearance of the mint ARM which is generally attributed to Armenia and the years 34 to 36 saw the emergence of the ephemeral mint GNCKR (Ganjak?). These three mints are all situated in the North-West of the empire.

In the Cambridge history of Iran (vol. 3(1), p.152) we find: “Events in Georgia also occupied the Persians during the second reign of Kavad… The Persians were happy to take advantage of this discord and supported the nobles with an army in 523… and the Persians occupied the cities of Georgia. A marzban ruled the country and Sasanian garrisons were established in the chief city, Mtskheta (near modern Tiflis), and other cities”.

The appearance of ARM, ALAN and GNCKR together around 523 and their abrupt disappearance is very interesting with regards

to these events but we cannot draw any conclusions before the mint ALAN has been safely attributed to Albania.

In my collection, I have 2 coins from ALAN, unfortunately from the same pair of dies. I would gladly welcome any information about new dies (obverse and reverse) which would confirm the existence of a new mint. For the moment, we must accept the theory of an error before more information reaches us.

The father-loving Strato R C Senior The final coinage struck by the Indo-Greeks was that issued in the Eastern Provinces (assigned to Jammu) in the name of a king Strato. In the ONS Newsletter 128 and also in Spink’s Circular for November 1992 I demonstrated that hoard evidence proved that this Strato was the king shown with a young portrait (coin 4) and not that king depicted as an old man (coin 2). These kings were referred to as Strato II (old king) and Strato III (young king). Between coins 4 and 2 however comes a further coin bearing the portrait of Strato II, showing him possibly even older, and issued jointly with his son, the father-loving Strato (coin 3). The legend on these coins reads: Maharajasa tratarasa Stratasa (The king saviour Strato - as on his sole coins) putrasa casa priyapita Stratasa (and his father-loving son Strato). Naturally, one assumed that the young Strato III who issued coins after him was the father-loving Strato, though he does not bear that title on the coins he issued as sole king. Now, however, a coin has surfaced of a king who does bear that title as sole king and we may have to revise our numbering of these kings to incorporate a new Strato! The new coin, shown to me courtesy of Frank Kovacs, is illustrated as coin 1. The portrait is more mature than that of any of the Strato III (young portrait coins) but not as old as on any of the Strato II coins. The legend on the obverse is not completely clear but if, as is the custom on these coins, it reflects the reverse kharosthi legend, it will be:

BAXIAEQY 22111202, PIAOMATOPOL ZTPATQNOLY - ‘The King, saviour, the father-loving Strato’ The reverse as Pallas thundering left with monogram لثما‎ behind and the legend ‘MAHARAJASA TRATARASA’ reading outwards above, and below reading in: ‘PRIYAPITA STRATASA’. Priyapita is the equivalent of philopator (father-loving). It is most unusual for an epithet to be added to the king’s name in such a way. Usually the epithets are together and the king’s name occurs alone below. Is it possible that Strato Philopator is his full name, the Philopator being a personal name rather than a title? The important point is that the younger-portrait (Strato III) coins do not use the title at all and we seem to be dealing with a different, and new, king.

A close examination of the known types indicates the sequence of coins - see table. Strato II issued coins as sole king from three workshops. Workshop A used a combination of kharosthi letters in the field of the reverse. Workshop B used letters plus the monogram لكا‎ and workshop © used the monogram كا‎ alone. Similar combinations of letters and monograms had been used by his predecessors.

On his joint coins Strato II (+ Strato Philopator) issued coins from workshop A and a new (travelling?) workshop D which used neither field monograms or letters. Workshops B and © which incorporate the monogram & were not used.

The coin of Strato Philopator partly fills this gap since his unique coin comes from workshop C. Strato III issued coins from workshops A and 8 but not C. In fact only one more king issued coins from workshop C and that was the Indian king Bhadryasa (coin 5).

Who was Strato Philopator then? He is obviously not the same as Strato II because he issued coins jointly with him and his portrait shows none of the peculiarities of age that typify the portraits of Strato II such as the protruding nose and chin. Strato III is a contender in that theoretically Strato Philopator could have issued coins in workshop C while his father issued the joint coins in workshops A and D. On his father’s eventual demise he might then have chosen to drop the title ‘father-loving’. But why would he? Why would he drop workshop C? Then there is the fact that the Strato III coins definitely show a very young portrait, not the more mature one of Strato Philopator. I prefer to refer to him thus rather than re-number the kings II, 111 and IV. It is easier to distinguish which king is being referred to and if further evidence arises that suggests Strato Philopator and Strato III are one and the same then Strato III will remain the same.

Now we come to the part that I enjoy most. The reconstruction of possible events on the evidence as it presents itself, speculative though it might be!

Strato II succeeded Apollophanes. They seem to have been brothers, have similar portraits and were both very old. Probably Strato II decided to give his father-loving son some authority as heir apparent and the area where workshops B and C were situated (a city near present Akhnoor?) was made over to him while area A issued coinage in their jomt names. Possibly there was an outside threat already in view of what happened in subsequent years (Bhadryasa taking area/workshop B and C and later another Indian king, Rajavula, taking A and B from Strato II).

Bhadryasa made his incursion and ousted Strato ernie WORK Ghee Philopator taking area/workshops B and C. This might A explain why there was a joint coinage with no monograms STRAT IL yi Pa or letters. Strato Philopator and his much loved father had /FId| 6ت‎ to issue coins for their troops and people from a camp strato + LF) mint? Strato II dies and there is a recovery, albeit STRATOS ¥ “7 temporary, in Indo-Greek fortunes and area B 15 wees eee 190 أ‎ The really old portrait of Strato II on the joint coins makes STRATO PHILa دهم‎ | fa} him look around 80 or 90 years old. His son, who loved BHADRYASA {zal م8‎ him so much, would have been possibly 40-50 years old | هبا‎ and his son in tum a vigorous 20-30? Therefore I would ry lana suggest that Strato 111 was the son of Strato Philopator, STRATO TH 4a

grandson of Strato II and it was he who recovered the Indo- 2 95 8 Greek fortunes. If for no other reason, sentimental as I am, I refuse to believe that a son who called himself so 1/29 prominently, ‘father-loving’, would stop doing so when | aes 83 aq his old dad died. The copper coins of Rudradaman I R C Senior All copper coins of the early Satraps of North-Western India are scarce or rare but a picture is emerging of a fairly complicated currency among these lowest denominations. Abhiraka, the first Kshaharata satrap, had one design but two denominations. Bhumaka, his successor, had two designs and several denominations of one of them (including lead coins). Nahapana used at least 5 different designs, and several denominations are known for at least one of them. Chastana similarly used 5 different varieties of base coinage and several denominations for some. Jayadaman, his son, used only one. A reappraisal of this early coinage is in order and we await the forthcoming publication on the Western Satraps by Dilip Rajgor to see how completely he deals with it.

In this short note I am publishing a few coins from my own collection of Rudradaman I including one, possibly two unpublished types. The coins are illustrated at 1.5 times actual size.

Type 1 is of copper, square, and the weights of my three specimens are: (a) 1.35, (b) 1.40 and (c) 1.19 grams. The obverse has a horse standing right, as on Chastana’s copper, but without any standard before the horse. The legend around is of greek letters, corrupt. The reverse has a three arched hill symbol, two crescents and star with Brahmi legend around reading Rajno Mahakshatrapasa Rudradamasa.

Type 2 is problematical because the reverse has an unclear legend. The obverse is as on the coins of Jayadaman but the reverse has a three arched hill symbol instead of the usual six-arched hill. I think that this type may therefore belong to Rudradaman. It weighs 1.37 grams.

Type 3 falls into two varieties. 3A has an elephant standing right, no legend around (1.73 gm) and 3B has the elephant left (Mitchiner I-G 1265 - 1.00 gm). The reverse is as type 1.

Type 4 has sometimes been described as a coin of Chastana but on both my coins the legend is clear. 4a is 3.12 gm, 4b is 3.30 gm. The obverse has a 6 arched hill symbol with crescent on top and corrupt greek legend around. The reverse has a sun and crescent with legend as 1 around. Coin 4a is countermarked with the inscription ‘Rajno Rudradamasa’.

In the Indian Antiquary for 1919 K.N. Dikshit published a coin with facing bull and he read a legend “Swami Rudradaman”. I have not seen a copy of this article and cannot confirm the reading.

An Interesting Yaudheya Coin Devendra Handa The Yaudheyas occupy an important place in the galaxy of ancient Indian republican tribes. They may also be credited with having issued the most copious currency amongst these tribes. Their copper coins showing the six-headed Karttikeya on the obverse and his

spouse Shashthi on the reverse are too well known to need any detailed introduction. Generally they show very rough workmanship

and have very fragmentary legends. The cumulative evidence indicates that the full form of the legend on these coins is: Bhagavatasvamino Brahmanya-devas(y)a Kumaras(y)a - ‘Of Kumara the divine lord Brahmanyadeva’. An interesting coin of this type is published here. (Photo courtesy of Mr. Raju Bhatt, Delhi).

Obverse: Six-headed Karttikeya standing to front, holding a spear in his right hand, left hand on hip, Brahmi legend around from 11 to 5 o’clock:… va[to] Brahmanadevasa.

Reverse: Linear figure of (probably six-headed) goddess Shashthi in

the centre, right hand raised, left akimbo, 15-arched triangular chaitya

(or hill) capped by an umbrella and inverted triratna symbol on her right, multibranched tree in railing on her left and a wavy line below.

Karttikeya on the obverse has two parallel rows of three heads and the heads of the upper row have been marked by horizontal strokes

to indicate the top-knots (jata-juta). The feet are splayed out in the Kushana fashion. The letters between 3 and 5 o’clock are somewhat blurred as the coin seems to have been struck on an earlier specimen of which traces of (bra)hma(nya) may be seen under devasa of our coin. The legend on our coin seems to start from 7 and end at 5 o’clock. The letters are quite bold. The missing letters between 7 and 9 o’clock can very easily be visualised to have been Bha and ga. The upper part of 1 (at 9 o’clock position) is worn out. Bra (at 12) has been wrongly engraved with r being superscript rather than subscript. There is, however, absolutely no doubt to its being Bra as such a mistake has been noticed in many other specimens. h above the letter ma is faint but still discernible. Since there is absolutely no space to accommodate any other word, the legend seems to have been complete and only Bhagava[to] Brahmana-devasa. This, thus, is

the first specimen to show this form of the complete legend. Actually na should have been nya but only na is visible on the coin.

The depiction of the multi-arched chaitya with an inverted triratna above it is also an unusual feature not met with on any other Yaudheya coin so far.

A New ‘Bow and Arrow’ coin of the South Indian Cheras of Kerala Wilfried Pieper The Cholas, the Pallavas and the Pandyas are well known dynasties of ancient Southern India. Somewhat less known are the Cheras of Kerala ruling the eastern coastlands of the very south of India from about 200 BC up to the first centuries AD. At least the early coinage of this dynasty is very rare. In Mitchiner’s Oriental Coins - the Ancient and Classical World we find a copper coin (5024) which seems to be the only known type of the early Cheras, showing a large ‘bow and arrow’ on the reverse and a prominent elephant standing right with some ancillary geometric symbols above.

Below is the drawing of an obviously new type for the dynasty. The reverse has the typical ‘bow and arrow’ symbol and with the elephant standing right the main obverse motif is also the same as that on the known type. New and unusual however is the depiction of a small humped bull to the right above the elephant as well as the other symbol to the left side of the bull. Although it is somewhat indistinct it seems to be a small circle surrounded by six dots. The coin provides an interesting new contribution to the scarce coinage of the early Cheras of Kerala.

Metal: copper Technique: die-struck Weight: 3.6 gm Size: 2.0 x 1.9 cm.

las

Indian Miscellany

  1. Multan - a new copper mint for Shah Jehan I Bernd Becker has sent details of a copper dam struck at Multan in year 4 of the reign of Shah Jehan I. The coin weighs 18.9 grams and bears the following legends: Falus fe

Gb Jehani سس‎ Multan hell Sanah 4 -_ مقعم‎

Copper coins are also known from this mint for the reigns of Akbar, Aurangzeb and Muhammad Shah..2. A rare mohur of Patiala state

Another contribution from Dr Becker who writes:

Patiala was founded by Sardar Ala Singh in 1753 AD. In 1763 AD the Sikhs occupied Sirhind and the land between the rivers of Sutlej and Jamuna and Ala Singh built a fort at Patiala and added the ruined city of Sirhind and surrounding country to his territories. Amar Singh (1765-1781 AD) received the title Raja-i-Rajagan Bahadur and the right to strike coins from Ahmad Shah Durrani. Although his successors definitely had their mint at Patiala, their coins invariably have the mint-name Sirhind.

Here for the first time is a coin which bears the name Patiala. The coin was struck under the rule of Maharaja Narendra Singh (VS 1902-1919/ 1845-1862 AD). It is a mohur dated VS 1902 and shows the individual mark of the ruler and -. في‎ readable the mint name Patiala at the bottom of the reverse. The weight is 10.65 gr.

  1. Bill Warden has sent photographs of a strange-looking mohur, weighing 10.1 grams. It bears crude Persian script derived from a late Mughal type. Can any member assist with identification? 75

  2. Baroda and Bindraban - new coins Dr P. N. Khanna and K. Wiggins

  • Baroda. AR rupee. Weight 11.4 grams, diameter 18 mm. Very little of the inscriptions appears on this rupee but it is fairly certain that it is in the name of Muhammad Akbar II and dated by his regnal year two (AD 1807-1808). The form of the Devanagari letter A, representing the initial of Anand Rao, which is usual on the coins of the Baroda mint is >I] but the coin illustrated here has a different form. Although the mint name is off the flan of the coin, the mint is probably not Baroda; it may be an early example of the Petlad mint struck during the reign of Anand Rao Gaikwar (AD 1800-
  1. which has not been previously published.

ii. Baroda. half paisa. Weight 5.5 grams, diameter 20 mm.

This copper coin also bears minimal inscriptions but is probably in the name of Muhammad Akbar II. No regnal year is apparent but it was struck during the reign of Anand Rao. The style of the letter A ( 4] ) differs from those given above. There is a sword at the top of the reverse. This piece may be from the Petlad or Amreli mint and appears to be a new type.

iii. Bindraban. AR rupee. Weight 10.7 grams, diameter 19 mm. Mint: Muminabad Bindraban.

The obverse contains the usual ‘hami din’ legend of Shah Alam II with a chhatra in the centre line and the date AH 1212 (AD 1797-1798). rs The reverse has the usual jalus formula with sanah 37 at the bottom together with a sword, a katar, the word 577 and a trident. All these marks appear on other rupees of the same mint but this piece has on the reverse the word @ ~\ (dal) in Devanagari script. The word dal is a Hindi word meaning a large army, thickness or the leaf of a tree. For what reason it is inscribed on a coin it is difficult to say for it may mean something else entirely; either initials, an abbreviation or the mint master’s name. This coin has not been published before. There is another rupee of Muminabad Bindraban dated 1207/37 with the same marks but with the wordq] ~J] (bala) in the same position. This word has a number of meanings none of which can be readily applied in relation to a coin or coinage.

  1. See Maheswari & Wiggins, Maratha Mints & Coinage, Bombay 1989, under Vrindavan, Tla.

Anchor-Mark and George Thomas Devendra Handa It is gratifying to note that my reading of the mint-name Jhayar on a silver rupee dated AH 1198/26, struck in the name of Shah Alam II, has generally been accepted by scholars.! The coin contains on its reverse the distinctive mint-mark: an anchor in a triangular cartouche, which defies satisfactory explanation and has recently been connected by Hans Herrli? with George Thomas - the famous Irish military adventurer who had come to India with the fleet of Admiral Hughes and is said to have deserted the Royal Navy in 1781 in Madras. After having served the Nizam of Hyderabad and a short stint with the Paligars of South India, he reached Delhi in 1787 whereafter he served Begum Samru of Sardana (as her personal bodyguard and paramour), joined the Maratha chief Appa Khande Rao who bestowed upon him the Jagir of Jhajjar in 1794. At the death of the Maratha chief in 1797, Thomas carved out a principality comprising the towns of Jhajjar, Rohtak, Hansi, Hissar, Sirsa etc. He built a small fortress name Georgegarh (which later became famous as Jehazgarh) near Jhajjar, constructed Jehaz Kothi at Hissar (which still exists with some later modifications) and became famous as Jehazi Sahib. His Memoirs record that “At Hansi I established a mint and coined my own rupees which I made current in my army and country.”? Herrli thinks that “it is not alt all impossible and even probable that he also issued rupees from Jehazgarh, his oldest as strongest fort, and that such coins would bear the mint name Jhajjar and show an anchor, the personal mark of the Jehazi Sahib.”

Herrli is aware of the difficulty of connecting the date of the coin under discussion 1198/26 with George Thomas. Just to explain

the existence of the anchor mark as the personal mark of George Thomas, the vital evidence of the date cannot be distorted, more so when ae actually have at least two published specimens of 1214/42 issued from Sahibabad Hansi and rightly attributed to George Thomas: These coins are similar to the one published earlier (in 1893) by H. Compton:® a قفد‎

Compton and Grey seem to have been aware of the fact that George Thomas issued silver rupees from Hansi and had actually seen the specimens. The date 1214 (=1799 AD) is the year when George Thomas was in actual control of some area of the present day Haryana and ruled from Hansi as his capital. The second date 42 is believed to represent his age (Thomas was born at Tipperary in 1756) at the time of striking his coins. These coins show an ornamental umbrella on the obverse and a sunface’ in the sin of the word Jalus on the reverse. The anchor mark is conspicuously absent. Had it been his personal mark, Thomas would surely have put it on his coins issued from Hansi; but it is not so. Had he set up a mint at Jhajjar, he may have mentioned it to Francklin and some contemporary European writers may have seen and referred to his rupees struck from that mint.

In the light of all this, it is not in my view possible to regard the coin under discussion to have been struck by George Thomas from Jhajjar, nor can the anchor-mark be taken as his personal mark. The explanation of the anchor-mark on the said rupee has to be sought elsewhere. NOTES AND REFERENCES 1.0NS NL no. 135. See also ibid., nos 117 and 137, 2. Ibid., no. 137.

  1. W. Francklin, The Military Memoirs of George Thomas, London, 1803,.م‎ 93. See also C. Grey, European Adventurers of Northern India (17851849), edited by H. L. O. Garrett, Lahore, 1929, p. 44; Shelford Bidwell, Swords for Hire, London, 1971, p. 131.

4. ONS NL no. 137.

  1. JASB, vol. VIII, no. 3 (March, 1912), Num. Sup. no. XVII, Art. no. 105, pp. 129-30, Pl. VI. II.

  2. 4 Particular Account of the European Military Adventurer of Hindustan, London, 1893,.م‎ 143 as quoted by Herrli. Keene in his Hindustan under Free Lances, p. 88 also says that he had seen a rupee of Thomas’s bearing the title of the Emperor Shah ‘Alam in Persian, with a capital T in English character. This letter T seems to have been put on the coin in a cryptic way forming part of the ornamental umbrella over –~~ on the obverse. 7. The sun-face occurs on the coins of Indore mint also. Coins used in Tibetan Medicine - G. Rhodes In Tibetan Medical Paintings! recently published by Serindia Publications, there is a most unexpected numismatic reference. The book reproduces 76 fine paintings that illustrate the Blue Beryl treatise of Sangye Gyamtso (1653-1705). Although the series reproduced happens to have been painted in the 1920s, and is in the Buryiat Historical Museum in Southern Siberia, it is based on earlier versions, perhaps dating from the 18th century, that are still in Lhasa.

The items illustrated as Nos. 26-32 on the twenty-third painting are described as various forms of “silver ingots”, as follows: 26. Silver ingots in the form of Mongolian Shing-kha-ma currency such as the present-day “walnut-shaped” bars (ra-dngul-hor-

dngul-shing kha-ma da-lta star-dras). 27. Silver ingots in the form of Chinese ‘O-ma-kha currency such as the present-day “horse-hoof” and sheep-hoof” bars (ra-dngul

rgya-dngul ‘o-ma kha da-lta rta-rmig lug-rmig). 28. Silver ingots in the form of Indian coinage (ra-dngul rgya-tam). 29. Silver ingots in the form of Nepalese coinage (ra-dngul bal-tam). 30. Silver ingots in the form of Bhutanese coinage (ra-dngul mon-tam). 31. Silver ingots in the form of (russian) ‘Dra-men ( ‘dra-men ra-dngul). 32. Silver alloy in the form of Khampa Zho-kha-ma silver currency (lug-dngul khams-dngul zho-kha-ma). 3. Pz

‏srU{ لا ‏t+ ا 55

The word “ingots” would seem to be misleading in the translation of the Tibetan captions, and could be omitted with advantage as the letter “ra” before “dngul” (silver) is just a word indicating “metal”, rather than implying it to be necessarily in ingot form. Indeed items 28-31 are clearly bowls full of coins, although the pieces illustrated are merely generic coins, and not intended to depict particular identifiable specimens.

It is interesting to note that, apart from Nepalese and Indian coins, the Tibetan doctors were aware of coins from Bhutan (these would have been made in Cooch Behar at a period of c. 1700, as coins were first struck in Bhutan around 1800), and from Russia (perhaps coins of Peter the Great, first struck around 1700). The ingots from China are easily recognisable, while those identified as from Mongolia seem to be a slightly differently shaped type of ingot. The “alloy” from Kham is intriguing; the word “lug” before “dngul” implies casting, but the illustration looks like very rough lumps of silver.

As regards the medical properties of these different types of silver, the text states that “silver, comprising both silver ingots (radngul; figs 26-31) and locally cast silver alloys (lug-dngul), is sumilar to gold in its taste and post-digestive taste, while its properties dry out serum, pus, and blood” (vol. I p. 61). As regards gold, it says that “all gold is astringent and cooling. It increases longevity and dispels demons”. Numismatically, it is interesting that all the gold illustrated is in the form of rough nuggets or ingots, and none is in the form of coins. In case anyone wants to try out this medicine, I presume that the coins, or ingots, have to be ground down into powder to aid digestion. NOTE

  1. Edited by Y. Parfimovitch, G. Dorje and F. Meyer.

Another Chinese Hybrid David Hartill Recently I published a description of a Chinese ‘mule’ with an obverse and reverse some sixty years apart.! The coin illustrated here (No.1) is yet another kind of miscegenation. At first glance, it appears to be a Shan Long (No.2), the type issued by the Qian Long Emperor between 1796 and 1800 when he had officially abdicated in favour of his son Jia Qing, but continued to rule.? Closer inspection shows that the reverse, which indicates the Board of Works mint and has a dot below the hole, and the tong bao characters on the obverse are of the style of the last issue of Jia Qing (No.3) which can be dated to around 1816.3 The Qian Long characters have been added independently, for they are not quite straight, and on trying to make a rubbing, they are found to be raised slightly above

the level of the rest of the coin. The weight and diameter of the coin are both consistent with those of ordinary cash.

It would seem that the only way to make such a coin would be to substitute the Jia Qing characters with Qian Long in the casting sand itself after a Jia Qing coin had been used to make the initial impression. Again, it is not quite clear who would go to such lengths to concoct such a fantasy, but I would not be surprised if it were not one of the workers at the new branch of the Board of Works mint. NOTES 1. Numismatic Circular. February 1991.

  1. “A Study of the Metropolitan Coinage of Qian Long’, Numismatic Chronicle, 1991, pp.81-85. 3. Work in progress.

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