ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC ·SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER

No. 164

Summer2000

ONSNews

ONS Website

A reminder that the ONS Website can be found at http://www.onsnumis.org The site contains a full index of newslt:tter contents which members may find useful. From the Editor

It is my sad duty to report the recent death of two ONS stalwarts, Ken Wiggins and Bill Warden. As many of you will know, Ken was a founder member of the ONS and until fairly recently the Regional Secretary for the UK. Bill was also a founder member of the ONS and had been Regional Secretary for North America since 1985. An obituary for Ken is below and it is hoped to publish one for Bill in the next issue. Charlie Karukstis has taken over as Regional Secretary, his address is at the top of this page.

Another numismatist of note to pass away recently, after a lengthy illness, was Vasant Chowdhury of Calcutta. An article of his is published in this issue and Nicholas Rhodes has supplied an obituary. In addition, two members from the Netherlands have also passed away.

Some guidelines for those of you sending me articles for publication by e-mail or on disk. Please do NOT use footnotes. If you wish to include endnotes, please type them in the normal manner, without using the "insert endnote" function. The endnote numbers in the text can be typed with normal superscript characters. The use of the "insert footnote or endnote" function causes no end of problems when inserting an article into a longer document, especially as your Editor uses a PC system and the printers a MAC system!

Also if you are including scanned photographs in the article, do not embed the scans in the body of the article, but attach them as separate jpg files. In the body of the text, merely indicate where the scans should go and the file name of the scans.

When giving references and sources, please include the place and date of publication, if known. Auction News

Spink's auction during Coinex week (4/5 October) includes a significant section of Islamic coins. A good range of dynasties is represented and estimates range from £ I 00 to £30,000. Catalogues are available from Spink priced £ 15. Contact Julie Franklin on Tel ++44 020 7 563 4030: e-mail: jfranklin@spinkandson.com

Obituaries

Ken Wiggins (1924-2000)

Ken and Netta

It was almost thirty years ago that I first met Ken - it may have been in I 972 or 3. It was at a meeting of the Oriental Numismatic Society in London. I was an inexperienced coin collector at the time who had recently joined the Society. I had seen Ken's name in a book I had bought - the Guide Book and Catalogue of British Commonwealth Coins. The third edition had just been published that included a new section on the coins of 55 Indian princely states, compiled by one, K.W. Wiggins. This had interested me because I had started to specialise in oriental coins and was developing a particular interest in Indian coins. Having the chance to meet the author of these pages in person seemed like a dream come true. 1 don't think I was prepared for quite such an imposing figure but I soon found that behind that impressive exterior lay a very genuine and helpful person.

Ken had become interested in coins in his teens when he obtained various coins from bubble-gum machines. That seemed to have stirred his imagination. He became interested in oriental coins when serving in the Near and Middle East immediately after the war and he presumably had the opportunity to look for coins there. Whether he was able to develop this interest subsequently when he lived in Australia for several years I do not know but by the time that I got to know him he had certainly developed a keen interest and knowledge of the coins of the Indian Princely States and the East India Company and a good collection of them, at a time when few other people were collecting them seriously. He also had a collection of Commonwealth coins and coins of sundry other places including Haiti, Sudan, Russia and even Roman Imperial coins!

In 1970 a letter appeared in Seaby's Coin and Medal Bulletin looking for people to start up a group or society for the study of oriental coins - no such group existed as the time. Ken responded

immediately and went on to become one of the founder members of what became the Oriental Numismatic Society, a society that, as members know, now, some 30 years later, has a world-wide membership of around 600. At various times in his collecting career he was also associated with other, local coin societies, notably the Rye society; he was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Numismatic Society and his interest in philately also led him to become a member of the India Study Circle. But it was to the ONS that he was to devote most of his attention. In 1976 he took over the job as Regional Secretary for the UK and Ireland, a function he carried out diligently for 23 years, handing over the reins to his successor only last year. During all those years Ken wrote many articles on the coins of the Indian Princely States and the East India Company. These were published not only in the newsletter of the ONS but also in India in, for example, the Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, the Numismatic Digest, and elsewhere. He was one of the first to undertake systematic research into these coins. I myself worked with him in the late 70s and early 80s on a series of papers on the coins of the Sikhs, which culminated in a paper on the subject being given at the seminar to inaugurate the new institute of numismatic research at Nasik in India, in January 1984, which both of us attended. After that event we, together with Bob Senior, visited various cities looking for coins, visiting historic sites and fortresses. I am sure Ken found all of that very interesting but did not always appreciate the steep climbs to gain access to some of these places! I can still picture the three of us cycling around the bird sanctuary at Bharatpur.

Apart from the articles and the various talks he gave. Ken's main contribution to Indian numismatics are the books he co-authored: the book on the coins of the Scindias of Gwalior which he wrote with Jan Lingen; and the one on the coins of the Marathas which he wrote with K.K. Maheshwari. For many years he had been working on and off with Jan Lingen on the coins of Rajputana and, at the time of his death, he was working with two others. Bob Puddester in Canada and Paul Stevens here in the UK on an update of Pridmore's volume on the coins of the East India Company. Sadly, he was not destined to see these two works come to fruition but it is hoped that others will complete these tasks. 1 myself have just completed a book on another series of Indian coins and dedicated it to his memory.

Ken's professional life was spent with the police. After being demobbed in 1946 - he had been a navigator with the RAF during the war - his first period of service was with the Metropolitan Police but he soon got itchy feet and, from 1947, he and his wife, Peggy, spent several years in Australia, with Ken serving with the local police force at Yallourn, Victoria. The lure of England, proved too strong however, and back in the UK, Ken joined the Sussex Constabulary in 1954, and there he remained, serving at Hove, Winchelsea and finally, from 1965, as a sergeant at Crowborough, until he retired, as a highly respected officer, in 1981.

Ken was always a kind and helpftil man. He never spoke ill of anyone. He attended many coin meetings and was always ready to talk to people and offer help and advice. He knew personal tragedy during his life, losing his married son at an early age, and having to nurse his wife, crippled with a debilitating disease, through the last years of her life. It was therefore wonderful to see him gain a new lease of life when some twelve years or so ago he met his friend, Netta, also a collector of Indian coins at the time and a keen collector of revenue stamps, and they began to spend time together both at home and abroad, touring, visiting, collecting. Ken was a fine numismatist and a close friend - he visited us often and his visits, in recent years, often with Netta, were always a pleasure.

We shall miss him sorely both as a friend and as a student and collector of coins. He was an important figure in Indian numismatics, and one whose name, as a result, is known around the world. He is survived by his daughter, Deborah and three grandchildren. To them and to Netta, we offer our deepest sympathy. SLG

Vasant Chowdhury (1928 - 2000)

As a member of the ONS, Vasant Chowdhury was that rare combination, of a man, not only well-known in numismatic and academic circles, but he was also a household name in Bengal as one of the leading actors of his generation.

Born in Nagpur, Vasant moved to Calcutta in the early 1950's to pursue his career as an actor. His mellifluous baritone voice, peeriess diction, and stage presence brought him immediate lasting success, not only on the stage, but also in films, radio and, later on, television, over a period of nearly fifty years. In recent yeas, not only was Vasant the sheriff of Calcutta, but also he was a Trustee of the Indian Museum. On his death, condolence messages were received by his family, not only from the Chief Minister of Bengal, but even from the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who described him as a man of varied interests, whose death is a loss to the world of art and culture.

As a numismatist, Vasant Chowdhury was a pioneer in collecting and studying the coins of North-East India, and in particular Cooch Behar, Tripura, Kachar, Jaintiapur. And Manipur. His country tours allowed him to combine this interest with his professional life, and he was able to hunt for coins during day in the towns of the North-East, while reciting poetry to large audiences in the evenings. This lifestyle left little time for formal research, but he read widely, socialised extensively with the intelligentsia of Bengal, and his knowledge of many aspects of Indian culture was immense. His collection was always available to serious students for study, and I was not alone in benefiting enormously from long sessions discussing new theories and discoveries. Most of his early numismatic articles were written with Parimal Roy as joint author, but I am sure that Sri Roy will agree that the research and writing was all Vasant's, although some of the coins belonged to Parimal. He attended most of the meetings of the conferences of the North East Indian Historical Association, and his lectures, not only at these conferences, but also at the Asiatic Society and other venues in Bengal, made him respected by professional historians. In recent years, Vasant visited Myanmar and Bangladesh, and lectured at Universities there on the coinage of Arakan.

Vasant Chowdhury was a true gentleman academic, in the best tradition, and he will be sorely missed by historians and numismatists, as well as by lovers of the Bengali theatre. NGR

We regret to report that two ONS members from the Netherlands passed away in the month of July 2000.

On 7 July Drs. C.J.F. Klaassen MA suddenly died of a heart attack at the age of 73. He was a dentist by profession, but on retirement from his practice, he began to study archaeology at the University in Leiden. In 1999 he received his MA, quite an achievement at his age. As he was not a person to remain idle, he chose to study another subject, this time maritime history. Mr Klaassen was a man of wide interests who had a love for numismatics, particular that of the province of Zealand and of the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) and, in connection with that, his interest in the native coinage of South East Asia. He was honorary curator of the numismatic collection of the Koninklijk

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Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen. (Royal Zealand Society of Sciences). With Henk van der Wiel (our former regional secretary for Europe) he wrote an article, based on archival research, about a particular series of coins related to Zealand and published in the annual Yearbook of the Royal Dutch Numismatic Society.

Just 5 days later, on 12 July, Ors. J.H.G. Meesters passed away at the age of 75, following a cerebral haemorrhage. Mr Meester, who was a retired specialist in internal medicine, had a love for odd forms of currency, such as the so-called ''bullet money" of Thailand, but other forms of primitive currency as well as the coinage of the Y.O.C. also took his fancy. On the occasion of the centenary of the Royal Dutch Numismatic Society he produced an extensive survey of the history of the Society, which was published in the centennial issue of the Society's Yearbook.

Both members were regular visitors of the annual ONS meeting in Leiden. Their presence and contributions at these meetings will be badly missed JL

Members News

Any member seeking Indian numismatic publications, regimental histories etc, can get in touch with ...

Annual General Meeting

The Society's AGM duly took place on 3 June 2000. At the meeting, the Secretary General gave a report on· the society's activities during the previous year and the Treasurer gave details of the Society's accounts. After the formal procedures, three talks were given, viz. Mitchiner, M., "Some thoughts on Indian punchmarked coins" Mears, 8 .. "From Venad to Travancore, copper coins of Kerala between the 15th and I 9th centuries" Bhandare, S., "Early banknotes of India, before 1861"

London

A reminder that the next London meeting will take place on Saturday 14 October at the Coin and Medal Department of the British Museum, commencing 11 am. This will be a general members' meeting.

Saturday 2 December, commencing I 1.00, an Indian Coin Study Day at the Coin and Medal Depeartment, British Museum, topic yet to be fixed. Additional details will be posted to the ONS website in due course.

Cambridge, UK

The Indian Coinage Study Day devoted to the sultanate coinage duly took place at the Fitzwilliam Museum on 24 June 2000. Around 20 people attended. Papers given were: Lingen, J., "The coinage of the Malwa sultanate" Husain, E., "Reflections on silver currency of the Patna mint and Bihar's growing trade during the Mughal period" Rhodes, N and S.L. Garon, "The Victory coins of Husain Shah of Bengal" � Mitchiner, M., "Vijayanagar and the southern frontier of the sultanate" Bhandare, S., "Derivative coinages of the sultanate period".

Leiden

This year's Leiden meeting will take place on Saturday 21 October. For details please contact Jan Lingen, address as above.

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The fortified city of Garni was founded in the seventh century BC. During the roman period (first half of the first century BC) it was the residence of the Roman commanders and troops. It was also the Idng's residence during the period of the Arshakid dynasty. The Hellenistic temple was built and the city fortified during the period of Tiridat I (55/66-88). It was a fortress also in the fourth century AD, being the residence of the bishop. In 640 AD Garni was captured by Arab troops. During the period of the Bagratid dynasty Garni was again strengthened. At the end of the fourteenth century, Garni was captured by Timur and later by the Ottomans. More than 350 coins were found on the site during excavations. Eight hoards were also found, composed of Roman and mediaeval coins. About 1000 coins are published in the present volume.

• Puin, E , "Silver coins of the Mamluk sultan Qaiawün (678-689/1279-1290) from the mints of Cairo, Damascus, Hamah and al-Marqab", in Mamluk Studies Review, IV, 2000, Middle East Documentation Center, University of Chicago

• Rhodes, N ü , "Coinage in Bhutan" in Journal of Bhutan Studies vol 1, no 1, 1999, Thimphu, Bhutan

• Mackenzie, K, "A Mente?e com struck in AH 825 in the name of a son of Ilyas Beg", in Arkeoloji ve Sanat 96, May/June 2000

• Heidemann, S Ed , Islamische Numismatik in Deutschland eine Bestandsaufnahme, Wiesbaden (Harrassowitz) 2000 Ca 172 pp, 10 ill (ISBN 3-447-04269-9) price ca DM88, oS 642, sVt 80,-

Islamic Numismatics m Germany - a Survey The renewed interest in Islamic numismatics today is characterised by the search for new independent sources for the political and economic history of the Middle East Since the beginning of the nineties Islamic numismatics has been making a new start at different places in Germany In the past, Islamic numismatics belonged neither to core Oriental studies nor to classical numismatics Its history is marked by frequent ruptures, each resulting in a loss of knowledge The history and the research potential of the collections of the 19' century were hardly known In 1996 all interested directors and researchers of Oriental collections in Germany met in Jena to review the history of Islamic numismatics and to coordinate future research After an overview on the development of Islamic Numismatics in Germany (S Heidemann) since the 17''' century the contributions deal with the collections in Dresden (Paul Arnold) Rostock (Niklot Klujiendorf, Konrad Zimmermann) Gottingen (Christof Boehringer, Florian Schwarz, Peter Bachmann), Gotha (S Heidemann) Jena (S Heidemann) and Tubingen (Lutz Ihsch)

Other News • A conference entitle Kings n Things organised by the Caravan

Foundation and devoted to pre-Islamic Near East and Central Asian studies took place 25-26 July this year m New York A range of papers was given, including

Sims-William, Prof N , "New Bactrian documents from pre-Islamic Afghanistan" Bivar, Prof A D H , "Latest position on chronologies" Macdowall Dr D , "Further thoughts on the Gondophares dynasty" Lerner, Prof J , "A re-evaluation of the Indo-Scythian kings" Spengler, W F , "Is the Indo-Greek king in the Milindapanha Menander Soter or Dikaios"

• First Russian International Numismatic Conference

Coins And Money Circulation in the Mongol States 13-15 Centuries

Thematic Range - the great Mongol empire - China under Mongol domination - Chaghatayids - Ilkhans - the Golden Horde and its descendants - the Crimean Khanate (Giray Khans) - related items

Mongols and Russia Mongols and Egypt Mongols and India

Arrangements

1 The Conference is to be held at Saratov (Russia, Volga Region) in September 2001 (estimated duration - 5 to 8 days)

2 The Organising Committee Pavel N Petrov (Chairman and Coordinator), Dr Vladimir N Nastich (Scientific Supervisor and Press Secretary), Sergey A Gamayunov (Resident Deputy Chairman)

3 The publication of all delivered papers will be undertaken (in Russian and English, in the case of other languages, French and German would be preferable)

4 accommodation will be in one of the pension-houses on the banks of the Volga with fullboard

5 The cultural programme will include visiting museums in Saratov, town excursions, a journey to one of the Golden Horde medieval sites

6 Numismatic literature (sale and exchange)

7 Estimated cost ~ $ 350 per capita (excluding transportation to Saratov)

8 The applications can be sent immediately by e-mail ppnSk i s ru, for the attention of Pavel N Petrov or to b e l g z e n o n net, Vladimir Belyaev

New and Recent Publications • Moushegian, Kh , A Mousheghian C Bresc, D Depeyrot, F

Gurnet, History and Com Finds in Armenia Coins from Garni (4"" c BC - 19"' c AD), Wetteren, Belgium, 2000, 120 pages, 8 plates Published by Moneta, Hoenderstraat 22, B-9230 Wetteren, Belgium, fax ++32 93 695925, http //www cultura-net com/moneta Price BeF 2000

• 1 B Tauris & Co Ltd , Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London WCIB 4DZ, tel ++44 20 7831 9060, fax ++44 20 78319061 w w w . i b t a u r i s . c o m continue to publish a range of books on Middle Eastern subjects including the following recent or forthcoming works Details are from the publisher's catalogue

Knoblich, E , Monuments of Central Asia a Guide to the Archaeology Art and Architecture of Turkestan, 256 pp, October 2000, ISBN I 86064 590 9, paperback, £15 95, illustrated throughout in black and white In this comprehensive account of the culture and history of this ancient land the author describes the main centres of

civilisation from the Caspian sea in the west to the fringes of the Tibetan plateau in the east He provides extensive information on the archaeological architectural and historical features of scores of sites throughout Central Asia -from the well-known Samarkand and Bukhara to the less familiar monuments of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan Photographs are supplemented by numerous line drawings plans of the main cities and sketches of principal monuments and their ornamental features

Ghani, C , Iran and the Rise ofReza Shah, 440 pp, October 2000, ISBN 1 86064 629 8, paperback £14 95, illustrated in black and white The post-World War I years encompass one of the most important and engrossing chapters in 2(f century Iranian history The period began with a triumvirate of Iranian political grandees encouraged (and bribed) by the British government attempting to shoe-horn Iran into the British Empire This failed and this clumsy episode was followed by a bizarre coup d etat engineered in great haste by a British general which brought to power a tough but obscure military officer who disposed of the prime minister to take over the role himself dabbled briefly with republicanism then crowned himself as Reza Shah Pahlavi ending 130 years ofQajar rule This book covers a cricial period in the birth of the modern Iranian state and will become the standard work on the subject

Khan, Shaharyar M, The Begums of Bhopal 272 pp, June 2000, ISBN I 86064 528 3, hardback, £25, illustrated m black and white Between 1819 and 1926 four Muslim women rulers reigned over Bhopal the second largest Muslim state of India despite staunch opposition from powerful neighbours and male claimants Even the British East india Company initially opposed female rule in Bhopal until the Begums quoted Queen Victoria as their model and inspiration Qudsia the first Begum was supported by her powerful French-bourbon prime minister in her departure from the traditional She was succeeded in 1844 by Sikandar her only daughter who discarded purdah like her mother and was a powerful and awesome ruler leading her armies into battle and indulging in the male-dominated pastimes of polo and tiger-hunting Sikandar s only daughter the highly controversial and liberal Shahjahan made her mark on the state by building extensively while the last Begum Sultan Jahan was a pioneering figure in educational reform and a standard-bearer for women s emancipation The story ends with her abdication in favour of her son the first male ruler (Nawab) of Bhopal in five generations

Faroqhi, S , Subjects of the Sultan Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire 240 pp, July 2000, ISBN I 86064 289 6, hardback £35, illustrated in black and white While the high culture of the Ottoman Empire has been extensively documented very little research or writing has taken place on the everyday life of the ordinary people during the centuries of Ottoman rule Suraiya Faroqhi now fills the gap This book explores the rich city life of Ottoman times from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century Buildings and their social significance the interaction of peoples and the classes from the varying religions and ethnicities the arts and crafts and even the banalities associated with everyday life - bathing the market loving and grieving are all explored for the first time with scholarly rigour and a general sense of fascination with a disappeared world

Clay, C , Gold for the Sultan Western Bankers and Ottoman Finance 1856-1881 448 pp, October 2000, ISBN 1 86064 476 7, hardback, £39 50 The collapse of the Imperial Ottoman Bank m 1875 was a pivotal event in Ottoman history and in the modern history of the middle east m general Based on extensive Turkish British and French sources including the recently available Turkish State Bank archives this book is an economic history which places Ottoman finances in the context of the larger political and diplomatic history of the empire It covers the reasons for Ottoman bankruptcy examining military expenditure and the lack of financial controls as well as the role of foreign bankers and the question of exploitative financial imperialism The result is a measured study which provides important new information and insights into the workings of the Ottoman system

• The book "A Short history of Ceylon" by H W Codrington, published in 1929, has been posted on the World Wide Web at http //lakdiva com/codrington/ Lakdiva

• THE ANTIQUITIES OF POVOLZH'YE AND OTHER REGIONS

Issue 3, Numismatic edition, volume 2, Nizhny Novgorod 2000 In memoriam Yuri E Pyrsov

Contents

V P Lebedev ' Numismatic studies by the Saratov region student and numismatist Y E Pyrsov (1930-1996)"

Study 1 The coins of Ukek Study 2 The coins of other mints Study 3 Amir Timur m the Golden Horde Study 4 Numismatic puzzles

V Pachkalov "A small early 15th century hoard of silver corns of the golden horde from the site of Selitrennoe" N N Ivanov "Coin gatherings on the archaeological route of the Khorezm expedition in 1966" V P Lebedev, O V Trostiansky 'A hoard of Golden Horde dirhams of the first half of the XlVth century from Tatarstan" J G Muhametshin "The coins of Mokhshi from the funds of the Bolgar state historic-architectural reserve" V B Klokov, V P Lebedev "The coin circulation of the Golden-Horde town of Beljamen" V P Lebedev, V N Dunin "The drawings of lead seals from the archive of the Gorodets region" K Miatov "Primary analysis of images on the published lead seals from Gorodets" V P Lebedev "Seven unpublished coins of the Crimean khanate of the 15-17th centuries" P N Petrov, V A Kalinin "Hoards of Kufic dirhams" P N Petrov ' Using macroanalysis in the study of hoards of kufic coins of the 8-12th centuries, estimating its applicability and possibilities" B D Kochnev "A group of coins from a hoard containing 11th century coins of Saghaniyan" V V Studitsky, V P Lebedev "Vassal coinage of the 70s of the 11th century — the final stage of the monetary system of the Shaddadid emirate of Ganja" V N Nastich "Almaty — the 13th century mint" O V Trostiansky "The western kopeks with the names of Ivan IV and Feodor Ivanovich (on the problem of the minting place)" V A Malanin "Russian silver coins of 1825 — the first coins of Nikolay I"

NUMISMATIC STUDIES BY THE SARATOV REGION STUDENT AND NUMISMATIST Y E PYRSOV (1930-1996) by V P Lebedev

The present essay contains a selection of items offered by Yuri Efremovich in his personal correspondence «pioneer» attributions of the unedited types of Jujid coins, new solutions of some doubtful definitions and I dare assert, the opening of a new page in the history of Golden Horde numismatics Perhaps some of the attributions suggested by Yuri Efremovich would not become an «ultimate verity», but such is the destiny of most trail-blazer's solutions Let us do justice to his enormous diligence, bravery of thought and outstanding flair for deciphering the numismatic puzzles Study 1 THE COINS OF UK.EK No I Toqtu Bek Khan Dirham No date AR No 2 Anonymous dirham AR No 3 Anonymous pul AE No 4 Mahmud Khan Dirham Date uncertain AR

Study 2 THE COINS OF OTHER MINTS No 5 Anonymous dirham, temp Mangu Temur Saray, 671 AH AR No 6 Toqta Khan Half dirham Mint and date uncertain AR No 7 Anonymous pul Mokhshi, 733 AH AE No 8 Anonymous pui Mokhshi, 745 AH AE No 9 Muhammad Khan Dirham Haji Tarkhan, 823 AH AR

Study 3 AMIR TIMUR IN THE GOLDEN HORDE

No numismatic evidence for the presence of Amir Timur in the Golden Horde had been known Nevertheless coins of this ruler prove to exist, and Yuri Efremovich had the luck to discover some of them No 10 Mahmud Khan and Timur Guragan Dirham Haji Tarkhan, no date AR Besides this unique piece, Yuri Efremovich came across important data on other coins struck under Timur No 11 Amir Timur Pul No mint, undated AE No 12 Anonymous pul Saray, [7]85 AH'' AE

Study 4 NUMISMATIC PUZZLES

It IS not unusual for Jujid coins, even well-known ones, published long ago, contain individual words and sometimes whole legends that remain unread, or else the suggested reading does not satisfy numismatists Yuri Efremovich was eager to puzzle over such problematic items, and some of his solutions are encountered in our correspondence

A SMALL EARLY I5TH CENTURY HOARD OF SILVER COINS OF THE GOLDEN HORDE FROM THE SITE OF SELITRENNOE by A V Pachkalov

A small hoard of Jujid silver coins dated to the first decade of the 15th century was unearthed in the autumn of 1997 in a site near the village of Selitrennoe, in the district of Kuchugur where most of the 15th century coins had been found According to the finder's words, the coins (10 pieces) were dispersed in an area of I 5 sq m Another group of 4 coins was lifted within several metres from that place, but because of the dense coating of oxide they could not be attributed and included into the described hoard The composition of the hoard is shown and illustrated The hoard contains the coins of the first two khans ruling m the 15th centur> - Shadi Bek (800-809 AH / 1398-1407 AD) and Pulad (809-813 AH / 1407-1411 AD) The presence of Pulad Khan's coins in the hoard points to the probable time of its burial All coin types present m the hoard are known, but because not all of them were described in

full detail and illustrated in previous publications, their descriptions are given here All the coins were struck in the southern centres of the Golden Horde, as well as the pieces of other fixed hoards of the same period found in Lower Povolzh'ye There were no coins of the Bulghar (by then already named Kazan) mint among them the only hoard that contained up to 0 3 per cent of those coins was a large one found in 1867 at Shareny Bugor This fact must serve as additional confirmation of the view that early in the 15th century Volga Bulghana and Lower Povolzh'ye represented separate economic regions of the Golden Horde

COIN GATHERING ON THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ROUTE OF THE KHOREZM EXPEDITION IN 1966 By N N Ivanov

In July 1966 the archaeological route headed by Dr Hist E E Nerazik was followed along the left bank of the Amu Darya The longest stop on the route and the largest number of numismatic pickings were made on a site near Adak (84 coins, including broken pieces) On the other sites the coin finds were distributed as follows

Near Kunya Uaz - 8 sps At Yarbekir Qala- 8 sps At Aqcha Gelin - 6 sps In the fortress of Adak - 6 sps

The earliest coins (dirham and fals, 16 sps ) belong to the reign of Khorezmshah Muhammad b Takish The rest are 13-14th century coins of the Golden Horde Almost all of them fit well into the system suggested by G A Fedorov-Davydov, but some specimens, probably of better condition than those at the disposal of that author, allow us to make certain corrections in interpreting the com legends and images, and this has been done in the present article It contains more accurate reconstructions and drawings of the com dies of several types from the finds of the Khorezm expedition The catalogue published above is based on the continuous numbering of coin finds For better companson, the reconsrtuctions made by G A Fedorov-Davydov (marked with I) are placed side by side with my own drawings (resp with II) The other part of the article is a catalogue of coins found m the course of the expedition Jujid coins comprise the bulk of its content, but there are also coins struck under the Afrighid and Anushteginid rulers of Khorezm, Timur and Timunds

A HOARD OF GOLDEN HORDE DIRHAMS OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY FROM TATARSTAN by V P Lebedev and 0 V Trostiansky

In January 1998 a small bag with silver coins (ca 60 pes) was brought to one of the antique shops of Kazan, allegedly from Bolgar Examination of the coins showed that they consisted of Golden Horde dirhams of the first half of the 14th century, one foreign piece resembling the coinage of the Mongols of Persia, and up to 10 almost entirely effaced dirhams It is reasonable to suppose that this was part of a hoard of Golden Horde coins found in Tatarstan, probably in the vicinity of the town of Bolgar To investigate the hoard, we obtained from it 20 genuine samples and 5 pencil rubbings All the important properties of the specimens we have seen, are presented in tabular form as well as their attribution

With the aid of similar coins from private collections, reconstructions are provided to create the completeness of their type appearance Reconstructions of all dirhams struck at Khorezm, encountered in the part of the hoard we saw are also provided Two dirhams dated 720 AH were struck with the same couple of dies, whereas a piece with a date no longer vidsible represents a different die combination Many coins of Khorezm

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with various dates have been published without pictures, so we could not determine the issue date of dirham No 5 The second group of reconstructions embraces all dirhams from the examined part of the hoard that were minted in the name of Jam Bek at Gulistan

THE COINS OF MOKHSHI FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE BOLGAR STATE HISTORIC-ARCHITECTURAL RESERVE by J G Muhametshin

It IS commonly known that copper coins, as a rule, did not play the principal role in the economic and monetary relations of states meeting for the most part merely the requirements of the local market In the Golden Horde, besides its capital, copper was struck sporadically at the mints of Bolgar (Bulghar), Gulistan, Mokhshi, Haji Tarkhan, Ukek and some others A comparison of com finds from Bolgar and both the Sarays shows that more than half of the copper coin finds in Bolgar belong to the production of Saray and New Saray mints, whereas the finds of Bulghar coins in Lower Povolzh'ye are rather sporadic On analysing the coins from Narovchat, A A Krotkov came to the conclusion that the copper coins produced in situ did not use to leave their native town An attempt is made in the present article to evaluate the venfiability of such a supposition for the monetary circulation of Bulghar and Mokhshi, the two provincial centres of the Golden Horde The publication also contains a catalogue of coins struck at Mokhshi from the collection of the Bolgar State Historic-Architectural Reserve, supplied with detailed descriptions and drawings

THE COIN CIRCULATION OF THE GOLDEN-HORDE TOWN OFBELJAMENby V B Klokov & V P Lebedev

The authors of this article obtained for investigation com finds of 1997 from the site of Vodianskoe, partly delivered by a resident of the village of Dubovka to an antique shop and partly borrowed from students in the region The total of those finds comprises 51 silver dirhams and 1311 copper puis A detailed typological and metrological analysis of these coins forms the first part of this work In addition, a large group of Jujid coins, found in various years on the site of Vodianskoe and not represented among the finds of 1997, was to be found in a number of private collections in Volgograd Their descriptions are given in the second part of this article The com material collected trom this particular site, so numerous and analysed in so much detail, is herewith published for the first time Alongside coin descriptions, the article contains the reconstructions of all the coin types, and, m some cases, com dies too A serious analysis of the material under study is made The number of copper puis in the Vodianskoe finds is many times more than all previously known coins taken together, so their study has allowed us to reveal many new and unexpected features of coin production and money circulation in the Golden Horde, and Beljamen in particular The total material includes 93 types and 66 variants of Jujid puis, of which 20 types and 40 variants have not hitherto been published Although copper coins used to serve the local circulation in the towns of the Golden Horde, the Beljamen finds originate from 13 different mints As in the dirham group, the metropolitan copper mintage prevails in the number of pieces (92 per cent), but as far as the variety of different types is concerned, the proportion of provincial coinage reaches almost half (48 per cent) The most active penetration into the market of Beljamen is found for the puis of Mokhshi (10 I per cent types), Azaq and Khorezm (8 7 per cent each), on the other hand, the copper production of Bulghar, rather abundant in the first third of the 14th century, as well as that of Majar and Shahr al-Jadid in the 60-70s seems never to have reached this town

Coins bearing the mint name similar to 'adil C) are encountered on the site of Vodianskoe only, this fact, m our opinion, must point at

their real «birthplace» Another peculiarity of the monetary circulation in Beljamen is the presence of an appreciable part (7 3 per cent) of crude imitations of the puis of the 1st half of the 14th century, which are seldom met with on other sites The imitations of the puis of the 1330s are not numerous Judging by the shapes of the coin flans, they were struck using the same technique as the original types, namely on pieces cut oft from copper wires or thin rods The latter allows us to suppose that these crudely made coins were not imitations, but could be the «official» issue of a certain mint, but produced by some inexperienced engravers enlisted for the needs of a rapid increase in the volume of copper coin production The presence of copper puis with overstrikes among the coin finds is also characteristic of the majority of the sites, including Vodianskoe Both of the studied groups together contain 151 pieces, stamped with 7 kinds of overstrikes The most numerous of them, 'adil and a tripod tamgha, were most probably produced at Beljamen Two thirds of the overstruck puis belong to the time of Toqtamish, the latest types with date indications show 795 and 799 AH Although copper puis without overstrikes in general date back only to the 14th century (from the undated issues of Toqta up to 799 AH / 1397 AD), the considerable number of overstamped specimens originally dated with the 790s, including the same 799 AH, must demonstrate with certainty that Beljamen survived after its destruction in 1395 AD, and that life there continued for some time in the early 15th century

THE DRAWINGS OF LEAD SEALS FROM THE ARCHIVE OF THE GORODETS REGION STUDENT Y K MIATOV PRIMARY ANALYSIS OF IMAGES ON THE PUBLISHED LEAD SEALS FROM GORODETS By V P Lebedev, V N Dunin

Yuri Konstantinovich Miatov was a collector of artefacts relating the history of Gorodets The main supplier of exhibits to his collection was the Volga River during regular spring flash floods It washed away the high hill of the town that had served as an embankment for the Gorodets fortress in the 13-14th centuries, and exposed a great number of remnants, the most numerous among them being lead seals, silver and copper coins Yuri Konstantinovich passed away in a tragic accident, his house was burnt down and most of his collection of lead seals perished in the fire Quite accidentally, his young disciple V N Dunin preserved some of the seals and two sheets of tracing-paper with the drawings of 87 various types and varieties of the seals made by Y K Miatov The preserved samples were among 1000 pieces handed over by V N Dunin to the State Hermitage, and their pictures are published in this article Unfortunately, we do not know the exact number of specimens that were adorned with the images published here but it is estimated that the figure is between 600 and 800

SEVEN UNPUBLISHED COINS OF THE CRIMEAN KHANATE OF THE 15-17th CENTURIES ByV P Lebedev

We shall soon be celebrating the centennial of the publication of the fundamental work by O F Retovski Die Munzen der Cirei The completeness of types, variants and die varieties of the coins of the Girei dynasty represented in that catalogue was so absolute that until very recently there were no notable printed supplements to It But a whole century being quite a long time in numismatics, there has been accumulated, at least in private collections in Russia and the Ukraine, a certain amount of new Crimean coins that are not represented in O F Retovski's work

The present article presents a publication of seven hitherto unpublished Girei coins of the 15-17th centuries from private

7

collections in Simferopol, Sevastopol, Feodosia, as well as Moscow, Kovrov and Dzerzhinsk

HOARDS OF KUFIC DIRHAMS by P N Petrov and V A Kalinin

This article is devoted to eight hoards of Kufic coins found at various times in Caucasia, Belorussia, Russia and Turkmenistan Each hoard is described separately and with varying amount of details as the material allows

1 A hoard of Umayyad coins from Transcaucasia 2 One more hoard of the early 9th century 3 The second hoard of Kufic and Sasanian coins Vyzhigshi-Il 4 A hoard of 10th century dirhams Anonymous-2 5 A hoard of dirhams of the mid-10th century trom the Minsk

district 6 An early 10th century hoard of Kufic coins from the village

of Luzhki 7 A small hoard of Kufic coins from the vicinity of Murom 8 A hoard of late Samanid dirhams from Turkmenistan

A GROUP OF COINS FROM A HOARD CONTAINING 11th CENTURY COINS OF SAGHANIYAN by B D Kochnev

In a previous issue P N Petrov published information about a hoard found somewhere in the south of central Asia around 1991 Judging by its content, the location where it was found could be either the Surkhandarya district of Uzbekistan or the adjoining territory of Tajikistan The original content of the hoard must have numbered several thousand coins, since it filled a big bucket, but then It was dispersed among the people A collector from Moscow A A Koifman managed to examine about 400 dirhams from the hoard and determine its dynastic and chronological composition (Qarakhanid, Ghaznavid, Seljuq, possessors of Saghaniyan, 414-435 AH / 1025-1044 AD) P N Petrov examined 7 coins from the same hoard and published them in an article with descriptions, illustrations of the best preserved specimens and a brief review of the historical background to these numismatic items Late in 1997 the collector, V F Tsapin (Samarkand), acquired 20 similar dirhams, but he could not obtain any information about their origin As follows from examining those specimens, they could comprise another part of the same hoard, or they were part of another hoard very close to the former one in content Anyhow, this material contains a number of curious pieces that makes the whole group deserving of publication and attention The composition of the examined coins is as follows

1 Anonymous [Saghaniyan] between 418-23 AH/1027-32 AD 2 Muhtajid''Abu'l-Qasim [Saghaniyan], 42[4-8] AH / 1032-37

AD

3 Qarakhanid Tafghaj Khan Ibrahim b Nasr Saghaniyan, [43]2 AH/ 1040-41 AD

4 Ghaznavid Mawdud b Mas'ud Termez, 433 AH/1041-42 AD 5-6 Mint'' Date'' Coins like No 4, but with lost issue data 7-8 Seljuqid Chaghry Bek Dawud b Mika'il Saghaniyan 435

AH/ 1043-44 AD 9 Minf Date'' Coin like No 7-8, but in bad condition 10 [Chaghry Bek Dawud] and Shams al-D[awla] [Saghaniyan],

435 AH /1043-44('')AD 11 Dynasty'' Ruler'' Saghaniyan, date'' 12-20 [Saghaniyan C)], date''

The analytical part of the article discusses the numbered coins in the context of historical events in Saghaniyan, the reconstruction of which IS to a considerable extent connected with and dependent on the numismatic material that has been studied

VASSAL COINAGE OF THE 70s OF THE Uth CENTURY -THE FINAL STAGE OF THE MONETARY SYSTEM OF THE SHADDADID EMIRATE OF GANJA By Y V Studitskyand V P Lebedev Coins of Shaddadid emirs following Shawur 1 were unknown until recently In 1997 a small group of black, base silver coins with the names of Seljuq sultans was brought to Moscow from Armenia 30 pieces from that group were handed to us for detailed study, the results of which are reflected in the present article Drawn reconstructions of the types are provided Only two of the types distinguished can be confidently related to the coinage of Fadl II b Shawur (459-466 AH/ 1067-1073 AD) These two types of dirhams of Fadl II were the first to bear the name of the Seljuq sultan Alp Arslan Type 4 has not preserved (or actually does not have) any of the three possible proper names, whereas the date of the dirham (466 AH) coincides with the time when Fadl II was deposed from the throne by Fadl III It is reasonable to suppose that type 4 was struck under Fadl III Judging by the presence of caliph al-Qa'im's name in the legends of type 5, the dirham could not have been issued after 467 AH, most probably, under Fadl III as well The following type 6 was struck under the new sultan Malik-shah in 466-467 AH, on the coins of Fadl III the title is absent completely, and instead of the name, a laqab is placed - Shams al-Muluk 'Sun of the kings' Another type, 7, struck between 465-467 AH actually makes no reference to the Shaddadid ruler Finally, type 8 was struck after 467 AH in the names of the next caliph al-Muqtadi and sultan Malik-shah Again, there are no traces of the existence of the Shaddadid emir in the inscriptions on the coin It is probable that this type IS already a purely Seljuq coin, because from 468 AH Arran became a possession of the Seljuq general Sau Tegin and the Shaddadid Emirate of Ganja had ceased to exist

ALMATY - THE 13th CENTURY MINT byV N Nastich

This article represents an enlarged and illustrated version of the author's paper delivered to the «Bartol'dovskie chteniya» conference in 1993, the English (abridged) edition can be seen in ONS Newsletter No 155, Winter 1998, p 13-15 It concerns the recent discovery of silver coins struck at Almatu (nowadays' Almaty, or previously Alma-Ata) during the period of the Mongol dominion The description of two dirhams, each bearing two tamghas (one commonly found on many Chaghatayid coins of the 13th century, and the other very special, never met with before), is accompanied with detailed philological and historical analysis of these unique specimens

(Information provided by Vladimir Belyaev)

• Numismatic Digest, vol 21-22 (1997-8) has recently been published by the Research Institute at Nasik, India Contents are Srivastava, O P L , "Two types of city coins of Enkachha" Mukherjee, B N , "Vima Taktu, an alleged Kushan king" Gupta, L C , • Some rare lead coins of Maharathis" Handa, D, and M K Gupta, "Two interesting coins of

Statkarni and Nahapana" Bhandare, S , ' Significant discoveries in Satavahana silver

coinage" Shastri, A M , and Godbole, S , "A silver coin of Yadava

King Seunadeva" Mitchiner, M "Some early Vijayanagar silver taras

belonging to three geographically separate series" Rajgor, D , "Rare coins of Gujarat and Malwa sultans" Hussain, S E , Hajipur and its mint during the Turko-Afghan

Bengal"

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Siddiqui, A.H., and T.D. Rao, "A new type gold coin of Feroz Shah Bahmani"

Moin, D., "Two gold coins of Burhan Nizam II of Nizam Shahi dynasty"

Hunnargikar, J.R., "Some interesting coins of the Nizam Shahi dynasty"

Sejeroe, O., "Trankebar coins of King Frederik 1648-1670" Lingen, J., "The dating of the reign of Mohammed Shah and

Nadir Shah's invasion of India" Ganesh, K., and Girijapathy, "Some rare coins of Haidar Ali

and Tipu Sultan" Bose, S.K., "Demonetisation of the Ahom coin in 19"

century Assam" Garg, S., "The rupees of Raja Wilson" Cribb, J., "Representations of Hindu epic heroes on Javanese

and Balinese coin-shaped amulets" Mahajan, N., and R. Balasubramanian, "Scanning

electronmicroscopy study of an ancient silver punchmarked coin with central pentagonal mark"

Gupta, C., "Sealing of Siva Sebaka"

Ender, C, Karesi, Saruhan, Aydin ve Mentese Beylikleri Paralan. 218 pp, ISBN 975-93806-0-9. This book has over 300 coin photographs on 29 plates. There are also 4 plates in colour of important historical monuments related to Beylik rulers and 267 excellent line drawings of selected coins with their inscriptions The author has completed a valuable catalogue of the scarce coinage of the four important Aegean principalities with their related Beylik regions. The genealogical tables based upon coin evidence makes this a necessary reference work for the historian. The text preceding each section is in Turkish but the use of pages 219-22 in Bosworth's New Islamic Dynasties will be of help in referring to a brief history of the Qarasi, Sarukhan, Aydin and Menteshe Beyliks. This is a major work by a Turkish numismatist well known for his scholarly interest in Ottoman and pre-Ottoman coinage and documentation. It is priced at $60 plus $15 mailing costs direct from the author at Posta Abone Kutusu 76, 81062 Erenköy-Istanbul, Turkey. E-mailicelil.ender@veezy.com KMM

Work In Progress

• Your editor, with the assistance of Mr .I.P. Goenka in Calcutta, and Mike Robinson in the UK, has now completed his book Coins of the Indian Sultanates and the text and illustrations have been sent to the publisher in India. The book will have some 550 pages in all and contain information on more sultanate coin types than have ever been published before, most of which will be illustrated. Many of the legends are given in Arabic with transliterations and translations. There are also historical and numismatic summaries for each series and often for each ruler. Details of price and date of publication are not yet known, but it is hoped that the latter will be some time next spring.

• Steve Album has provided a progress report on the Sylloge of Islamic Coins in the Ashmolean. It should be noted that the volumes are not being compiled in order.

Volume 10, Arabia and East Africa (author: Steve). Now Available from him for $60 postpaid in the US and Canada. European buyers should order directly from the Ashmolean Museum, price £35 plus postage.

Volume 9, Later Iran (from the Mongol invasion to the introduction of machine-struck coinage) (author: Steve). This volume, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, of the series, is now finished, but is still in need of final copy-editing.

Volume 8, Central Asia and the Russian Steppes (author: Boris Kochnev). The basic compiling is done, a student has been hired to type it into proper form, but getting things back and forth to Kochnev, who lives in Samarqand, is difficult. Publication hoped for by late 2001.

Volume 1, Arab-Sasanian and Arab-Byzantine (authors: Steve for the Arab-Sasanian, Tony Goodwin for the Arab-Byzantine). The catalogue of the Arab-Sasanian is done, the Arab-Byzantine still needs some work, mainly because Luke will have to retype it into Mac format (only a few hours work). The authors are writing lengthy introductions intended to be general histories of each series, with reference to all the latest research.

Volume 5, Maghreb and Spain.

Volume 6, Egyptian Dynasties, plus a few more. Doug Nicol will compile this one, also in spring 2001, and also for publication in 2002, if all goes well.

That leaves Volume 2 (post-reform Umayyad coinage, plus early Abbasid copper). Volumes 3-4 (Abbasid dynasty), and Volume 7 (Iran before the Mongol invasion). At present no authors are lined up for these, though the compiling should be done in 2002-2004.

No plans are underway to publish the Ottoman collection, which is quite poor and of little scholarly importance. The rare pieces were published by Cuneyt Ölcer in "Rare Ottoman Coins at European Museums" in 1984.

(Editor's note: As a result of Steve's recent unfortunate accident the timetable for some of the above volumes is subject to alteration.)

The Ashmolean recently acquired the R.C. Senior collection of Indo-Scythian and related coinage, by far the finest such collection ever assembled, probably of a scope that could never again be duplicated. There are, for example, over 100 ancient Sogdian coins, which together with the 200-300 at the British Museum makes it the second largest group of these rare and important coins. Only the Hermitage collection in Saint Petersburg is better. The coins in these two collections are to be published by Aleksandr Naymark, formerly of Moscow, now of Brooklyn NY and lecturer at Hofstra University. He hopes to have the manuscript done by year's end.

Luke Treadwell's die corpus of Buwayhid coinage is nearing completion and should go to the printers by early next year. Over 5000 illustrations will be included.

Finally, Patrick Novak (of the Nrprastek Museum in Prague) has completed the first draft of the corpus of the Islamic coins (except Indian) at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, listing over 3000 coins, all of them to be illustrated. Publication could be in late 2001 or 2002.

• Michael Robinson is working on the coins of the Mrohaung dynasty.

9

Lists Received

1 Stephen Album (PO Box 7386, Santa Rosa, Calif 95407, USA, tel ++1 707-539-2120, fax ++1 707-539-3348, e-mail album@sonic net) lists numbers 160 (April 2000) 161 (July 2000) and 162 (August 2000)

2 Persic Gallery (PO Box 10317, Torrance, CA 90505, USA, tel ++1 310 326 8866, fax ++1 310 326 5618, e-mail persic@msn com) list 50 (June 2000) of Islamic, Central Asian and Indian coinage

3 Galene Antiker Kunst, N & Dr S Simonian BmbH (Oberstrasse 110, D-20149 Hamburg, Germany, tel ++49 40 455060, fax ++49 40 448244) list of Islamic and oriental coins (June 2000)

4 Marcus and Susan Phillips (PO Box 348, Biggleswade, Beds UK, SGI 8 8EQ, tel ++44 1767 312112, e-mail senmerv@FreeNet co uk) books for sale list 6

5 Poinsignon Numismatique (4, rue des Francs Bourgeois, 67000 Strasbourg, France, tel ++33 388 321050, fax ++33 388 750114, e-mail numismatique poinsignon@wanadoo fr) fixed price list 45 (June 2000)

6 Jean Elsen sa (Tervurenlaan 65, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium, tel ++32 2 734 6356, fax ++32 2 735 7778, e-mail numismatique@elsen be, website http //www elsen be)

7 Indian Books Centre (40/5 Shakti Nagar, Delhi - 110 007, India, tel ++91 11 743 4930, fax ++91 11 722 7336, e-mail 1BCINDIA@G1ASDL01 VSNL NET IN, http//www ibcindia com) list 10071/2000 of books on numismatics

8 Reprints of Islamic numismatic books are offered in the new catalogue from Arnaldo Form Editore in Bologna, Italy The catalogue includes maybe 200 reprints in all languages on all fields of numismatics The ones on the Middle East are listed here Prices are in Italian lira Until 30 September, there is a 20% discount on orders over 100,000 lira

Anzani, Numismatica axumita (1929), Lit 98000 Anzani, Numismatica e storia d Ettopia, Lit 55000 Hill, BMC Greek, "Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia" (1922), Lit 168,000 All 29 volumes of BMC Greek are available at the same price, or 4,450,000 lire for the whole set Ghalib Edhem, Turcomanes Lit 52000 Lagumina, Catalogo Palermo, Lit 95000 Lane-Poole, Catalogue of Oriental Coins in the British Museum, Lit 1,170,000 for the set any single volume for Lit 128,000 Lavoix, Bibliotheque Nationale catalogue Egypte et Syne. Lit 178000 Lavoix, BN Espagne et Afrique, temporarily out of print Lavoix, BN Khahfes Lit 190,000 Lavoix, Monnaies a legendes arabes frappees en Syne par les Croises (1877) Lit 38000 They accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express e-mail orders orders@fornieditore com fax ++39 051 681-4672

Book Review Lorenz Korn, Sylloge Numorum Arabicorum Tubingen Hamah IVc Bilad a5-Sam III, Tubingen. Ernst Wasmuth 1998, 58 pp including 21 plates ISBN 3 8030 1102 7 ISSN 0945-4020

The present volume illustrates and describes 708 coins trom the mint of Hamah in the University of Tubingen collection, struck between the 570s and the 830s of the Hijra (roughl> AD 1175-1430), by far the largest group of coins from that mint ever

assembled, much less published The book is in folio format, comprising a short foreward by the general editor, Lutz Ilisch, a five-page introduction packed with historical and numismatic information, 21 superb plates matches with 21 pages of coin descriptions, and finally a concordance of catalogue and inventory numbers, where provenances are given when known

Coins are arranged in chronological order, with the one exception that for each ruler, silver coins are listed first, then copper This was necessary because the coppers are usually undated, the silvers dated, so that the relative dating of the copper to the silver cannot be determined Silver coins without dates and •dfrith uncertain or unread dates are inserted into the chronological list where the author felt they would best fit, so as to maintain as accurate a sequence as possible Uncertain and undated pieces are clearly described as such in the catalogue

The collection includes virtually every type of silver and copper coin known from Hamah, only the gold, of which fewer than half a dozen specimens are recorded, is omitted Because of the overall completeness of the collection, reference is made to types not represented, either in the introduction or in the catalogue This was not feasible for other volumes of the Sylloge so far published There is also a very full bibliography of just 20 items, a detail that says everything about the amount of research done on the subject over the past 200 years Descriptions in the catalogue are kept brief, as befits a sylloge publication Inscriptions are written out in Arabic, without trancriptions or transliterations The layout and format of the catalogue is generally quite clear, though I have three small criticisms It would be useful to repeat rulers' dates each time the ruler is given, not just for the first mention of that ruler, this is a simple change that would not add lines to the text Secondly, the coin dates are given in italics, but bold italics would make it easier for the reader to scan the page when looking for specific dates Finally, the method of noting die-linkage is very cumbersome For example, it takes quite some time to determine that for coins 132-139, the die links are for the obverse 132=133=134=135 (if the comment to the reverse die of 135 were correct) and for the reverse 132=133=134, 136=137(=129=130=131) and 138=139 If indicated in this notation as a short comment after com 139, the comment would have been clearer and space would have been saved There are four typos in the text to nos 132-139, all of which refer to die-linkage For coin 132, the descriptions says the obverse is die-identical with com 132, an obvious tautology, though with careful reading, it becomes clear that 132 is a typo for 133 Secondly, it is not clear from the text whether the obverse die for 132 and 133 is really the same as that for 134 and 135 Fortu­nately the plates are so good that one can readily see that the two dies are distinct, and that the comment to 135, "Av stempelgleich mit den drei vorhergehenden" is an error for "Av stempelgleich mit der vorhergehenden" Thirdly, for 136 and 137, the correct reverse die identity is with 132-134, not 129-131 Moreover, in the description to 138 and 139, the obverse marginal inscription is as nos 132-135, not 129-132 These typos would likely have been averted had the die-linkage been presented as follows Stempelgleichungen Av 132=133, 134=135 Rev

132=133=134=136=137, 138=139 Despite what I have found for coins 132-139, typos seem to

be few and far between However, I have not checked other die identities, nor have I examined the photos to determine whether the listed die-linkages are indeed correct

My only other criticism is one which applies to all the volumes of the Tubingen sylloge thus far published, and that is the cumbersome folio size In my opinion, A4 is the best size for a sylloge. insofar as it constitutes a good compromise between, on the one hand maximising the number of coins on a plate, and on the other hand ease of use and storage Morover, packing and

10

shipping thin, folio size books is tedious, and there have been a significant number of copies destroyed or damaged in shipment It IS no surprise that, after about more than 50 years of folio size publications, the Sylloge Numorum Graecorum went over to A4 in the early 1980s

Despite these few flaws, Kom's work is truly a masterpiece of numismatic cataloguing There is no doubt that for anyone interested in the coinage of Hamah or in the coinage of the AyyObid and Mamlük kingdoms, this volume will remain indispensible for many, many decades Of course, there will be new discoveries, perhaps some of them even spectacular, but the basis established by Korn will forever remain one of the greatest steps forward in Ayyübid and Mamlük numismatics

Because the volume under review contains the coins of just a single mint, the question of whether coins should be arranged dynastically or geographically is moot Perhaps for that very reason, the present review is an appropriate place to discuss this question, for it remains one of most controversial aspects ot the sylloge format, which was first developed for ancient Greek numismatics, the first volume appearing in 1931 Because coin-issuing entities in the archaic and classical Greek period were city-states, a geographical arrangement was natural and perfectly suit­able, though for the Hellenistic period, the dynastic arrangement was often adopted (British Museum catalogues) Thus the arrangement of coins in most Greek sylloges has been a hybrid of geographical and dynastic principles, though in recent years, the purely geographical arrangement has emerged paramount

The big question is whether the geographical arrangement can successftilly be carried over to Islamic coinage, where a dynastic arrangement, as originally established by Fraehn, Sachau and others in the early 19th century, has become the norm for museum catalogues, general studies, auction catalogues and sale lists The answer depends to a large extent on the intended audience of the publication Specifically, collectors and dealers are generally more comfortable with the dynastic approach, in the British Museum catalogues of the 1880s or my 1998 Checklist of Islamic Coins On the other hand, historians are much more interested in the continuity of coinage at a particular location Thus, in my recent study of the anonymous Barakzay coinage in 19th century Afghanistan, published in 1999 as a supplement to this journal, I chose to organize the study by mint, in order to show political and monetary developments in each of the major subdivisions of the Barakzay lands It is also the principle that has made George Miles' 1938 study. The Numismatic History of Rayy, so valuable for the political history of early Islamic Iran

There can be problems with the geographic arrangement, as is apparent to anyone who has ever tried to make use of the ANS publication of the Arthur Houghton collection of Seleukid coins The coins are arranged by mint, moving rougly from west to east But the mints are noted only by symbols or isolated letters, whose meaning would be known only to those perhaps already well-versed in the coinage To a collector or dealer trying to identify a coin, this is inconvenient, especially as there is no index of issuers or symbols For the volumes of the Sylloge of Islamic Coins in the Ashmolean, the general editor has insisted that a proper index of all names and titles be included with each volume, a feature with which I am in complete agreement There is no index in any of the Tubingen sylloge volumes thus far published, and I would hope that one will be included in all future volumes, even those, such as the present volume, that are devoted to a single mint

The mam purpose of any sylloge is to make available for research the entire holdings of a public or private collection in book format, with each coin briefly described and carefully photographed Their principal function is to facilitate research by averting the need for long and costly visits to collections scattered throughout the world An important secondary function is to provide access to quality illustrations, thus reducing greatly the

burden on museum curators who would otherwise be spending a lot more time supervising visitors For the researcher, the convenience of the sylloge format goes far beyond convenience, for It allows him to ask questions and begin research before investing time and money in visits to museums and other collections, perhaps not so much a problem for someone living an hour's journey from London, but what about someone working in Arizona or Adelaide'' The large number of sylloge volumes in Greek coinage (1 believe over 250 volumes have so far been published) has meant that one can ask a question, examine the sylloges (and for more expensive coin types, auction catalogues as well), and come to some sense of whether the question or research IS feasible or whether it leads down a blind alley

Although collectors and dealers probabl) represent a majority of buyers of sylloge volumes, the books are only tangentially intended for their use Of course, collectors and dealers should be encouraged to use them, and their purchases certainly help reduce the amount of grants and other subsidies needed for their publication Sylloge volumes are a very specialised and rather expensive endeavour, no volume will ever run the risk of making The New York Times's bestseller list

To some extent, the arrangement of a sylloge volume may depend on the relative completeness of the collection being catalogued For most of the Islamic world, Tubingen probably has the densest representation of silver and copper coins of any major collection, especially for Iran For such collections of relative completeness the story of the mint's history is closely reflected in the coins held at Tubingen That is clearly apparent for Hamah, just as for most of the Palestinian mints, places like Ghazna or Kabul, etc For smaller collections, such as that of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge (somewhat over 3000 coins), the mint arrangement would seem less appropriate Indeed, Mark Blackburn and Patrick Novak have chosen a dynastic arrangement for the Fitzwilliam sylloge, following more or less the order of my Checklist of Islamic Coins 1 understand that a full index of mints will be provided for the Fitzwilliam volume(s)

Personally, 1 find it much simpler to come to an understanding of the general nature of a dynasty's coinage than to determine how the coins of a single mint or region fit together during times of political instability or dynastic change Thus, by observing the sequence at a given mint, the history of the location IS illuminated in a way that I would find much more difficult to reconstruct were I forced to look separately at each dynasty or ruler

If we agree that sylloges of large collections should be organised geographically, what about medium and small collections'' If they are specialised collections of specific regions or dynasties, then definitely so However, smaller general collections, such as that of the Fitzwilliam, are probably more amenable to a dynastic listing, so long as a good mint index is appended For middle size collections, say those which would fit into roughly four to a dozen volumes, I would prefer the geographical arrangement

Of course, there is no dictum from on high telling each author or editor how to organise a sylloge volume Different authors and editors will surely take different approaches Not all will prefer the arrangement b) mint, not even within the pulication of a single collection Some volumes of the Ashmolean Museum sylloge will be arranged dynastically, because the authors of those volumes find It more appropriate or more convenient

Steve Album

Corrigenda

1 In the report on the talk given by Sue Tyler-Smith at the London meeting on 25 March 2000 (N/L 163, p 1), it

11

was wrongly stated that the coins had the "AFZUT" legend This should have been the "pd - afld" legend

2 In the article by Messrs Popp, Nauta and Wilski on Ottoman coins struck at the fortress of dhi Mannar in the Yemen (N/L 162, pp 17-19) illustration 5 was inadvertently omitted

3 In the correction on p 30 of N/L 161 to Steve DeShazo's article New and Good in Tabanstan (N/L 160, p 10) we again committed an error writing "nêg" instead of "nêk"

Our apologies to all concerned

Articles

A new coin type of the Sasanian king Pêróz

By K Mosig-Walburg

In recent years the number of known Sasanian coin-types has increased when some interesting new pieces, especially dinars or dinar fractions, appeared on the international market At the same time our knowledge of the metrology has increased too today we know that besides a small number of dinar fractions, one-third and one-sixth and even one-twelth dinars were minted, at least by Balis and by Kavad l'

In 1997 a new coin type of Pêroz was offered by Pens Frankfurt (Auktionskatalog 353, Oktober 1997, Nr 245), which does not seem to have been presented to a broader public up to now The coin is a dinar fraction of 1 07 g, hence a one-third We should remember that in the reign of Pêröz gold coins were minted that weighed only 3 5 g and even less The diameter of the dinar fraction is 16 mm This coin type is of the greatest interest because it belongs to the rare specimens which show the facing bust of the king The fractional dinar of Pêröz is the second special coin type of a Sasanian king minted in gold that has appeared within the last few years Already in the year 1994 a formerly unknown coin type of Balas (484-488)"' had joined the very small group of Sasanian gold and silver coins featuring on the obverse the bust of the king facing"*

The obverse and the reverse show signs of a slight double-strike on the right-hand side of the obverse (rim, pearls on the costume, right-hand ribbon of the diadem), and on the left-hand side of the reverse (rim) There is a small crack at the rim, most probably resulting from minting Pêróz is shown with his third crown'' diadem with crescent lying above the forehead of the king, a merlon right and left, on top of the crown cap a pair of wings, above the wings a crescent and the korymbos, extending beyond the rim Below the king's right ear there is an ear-drop consisting of three pearls arranged in the shape ot a triangle, already known from the other coins of Pêröz, who evidently seems to have been the first king to wear an ear-drop of this shape on coins On the right and on the left above the shoulders appears a hairball, and on both sides of the shoulders is the upturned end of a diadem ribbon

To the left of the head (to be read from right to left) can be seen the letters m. I or k (or both letters combined'') and an Alef, probably MLK Between Alef anA the left merlon of the crown there seems to be a small star To the right of the bust from the top

of the diadem ribbon to the crown, there are some letters that I am unable to read, most probably the name pylwc

The reverse shows the usual reverse type Gobi 1 To the left of the attendant on the left is the name pylwc, to the right of the t attendant on the right is the mint abbreviation BBA

The extremely rare coins with the facing bust of the king are something extraordinary within Sasanian typology Without any doubt they were minted for a special purpose Contrary to the real special issues in the meaning of the word, the famous coins of Kavad I (dinar of year 25) and Xusrö I (dinar of year 44)', as well as Xusrö II (dinars of years 11/13 33, 34 and those of year 36') and Böran (dinar of year 2), which differ from the regular types not only in the design of the obverse but also in the design of the reverse, the special types of Bahram IV', as well as those of Pêröz and Balas, have the common reverse known from the normal issues the fire altar with two attendants As long as no other coins of predecessors or successors of Bahram IV appear combining an obverse with the facing bust of the king and a reverse of the normal type with attendants besides the fire altar, the dinar of Bahram IV has be considered as the model for the coin type of Pêróz and for that of his successor Bala§ too

The dinar of Bahram IV (4 33 g) was minted in the course of a period running from the second half of the fourth to the first decades of the fifth century, when heavy (c 7 g) and light-weight dinars (c 4 - 4 68 g) were minted side by side' Finally the minting of heavy-weight dinars was dropped and only the minting of light­weight dinars was continued'" Among the three known gold coins combining a special obverse with a normal reverse the dinar of Bahram IV is the only full dinar (light weight), while the pieces of Pêróz (1 07 g) and BalaS (0 39 g) are fractions (one-third and one-twelth) We can only speculate for what purpose they were used Regarding the fractional dinar of BalaS, I have considered the possibility that these coins were thrown among the people on the occasion of the king's accession to the throne" This solution is not valid for the coin of Pêróz as he is wearing his third crown We cannot decide when he began to wear it Maybe he struck this type on the occasion of some special festival when he was taking over his third crown, and maybe these small coins were also used in the same way as supposed for the fractions of BalaS I do not think, that Pêröz took over his third crown, adorned with the wings of Wahram, the god of war and victory, after he had been released from Hephthalite captivity, as Gobi supposed'^ In spite of the humiliating circumstances of his release together with the fact that he had not been victorious at all in the battle against the Hephthalites, in which he was taken captive, this assumption is not convincing It seems much more reasonable to suppose that he added the wings after a real victory Joshua the Stylite, a Syriac author who wrote at the beginning of the sixth century, tells us, that Pêróz, before he began that desastrous war which ended with his defeat and his captivity, "subdued the Huns and took many places from their land and added them to his own kingdom"" Maybe it was this victory that made the king change his crown by proudly adding the wings of Wahram

1 K Mosig-Walburg 'Zu emigen PrSgungen sasanidischer Herrshcer Iramca Antiqua 32 , 1997, pp 209-32, pp 219 ff The fractionas dinar of BalaS weighs 0 39 g, the fractional dinar of Kavad 0 42 g An identification of both these fractions as one-twelths seems to be the only reasonable solution

2 R Gobi Sasanian Numismatics Braunschweig, 1971, p 28 3 Mosig-Walburg, op cit, pp 219 ff 4 Besides the two fractional dinars of Pêroz and BalaS we know

coins minted in the name of the kings Bahram IV KavSd I, Xusro 1 Xusro II and in the name of the queen Boran

5 Gobi, op cit Table IX

12

10

II

12.

13

These dinars of Kavad I and Xusro 1 aie not "Anfangspragungen" minted at the beginning of the reign of these kings, as Gobi once supposed, but they were minted in the regnal year they indicate on the reverse cf K Mosig-Walburg, "Die sogennanten "Anfangspragungen' des Kavad I und des Xuixöl". Studmlramcal'i, 1994, pp 37-57, pi XI The genuineness of these specimens of >ear 36 of Gobi type Vl/7 is under discussion, but up to now no conclusive proof has been brought forward against it cf K Mosig-Walburg, "Zu einigen Pragungen sasanidischer Herrscher, Iranica Antiqua 32, 1997, pp 209 ff discussing the arguments of F Gurnet, "Deux mots a propos du monna>age de Xusró 11", Revue beige de Numismatique 140, 1994, pp 37 ff The dinar of Bahram IV (Gobi type la/3) has one peculiarity the crowns of the attendants resemble the crown of Bahram's successor Yazdgard 1 Hence this coin with the effigy of Bahram IV may have been struck posthumously For the development of the minting from heavy to light-v.eight dinars and the problem of the "reduced crown" appearing only on light-weight dinars and their fractions cf K Mosig-Walburg "Munzen des Yazdgard 1 Ein Beitrag zur Ikonographie", Studia Iranica 26,\, 1997, pp 7-16 Only Xusro 11 minted dinars of a heavy weight type Gobi 1II/4 Three specimens are known, one in the collection of the Münzkabinett Berlin (6 48 g), one in the collection of the British Museum, London (6 53 g), both minted with identical dies, and one in the collection of the Bibhoteque Nationale, Pans (6 63 g) The other known specimens of type 111/4 are light- weight dinars Mosig-Walburg, op cit (note 1), p 224 Gobi, op cit p 50, who concedes that the king "ironicidlly" added the wings of the god of victory ChX, translation W Wright, reprint of the edition 1882, Amsterdam, 1968

The Two Governors 'Abd al-'Aziz b. 'Abd Allah by A S DeShazo

In 66 AH al-Harith b.'Abd Allah b Abi Rabi'ah, the Zubayrite governor of Basra, sent "Abd al-"Aziz b "Abd Allah b 'Amir to Sistan to act as his deputy The latter may have been the son of the famous and formerly well-connected 'Abd Allah b "Ainir b Kurayz. Sasanian style dirhams bearing the Sistan mint signature (SK) are known dated year 66 (see fig 1) and another having a major modification of the Sasanian type and dated year 72 (see fig.2) with all of them displaying the name, "Abd al-'Aziz b. 'Abd Allah b. 'Amir, in full

Other dirhams bearing the name 'Abd al-'Aziz b. 'Abd Allah, only, from the TART (see fig.3) and the ART (see fig 4) ' mints, traditionally have been attributed to the Zubayrite The purpose of this article is to suggest that these latter coins were more likely to

have been issued on the authority of 'Abd al-'Aziz b 'Abd Allah b. Khalid b Asid, an Umayyad himself and the brother of the then governor of Basrah, Khalid b. 'Abd Allah This was a classic example of nepotism particularly in view of the fact that Khalid also appointed another brother to Khurasan, Umayyah b. 'Abd Allali, Viho in turn appointed his own son 'Abd Allah to Sistan. The coin of the ART mint is clearly dated year 74 and is stated fully in words The date on virtually all of the coins with the TART mint signature in the past has been controversially read as year 71 or 73. With one possible exception cited below, actually neither of these IS coirect. While the decade is expressed as the word for seventy, the unit's digit is the pahlavi numeral for four^ and that would make the date 74 Ah, also. One specimen (see fig. 5) may have the numeral three\ Although the photograph does not permit absolute certainty, historically, year 73 AH would be possible for this sub-governor, as well The mints ART and TART are associated wjth Pars province, Ardashir Khurrah in particular, and where the Umayyad 'Abd al-'Aziz is known to have been active fighting the Kharijites in and about the provinces of Pars and Khuzistan at this very time. There is no record of or reason for, the Zubayrite being involved in these events

Although years ago Dr Mochiri already had discovered and published that certain coins of Bishr b Marwan and 'Abd al-Rahman b 'Abd Allah of the 'Aqola mint (al-Kufah) had dates that were wholly numerals'** the mixing of numerals and words on the coins to produce dates has not been recognized until now This phenomenon has bce.i disguised by the similarity in appearance of the numerals and words for "two" and "three". Fhe occurrence of this mixing is not confined to the TART issues of 'Abd al-'Aziz as it is found possibly as earK as the 40's and as late as the 80's hijn at other mints

1 The present location ot this coin, fonnerly in the E G Weber collection, is not known to me Fortunately a photograph was made available to me through the generosity of The American Numismatic Society, its committee on Islamic coins and the fund established by H E Shaykh Hamad Abdullah Al-Thani

2 MacKenzie, D N , /I Concise Pahlavi Dictionary Oxford University Press Reprinted (with corrections) 1986 p 145

3 Ibid

4 Mochiri, Maiek Iradj, Arah-Sasaman Civil War Coinage Pans July 1986 p 104

5 Recent auction catalogues still have not recognized this fact Neither of the two catalogues of the Turath collection was able to provide the date of the Imam orans between two attendants type of Bishr b Marwan despite the fact that Dr Mochiri had already correctly read this date as year 74 The Sotheby's London sale of 23 and 24 Apnl 1998 has for lot 176 another coin of Bishr's special type with the date misread as 73 when clearly it has the pahlavi numerals for the year 75 When a date is expressed entirely in numerals, it is still read right to left, but the decade precedes the unit's digit

13

An 'Abbasid Fals of Sijistan Struck on Chinese-style Planchet By Alexander Akin

In 1950, George C Miles published an "Abbasid fals date 151 AH (768 AD), with mint name effaced, bearing a square hole in its centre in the fashion of a Chinese coin' Miles surmised that the piece might have been cast in Soghd. then pierced at some later date for use as a "cash" coin in chinese territory. A new example of the same type has appeared, however, which not only bears a mint-name, but upon close examination enables us to conclude that this type was actually struck on cast planchets purposely made to resemble the Chinese coins and their derivatives that had circulated in the region for some years before the collapse of Chinese influence in central Asia.

The inscriptions of the two coins, struck during the reign of al-Mansür (136-158 AH / 754-775 AD) but citing only the heir al-MahdT, appear to be identical. The inscriptions on the piece

14

illustrated here, with some gaps filled in by comparison with Miles' publication, are as follows:

Obverse outer inscription

Inner inscription

^ 1 (? •!.»-> ^) .iill ^i»aj

Reverse outer inscription

Inner inscription

It is likely that these coins were struck at Zaranj, the most important town in Sijistan. The hole in the centre was clearly meant to resemble a square, but clumsy casting resulted in leakage of metal and a generally crude appearance. The hole's square outline is thus only visible on one side (as is the case with the specimen Miles described). The Central Asian derivatives of Chinese coinage rarely, if ever, demonstrate the careful casting evident in their prototypes. Some Chinese coins of the period exhibited similar metal leakage when cast, but were filed down at the mint to make the holes more square and for ease of stringing. The "Abbasid coins discussed here were probably never meant to be strung, since the rough edges of the hole would have quickly worn through most cords.

Stephen Album's inventory of his former collection, now held at the University of Tubingen, lists a third fals of the same mint and date. Mr Album recalls that the coin also bears a hole, but confirmation of this was not possible at the time of writing. If true, this further substantiates the existence of a Chinese-style numismatic issue from rather late in the period of Islamic conquest and consolidation over Sijistan.

3 Miles, George C , Rare Islamic Coins, Numismatic Notes and Monographs of the American Numismatic Society, New York, 1950, p 125 (illustrated on plate X) The coin is in the collection of the ANS

The Samanid Coinage of Khojend

By V.A. Kalinin (Moscow) Dedicated to Yulia Tarsunova

The Samanid coins of Khojend (or Khujandah; Leninabad of late, now Khojend again) have more than once been a subject of publication, but since new numismatic evidence has emerged recently, some questions about the mediaeval history of that town on the edge of the Ferghana Valley can be examined in a new hght.

The descriptions listed below are not complete, but include only those elements important for differentiating between separate types.

I.Khojend 260 AH.' Rev. Ahmad b al-Hasan b Nasr. Marginal legend missing, the field is flanked with four triangles made each of three dots .•. and placed crosswise (tips pointing outwards), as on the 253-255 AH fulus of al-Shash.

2. Khojend 274 AH.^ Rev, field: Nüh. Marginal legend: al-amJr Nüh b. Asad.

3. Khojend 279 AH. Obverse:, field: Abii (Aba) Muhammad. Rev. field: Nuh. Marginal legend: al-amïr Nüh b. Asad.

4. Khojend 305 AH (fig. 1). Rev. field: Na^r b. Ahmad. Marginal legend: al-amïr al-sayyid Nasr b. Ahmad.

5. Khojend 383 AH. Rev. field: Nüh. Marginal legend: al-amïr al-sayyid al-malik al-mansür.

6. Khojend 384 AH•(fig.2). Rev. field: Bahram. Marginal legend: al-amïr al-sayyid al-malik al-mansür Nüh b. Mansür.

All the above-mantioned coinage of Khojend can be divided into 3 groups: Group I (# 1-3). Appanage coinage without mentioning the name of a Samanid overlord. The AH 260 fals was struck in the name of Ahmad b. al-Hasan b. Nasr who, according to the righteous affirmation of its first publishers, was a grandson of Nasr I b. Ahmad. The coins dated 274 and 279 AH were struck in the name of Abii (Aba) Muhammad Nüh b. Asad, the son of Asad b. Ahmad (203-250) who issued fulüs at AkhsTkath in AH 268, 269 and 270. Khojend coins of group I have no names of any AkhsTkath appanage rulers, which shows that at that period (last quarter of the ninth century AD) Khojend comprised an independent appanage and did not submit to AkhsTkath. Although the district of Khojend was sometimes attached to Ferghana, in the tenth century AD it comprised a separate administrative unit". Judging by the fulüs of group I, in the ninth century AD it was not joined to Ferghana either. Despite the considerable territorial difference between Ferghana and Khojend, the status of these two appanages.

judging by the coins, was the same or at least similar neither the AkhsTkath nor the Khojend fulQs of the last quarter of the ninth century AD mention any representatives of the central power residing at Samarqand' The coins described above confirm once more that in the last quarter of the ninth century AD the towns of Ferghana were given in appanage only to the members of the ruling Samanid dynastj Group II (# 4, 5) The coins struck only in the names of the Samanid sovereigns — Nasr 11 b Ahmad (301-331) and NQh II b MansOr (365-387) The Khojend coinage ot Nasr II b Ahmad is described for the first time As is seen from the coins of AkhsTkath, Ferghana and Ozkand struck during the long rule of Nasr II, the practice of granting towns of Ferghana as appanage to the members of the ruling dynasty had been stopped and all the coins were struck only in the name of the Samanid amir The AH 305 fals confirms that the Khojend appanage did not escape from the common fate either By the late tenth century the Samanid State fell into total disorder The Qarakhanids were not slow in taking advantage, and their army led by Bughra Khan Harün b Sulayman seized IspTjab (AH 380), Ferghana (AH 381), and the capital, Bukhara (AH 382) In AH 382 Bughra Khan left Mawarannahr and yielded It to Samanid Nuh 11 b MansQr who managed to restore all his domains including Ferghana and IspTjab This state of affairs is also confirmed by the fals of AH 383 Khojend struck in the sole name of amir Nuh II b MansQr Group III (# 6) The coins struck in the name of a vassal, mentioning the Samanid sovereign as holder of the regal right of coining, are represented with a single date — AH 384 In their reverse field a certain Bahram, vassal of Nuh II b MansQr is mentioned, while the amir's name has been placed in the reverse marginal legend When territories previously seized by the Qarakhanids were returned, the Samanid copper coinage witnesses the emergence of vassals' names alongside that of the suzerain (al-Shash AH 386, NishapQr AH 386, IspTjab AH 385/6) In this very case the vassal is mentioned m the reverse field, namely where the amir's name used to be placed, while the suzerain himself is cited in the reverse marginal legend, following the introductory notation minima amara «Of what has ordered », which denotes his capacity as owner of the regal right of coining The Samanid coinage of Khojend AH 383 and 384 is synchronous with that of the Qarakhanids at the same mint in AH 383 and 384 in the name of Tonga Tegin Nasr b AlT* Given that the Samanid coinage is practically duplicated with that of the Qarakhanids, we may suppose that during AH 383-384 Khojend changed hands several times, until in AH 384 it was finally lost for the Samanids It is noteworthy that the obverse dies of the Samanid (fig 2) and Qarakhanid (fig 3) fulOs of Khojend AH 384 are very similar to each other, and if not one and the same, then obviously sunk with the same hand A small group of Khojend fulQs is peculiar for the fact that it discloses, together with the Samanid coinage of Ozkand, one more case of granting a medium-size town as appanage But unlike the coinage of Ferghana and Ozkand representing the 4-to-5-level hierarchy of appanage right-owners, the coins of Khojend show but a two-stage hierarchy 'suzerain - vassal' However, this peculiarity took place only at the final period of Khojend coinage when the position of the Samanids m that town was highly unstable Prior to that, for more than a hundred years, the Samanids had never bestowed the regal right ot coinage on anyone

numizmaticheskoi konferencu St Petersburg, 1994, pp 100-101

2 T S Ernazarova B D Kochnev, E V Rtvetadze M N Fedorov Numizmaticheskie nakhodki naterritorii Ozbekistana v 1969-1972 godakh // Obschestvennye nauki v Uzbekistane, 1978, No 3, p 66

3 B D Kochnev Rannesamamdskie udel'nye fel'sy Fergany // Monety I medali Sbornik statei po matenalam kolieken Otdela numizmatiki Moscow, 1996

4 V V Bartol d Turkestan v epokhu mongol skogo nashestviia Moscow, 1963, vol I, p 221

5 B D Kochnev Rannesamamdskie udel'nye fel'sy Fergany, p 186-187

6 Idem Svod nadpisei na karakhamdskix nwnetax Antropommy I titulatura (chast' 1) // Vostochnoe istoricheskoe istochnikovedenie I special'nye istoricheskie disciplmy, 4 Moscow, 1995, p 203, Nos 6, 12

A Reply to Stefan Heidemann's "Mas'ud al-Khw3rezmi in Kashghar 660/1261-2 By Alexander Akin

In ONS Newsletter 1611 proposed a date of 650 AH for the Kashghar coinage of Mas'ud al-KhwarezmT, while, in ONS Newsletter 163, Stefan Heidemann advocated an alternative reading of 660 My unfortunate selection of a poor example to photograph made the inscription difficult for readers to confirm so 1 have gathered some examples in better states of preservation, four of them struck from the same die, to reassert the validity of 650 as their quite legible date While I would not assert that there are no other dates to be found in this series, 1 have not yet encountered them, and Mr Heidemann's reading seems to derive from a blundered inscription found on derivative issues, which comprise the majority of the specimens he illustrates

Below are illustrations of the dated side of five more pieces from the hoard 1 described in ONS Newsletter 161

References 1 B Kochnev A Atakhodzhaev Rannesamamdskie fel'sy

Khodzhenda // Tezisy Vtoroi Vserossiiskoi

5

[In the interest of saving space, I have only photographed the side relevant to this problem; anyone interested in the other sides, or scans of more coins, may contact me at alexander_akin@post.harvard.edu] Since the first four coins are from the same die (note the die crack extending from the d of mas'üd), it is easy to reconstruct the complete inscription:

With regard the first line of the central inscriptions, Mr Heidemann's states that "whereas the central legends are well read by Tobias Mayer, Akin rejects Mayer's reading .." Mr Mayer actually expressed doubt about his own reading of this line by following it with a question mark. The example illustrated as number 1 in Mr Heidemann's article removes my doubt as to Mayer's interpretation, however, and 1 now believe it to be correct. This coin number 1 is also interesting for its completely different marginal style, not represented in the group I have examined, and if there are other examples from the same die I hope the author will publish them.

Mr Heidemann also discusses a series dated 675, struck in Kashghar, which is commonly found struck over the type under discussion. For the benefit of readers who do not have access to the Tubingen Sylloge, 1 have photographed two coins representative of this series:

My reading of this is as follows:

fl^l o'iiii g J'.'." a "• ÖLUÜ J jAüJ J L S >ciuL^ a a L j i 5

(struck) in the city of kashghar in the months of the year fifty and SIX hundred

Again, I have made a tracing of the relevant inscription:

* W .

The end of shahür is visible at the bottom, followed by Sana. After this comes the letter kha of khamsin, attached to the end of Sana and almost separate from the letter mïm which follows. However, in comparing this piece to the previously illustrated examples, the intended beginning of khamsin is apparent. After this, the next letter is blundered, and then it seems that the engraver may have lost his place and re-engraved the end of shahür in this spot - or perhaps, following Mr Heidemann's lead, this could be khamsün, a grammatically incorrect attempt at "fifty". It is followed by a wa, and the rest of the date. At any rate, this is at best a carelessly engraved inscription, perhaps not even an official issue. Some of the pieces Mr Heidemann illustrates are in even worse states of inscriptional decay. If it is possible to find several pieces struck from the same die giving a complete reading of the entire margin that confirms Mr Heidemann's interpretation, 1 hope he will publish them. The date of 650 dovetails precisely with the historical source I mentioned in my original article, but there is no reason why coins could not have been struck with dates later in Mas'üd's reign.

I agree with Mr Heidemann's readings of their inscriptions but, like him, am baffled by the jumble of letters found in the central circle. While these are usually struck over thin, derivative imitations of Mas'üd's coinage, a few are struck over early coins of fine style, and even Qarakhanid coins of Yüsuf Arslan Khan appear as hosts. Crude imitations of this overstrike are also to be found, with the design reduced to a "sword-swirl" in a circle.

1 would like to take a column inch or two of space on a different topic - translation. For a previous issue of the online numismatic journal as-Sikka I translated an article on so-called "Yarkand Khanate" coins by Tao Zhifang that had originally been printed in Xinjiang Qianbt. Though the article contained a number of important errors, 1 thought it worth publicating in English, if only to ferret out better information from readers. As luck would have it, Dr TD Yih was aquite familiar with one of the types illustrated and had access to photos of clear examples. He wrote an informative piece as-Sikka which later ended up on ONS Newsletter 163. Thus, my plea is for numismatists familiar with Russian or Chinese articles on Central Asian coin series to make translations available, even if the works are less than perfect. The mere availability of such a work can sometimes spur another scholar to publish an article that has been shelved for years.

[Editor's note: the recent influx of members from Russia and Central Asia should, as is evident from articles elsewhere in this issue, lead to an increase in material in English on coins from this area.]

A Rare Seljuqid Fiduciary Dinar of Walwalij By Michael Fedorov

In the spring of I960, during excavations at Munchak Tepe hillfort, north of Termez (Uz.SSR), archaeologist D.P. Varkhotova found a hoard comprising Seljuqid silver dinars and fragments of such coins. Brought to Tashkent, the coins were then passed to me for identification.

Although they were silver, the coins were named "dinar" in the circular legend on the obverse. Some specimens were analysed and the analysis showed that in addition to silver (63.5 - 78%) the coins contained gold (13.1 - 14.2%). When found.

17

the coins looked as though they were silver, and were it not for the analysis, no-one would realise that they had gold in them. But later, (around 1980) more coins of such type were found which retained traces of gilt (Petrov 1985, p. 52)^.

Without doubt, these coins were issued as fiduciary silver-gilt dinars with a high exchange rate fixed by the Seljuq government. They were not equal to the gold dinars of high standard but their exchange rate was higher than their silver and gold content. The coins were intended for long circulation, hence the gold in the alloy. After being minted, the coins were covered by some kind of acid, which destroyed the silver and left gold at the surface. During circulation the thin gold covering would inevitably be rubbed away, but it was possible to repeat the process and restore the gold covering many times. Naturally, these fiduciary dinars served only the domestic trade because, outside the Seljuq state, no-one would accept the coins at their enhanced value. These coins had a kind of counterpart in the Qarakhanid khaqanate where fiduciary copper silvered dirhams were minted containing about 5% silver, applied to their surface by means of a mercury-silver amalgam.

One of the coins from the Munchak Tepe hoard was exceptionall> rare and of such interest that I devoted a special article to it, which was published in Tashkent in 1963 (Fedorov 1963, pp. 120-5)^ Later I published an article about the whole hoard in Leningrad (Fedorov 1967, pp. 59-70)''. In both cases I read the mint-name on the coin in question as LT^' J J * '"Merv the ever-living".

In the summer of 1995 1 was able to spend two months at the Forschungsstelle fur islamische Numismatik, Tubingen. While working there 1 discussed some Seljuq coins with Dr Lutz Ilisch and showed him my article published in Epigrafika Vostoka. Dr Ilisch read the mintname located in the circular legend as 5^'j^j - Walwalij, a reading I could agree with. Earlier this year I came across the photo of this coin in my archive and read the word above the Kalima on the obverse, which proved to be that same mint-name, repeated in the field, exactly as it was • on the coins of Balkh from the same Munchak Tepe hoard. So the dubious word, which 1 read in I960 as the laqab j ^ ' y} was finally read correctly 40 years later. Here are the details of the coin.

Walwalij. Minted between 1105-18 AD (Sanjar mentioned his brother and suzerain Muhammad b. Malikshah, who reigned from 1105 till April 1118 AD). Weight 2.78 g. Diameter 23 mm.

Obverse: within a circle: J_>^j • >^>') / - i VI '*-ll V /gJljlj sUi >ilLi> iji A«^^) / - - -1 jl Ul...Ui\ j ^Ij j ^ hui/^l) Hi\

Under it an arabesque. To the right of it [ji^']. to the left öi^y^y Inner circular legend: ^LJJJIJIJ j JUJJI oi* LJ^>^_ . .

Outer circular legend: ...[^-^ > ] .... (Qur'an XXX, 3-4?). Reverse: within double circle: _yk VI <Jl V l / ijj j=^^

I (0)lj.n..ill ^ U "d j._jj '^ J / '<Ujt o i i l j V |»_3Jill , j ^ l

To the right JJ- ' j - ^ - ^ . To the left, some word which starts with the letter •j^ o^ or - i».

Circular legend: - l J j " (Qur'an IX. 33)

Thus, in the reverse field was placed the beginning of the Qur'anic sentence (Qur'an II, 256), the titles - - "c- j_>^l '^^ ^j-^l and the name •'-" ' ^ / ilw j?-i". On the sides of the central legend were Sanjar's laqabs: Ca^^ y^~=', to the right and some other, which did not survive, to the left.

The coin from the Munchak Tepe hoard was the first silver gilt dinar of Walwalij. So in a catalogue of coins of the Great Seljuqs compiled by T. Khodzhaniiazov (1979, 152-3) this mint was absent from the list of mints. In the same Munchak Tepe hoard were two fragments on which 1 also read the mint-name as "Merv" (Fedorov 1967, 62 Nr. VI, 64 Nr. Xll)" but that too proved to be Walwalij.

Walwalij (or Valvalij, Valvaliz, Varvaliz) was the main town of Tokharistan province. It was situated in the valley of the Aq Sarai river about 150 km east of Balkh (Bartold 1971, 51)'. On the eve of the conquest of Khurasan by the Seljuqs, Sultan Mas'üd of Ghazna gave in May 1136 Balkh and Tokharistan as an appanage to his son Maudud (Al-Husaini, 1980, 27)^ Under the Ghaznavids there vvas a mint in Walwalij (Codrington 1904, 195) . After Sultan Mas'Qd was routed in the battle of Dandanakan (23 May 1040 AD) and the Ghaznavids lost Khurasan, the supreme Seljuq ruler Tughril Bek Muhammad b. Mikail b. Seljuq gave his brother, ChagrT Bek Da'Dd, the eastern part of Khurasan "and all lands to the east which he (Da'Od) would conquer". After Balkh, Tokharistan and some other provinces were conquered, Chagrï Bek, around 1044 AD, gave (Al-Husaini 1980, 43)* Wakhsh, Qubadiyan, Tirmidh, Balkh and Walwalij as an appanage to his son and heir. Alp Arslan Muhammad (the future supreme ruler of the Great Seljuqs 1063-72). Around 1074 AD, the supreme ruler of the Great Seljuqs in 1072-92, Malikshah b. Alp Arslan, gave Walwalij as an appanage to his uncle "Uthman, son of ChaghrT Bek Da'üd (Al-Husaini 1980. 66)^

The dinar of Walwalij shows that there was a Seljuq mint in Walwalij and that at the time when this coin was minted (between 1105-18 AD) there was no appanage ruler in Walwalij , and Sanjar minted coins there in his name mentioning his brother, Muhammad b. Malikshah, as his suzerain.

This type of Walwalij dinar is unusual and differs from other silver gilt dinars both in its legend content (it has a sentence from the Qur'an - II, 256 - in the reverse field) and in its refined calligraphy. Apart from on this coin, the quotation from the Qur'an was found on four fragments but the mint-name was missing on them. The dinar has the appearance more of a coin-medal minted to celebrate some event. The first things which a ruler did in a newly conquered or otherwise acquired town was to mint coins there in his name. Could it be that the dinar of Walwalij was minted when Sanjar won Walwalij? After the death of Sanjar's father. Sultan Malikshah, internecine war and anarchy broke out in the Great Seljuq state. So it is possible that Walwalij was temporarily lost to the Ghaznavids or the Ghürids or to some other adventurer-warlord who used the internecine wars to their advantage. On the other hand, it may not have been a single issue as would be the case of a commemorative issue. While the main part of the fragments with either the mint-name Walwalij or the quotation from the Qur'an (II, 256) was minted by Sanjar as the vassal of Sultan Muhammad b. Malikshah, there is one fragment with the same quotation minted by Sultan Sanjar in his own name, i.e. after the death of Muhammad in 1118 AD (Fedorov 1967, 61 Nr. V)'.

1 Bartold, V.V., Islonko-geografischeskii obzor Irana, Sochmeniia, tom 7, Moscow, 1971

2 Codrington, 0 , A Manual of Musalman Numismatics, London. 1904

18

3 Fedorov, M N , "Unikarnyi serebnanyi dinar Sultana Sanjara iz Surkhandar'inskoi oblasti", [stoma material'noi kul'tuty Uzbekislana. 4, Tashkent, 1963

4 Fedorov, M N , "Klad sel'dzhukidskikh serebnanykh dinarov-shekaste iz luzhnogo Uzbekistana", Epigraphika Vostoka, 18, 1967

5 Al-Husaini, Sadr ad-Din "All, Akhbar ad-Daulal as-Seldzhuqna., Perevod Z M Buniiatova, Moscow. 1980

6 Petrov, P N , "Klad serebnanykh pozolochennykh dinarov Velikikh Sel'dzhukov", Epigraphika Vostoka. 23. 1985

An Unpublished Dinar from the Waksh Area of present-day Tajikistan by Frank Timmermann and Michael Fedorov

[Editor's note: the photo and preliminary details of this coin were sent in by Mr Timmermann, whereupon I passed these onto Dr Fedorov for additional comment and elucidation of the coin legends]

The gold dinar illustrated here, was struck by the Qarakhanid ruler Baha al-DTn Ulugh Tafghaj Khan as vassal of the Ghurid ruler of Bamiyan (c 588-602 AH /1192-1206 AD). It weighs 3.6 g. Dr Fedorov has read the legends as follows:

Obverse, within circle: - 1 J > - j ^i-^-' / -üll VI -01 V / (?) i jXi (sic) -i.^ / CM f^ j ^ ' j j ' / ,»^Vl jUaLJi

The final word should be muhammad but has been mis-engraved. Marginal legend: -l' 'i* M > ^ ,"J^J1' i>=-jli - l ^ Reverse: / (>Jl j UiJl W / ^ V l (sic) 1*11 / ^l^t j l i ^ ' / 0^

He reads the word above al-khaqan as the name Hasan, which he considers is quite logical in that position to render the title ulugh lafghach khan hasan. The word at the bottom is khanï = "Khanian (coin)" and is met with on Qarakhanid coins and, after the Mongol invasion of Central Asia, on other coins too Marginal legend: ... tla»^^^^ '<^ _>.jiiJl (? cJj.,.. Thus, the name of Baha al-Dunya wa'l DTn Ulugh Tafghaj Khan should be Hasan bin al-Khidr provided the word above the title khaqan is hasan. The word on the obverse above the Kalima looks like the mint-name Khuttalan ( i>^^^ ). Since the ruler of Wakhsh acknowledged the Ghurid ruler Sam bin Muhammad as his suzerain it is quite natural that the ruler of Khuttalan should do the same. So it appears that the coin was issued by the Qarakhanid ruler Ulugh Tafghaj Khan Hasan bin al-Khidr in Khuttalan in 596 AH / 1199-1200 AD.

The Genealogy of the Qarakhanid rulers of Tirmidh and Baikh by Michael Fedorov

Qarakhanid coins of Tirmidh and Balkh minted in the second half of the sixth century AH, and even the very fact that the Qarakhanids had annexed those two towns, remained

unknown to science for quite a long time. But it is now an established fact that, for about half a century, Tirmidh and Balkh with their provinces were Qarakhanid dominions where several Qarakhanid rulers succeeded each other. In 1998 I sent a lengthy article' to the Numismatic Chronicle for publication. Here I would like to give a concise summary of the background history and a first attempt at a genealogical table of the Qarakhanid rulers of these places, because the sooner this information is made available to students and reserchers the better.

Firstly I would like to remind readers of the well-established fact that, of all the contemporary dynasties before the Mongol invasion of central Asia, only the Qarakhanids included in their titles the Turkish expressions "'khan", "khaqan", "qarakhan" or "qarakhaqan". Thus the presence of one of these components in the titles on the coins indicates that its owner was a Qarakhanid.

Tirmidh and Balkh were conquered by Rukn al-Dunya wa'd DTn Qilij Tafghaj Khan Mas'üd bin Hasan. Mas'Qd, with 100,000 warriors crossed the frozen Amy Darya and routed the nomadic Ghüzz who had been ravaging Khurasan. Yüsuf Andkhüdï wrote that in 560/1165 Khitai sacked Balkh and Andkhüd. VV Bartold (1963, 399) was the first person to connect this event with the campaign of Mas'üd against the Ghüzz. Mas'üd was a vassal of the Gür Khan (which was the title of Khitai's ruler) for whom he collected poll-tax (at one dinar a year) in his dominions, to whom he was to send military help and from whom he himself could get military help if needed. Thus AndkhüdT's information show that Mas'üd conquered Balkh and Andkhüd in 560/1165 with the military help of Khitai. The Gür Khan was interested in his vassal's new acquisitions because he could expect additional poll-tax from there. Mas'üd could carry out a successful campaing against the Ghüzz only after having first conquered Tirmidh. For him, it would have been a suicidal mistake to leave such a strong fortress as Tirmidh in the hands of his enemy, thus exposing his rear and his communications with Samarqand and Mawarannahr to the constant danger of attack. So Tirmidh must have been conquered no later than 560/1165.

Mas'üd remained in his new territories in order to secure them. He made his general 'Ayar Beg a vice-regent of Mawarannahr. "Ayar Beg stayed loyal to him for about a year but then mutinied. Mas'üd was obliged to leave his new territories to crush the mutiny. The decisive battle took place in the barren steppe east of Samarqand. 'Ayar Beg was routed, brought to Mas'üd and killed before his eyes (Bartold 1963, 399-400). The words of Al-Husaini (1990, 131) that 'Ayar Beg seized Samarqand but later was killed in battle with Khitai show that the Gür Khan had again sent troops to assist Mas'üd.

A rare dinar of Tirmidh (Tubingen University collection, henceforth "TUG", Nr 972219), minted Rabf I 56I/5.I-3.2 1166 by Abü'l Muzaffar ToghantegTn Ahmad as an independent ruler, illustrates these events. When Mas'üd left his new dominions for Samarqand, Tirmidh fell into the hands of ToghantegTn Ahmad. Judging by the title ToghantegTn, one of the most common with the Qarakhanids, Ahmad was most probably a Qarakhanid.

BD Kochnev (1983, 80) claimed that he had proved the supposition of E.A. Davidovitch that Mas'üd died in 566/1170-1. But there are coins (TUG Nr EDIE6, EDIFI), minted in Tirmidh in M\ 568 and 569 (or 567?) by "Rukn al-Dunya wa'l DTn Qilij Tafghaj Khan" (i.e. Mas'üd). These coins show that Mas'üd regained Tirmidh after his victory over 'Ayar Beg. As for Balkh, it must also have been regained by Mas'üd as it remained a Qarakhanid dominion until 594/1198.

THE DOMINION OF TIRMIDH According to numismatic data (TUG Nr 922219, 9222170,

9222168, 9222167; Kochnev 1997, 274 Nr 1158-9), after the death of Mas'üd, Tirmidh was a dominion of Malik Yaghan Khan. He cited on his coins as suzerain a certain Khaqan Nasir

19

al-Daula wa'l Din As we shall see, this laqab belonged to the ruler of Balkh, Sanjar bin al-Hasan The coins were minted in the time of the caliphs al-Mustadl (566-75/1170-80) and al-Nasir (575-622/1180-1225) The date 574/1178-9 has survived on one coin

It looks as though around 576/1180-1 Malik Yaghan Khan was succeeded in Tirmidh by Khusrü Shah, son and vassal of Sanjar bin al-Hasan We shall return to KhusrQ Shah somewhat later

In 584/1188-9, coins in Tirmidh (TUC 9222157) were minted by Sultan Nusrat al-Dunya wa'l DTn Ibrahim (bin Husain bin Hasan), who was ruler of Samarqand and nominal head of the Qarakhanids of Mawarannahr In 583 (TUC 9444142-3) Ibrahim minted coins in Balkh Balkh was further south than Tirmidh, so that means that Tirmidh was captured by Ibrahim in 583 (or even earlier) It looks as though Ibrahim's invasion of Tirmidh and Balkh was caused by the death of the ruler of Balkh Sanjar bin Hasan Thus, as no vassal is mentioned on the coins, Tirmidh and Balkh in 583-4 must have been Ibrahim's personal dominions

There are coins of 586/1190 and 5(9P)/1194-5 (TUC 9422129, Kochnev 1997, 275 Nr 1165) minted by Toghrul KhaqSn, vassal of Sultan Nusrat al-Dunya wa'l Din (i e Ibrahim) Unfortunately the mint-name has not survived on those coins but since all four such coins known to Kochnev were found in Tirmidh in different places and at different times (Kochnev 1997, 308), there is not doubt that it was Tirmidh

Tirmidh remained under the sway of the Qarakhanids and their suzerain Gür Khan until 601/1205 (probably the death of Ibrahim), when the town was seized by the GhQrid vice-regent of Balkh Tmad al-DIn "Umar But in 603/1206 Tirmidh was reconquered by the Khitais and their ally, Muhammad Khwarizmshah According to Juwainl, the GhQrid vice-regent of Tirmidh surrendered the town to the Qarakhanid, Uthman, son of Ibrahim (Bartold 1963, 416-7) Being a vassal of the Gür Khan, "Uthman participated with the troops of Samarqand in that war The Gür Khan restored Tirmidh to the Qarakhanids

In 604/1207-8 (Kunker 1994, 78 Nr 841) coins in Tirmidh were minted by Khaqan Ghiyath al-Dunya wa'l Din Mahmüd "son of Sultan of Sultans" (i e of Ibrahim bin Husain) and brother of "Uthman, ruler of Samarqand Tirmidh probably stayed in the hands of this Qarakhanid ruler until 609/1212, when Muhammad Khwarizmshah, having crushed the mutiny of 'Uthman in Samarqand, executed him and some other Qarakhanids and put an end to the Western Qarakhanid khaqanate After that, Tirmidh came under the control of the Khwarizmshah until a decade later it was seized and devastated by Chlngiz Khan

THE DOMINION OF BALKH One might expect that after Rukn al-Daula wa'l Din Qilij

Tafghaj Khan Mas'üd had conquered Balkh, it stayed as his personal dominion until his death But the coins tell a different story

There are coins minted in Balkh in 567/1171-2 (TUC 902264, ED2B4-5) by al-Khaqan al-"Adil "Ala' al-Dunya wa'l Dm Arslan Khan The identity of this ruler is revealed b> a coin (Kochnev 1997, 273 Nr 1149) minted in Balkh by Arslan Kha (sic) bin Qili| Taghaj (sic) Khan So Arslan Khan was a son of Qili] Tafghaj Khan, i e of Mas"Od bin al-Hasan and was granted Balkh as an appanage not later than 567 (and maybe at once when Mas"Qd conquered Balkh in 560)

Then followed anonymous coins of AH 571/1175-6 minted in Balkh No ruler was mentioned on them (TUC 9222161-2), which could mean only one thing Arslan Khan had died or had been deposed and, until the question of the new ruler had been settled, anonymous coins were minted

In 574/1178-9, there was already a new ruler in Balkh (TUC ED2C6, 95352-3, Kochnev 1997, 273 Nr 1150) Mu'izz al-Dunya wa'l Din Abu Nasr Sanjar bin al-Hasan Kochnev read the name of his father as Husain but on the coin in the Tubingen collection it is quite distinctly Hasan So this Qarakhanid was the son of the former ruler of Mawarannahr, Hasantegin Hasantegln was brought to the throne in 524/1130 by the Seljuq sultan Sanjar So it was quite natural that he should call one of his sons after his mighty suzerain

On his coins of another type minted under the caliph al-Nasir (575-622), i e not earlier than 575, was the title Sultan Nasir al-Daula wa'l Din Sanjar Tafghaj (TUC, coins presented to Tubingen University Collection by S Album in May 1998) So this Qarakhanid was the first to accept the title of sultan Being the only surviving son of Hasan and the eldest in the dynasty, he considered himself entitled to this pompous title It looks as though one such coin was struck in AH (57)8

The laqab Nasir al-Dunya wa'l Din appeared first on coins of Tirmidh together with the title Malik Yaghan Khan Kochnev (1989, 84, 1997, 274 Nr 1158-9) was quite positive that it belonged to Yaghan Khan But on the coins in the Tubingen collection the laqab Nasir al-Dunya wa'l Din is bracketed firmly between the title "sultan" and the given name, Sanjar, which leaves no doubt as to whom this laqab did in fact belong On the coins of Tirmidh, however, the title was al-Khaqan Nasir al-Dunya wa'l Din, which means that, at first, Sanjar had the usual title "khaqan" but later accepted the title "sultan" Thus Sanjar was cited on the coins of Tirmidh as suzerain of Malik Yaghan Khan (title "khaqan" was higher than "khan") Otherwise we would have to admit that two different contemporary rulers in adjacent dominions had one and the same laqab, which is highly improbable

In 583/1187-8, coins in Balkh were minted in the name of the ruler of Samarqand, "Ibrahim Arslan Khaqan" or "Nusrat al-Dunya wa'l Din Ibrahim KOch Arslan Khan" as sole owner of the town (TUC 9444142-5) It looks as if Sanjar died in 582 or in the beginning of 583 and that Ibrahim used this as a good opportunity to seize both Balkh and Tirmidh One thing in favour of this interpretation is the fact that on the coin oï M\ 584 from Tirmidh, Ibrahim has the title "sultan" This could mean that as long as his uncle Sanjar, being the eldest in the dynasty, had the title sultan", Ibrahim did not encroach upon this title But after the death of Sanjar, Ibrahim, having become the eldest, proclaimed himself a sultan No later than 586/1190, however, Ibrahim withdrew from Khurasan As we have seen above, in 586 Tirmidh was an appanage principality of Toghrul Khaqan, vassal of Ibrahim

There was one more Qarakhanid, KhusrOshah, but the question about his appanage is somewhat unclear The first to publish his coins was EV Rtveladze (1985, 42) Since these coins were found in the territory of the mediaeval principality of Saghaniyan, Rtveladze considered that the coins were minted there Kochnev (1997, 275 Nr 1164) more cautiously named KhusrOshah as an "owner of some uncertain appanage adjacent to the Amy Darya" In the Tubingen University Collection there are coins of two other types (TUC 92443-5, 95354) On the coins ot the first type the ruler is "al-Khaqan Rukn al-Dunya wa'l d=Dln KhusrOshah", the date is badly effaced and looks like (576'') Since sultan Sanjar was alive then, the town where such coins were minted could not have been Balkh So most probably It was Tirmidh The second type of coin is very interesting since It reveals the identity of KhusrOshah It was minted by "al-Sultan Abü'l Harith KhusrOshah bin Sultan" So KhusrOshah was son of sultan Sanjar On this con, he stressed the fact that he was not only a sultan himself but also the son of a sultan Ibrahim bin Husain, who assumed the title of sultan in 584 (certainly after the death of Sanjar) was on his coins "Khan", Khaqan" then

20

"Sultan", even '"Sultan of Sultans" (the only contemporary Qarakhanid sultan being Khusrüshah) but he never claimed the distinction of bemg the son of a sultan

The appearance of the title "Sultan son of the Sultan" on the coins of Khusrüshah was probably a result of Ibrahim having assumed the title "Sultan" in 584/1188-9. It is noteworthy that, during Ibrahim's reign, none of his own family dared to assume that title. But after his death, three sultans appeared (in Ozkand, Samarqand and Tirmidh) and each of them stressed that he was "son of a Sultan" or "son of the Sultan of Sultans"

Thus coins of Khusrüshah with the title "Sultan son of the Sultan" were minted after the death of Sanjar and after 584, when Ibrahim assumed the title of sultan On one such coins, the digit six has survived So this coin must have been struck in 586 and in Balkh from where Ibrahim withdrew about that time.

The identity of the last Qarakhanid ruler of Balkh is revealed by a rare and very interesting dinar (TUC 95351) struck in Balkh (the mint-name has not survived but it could not be any other town) around 594/1197-8 This coin is a mule. The obverse cites the Ghürid ruler al-Sultan Baha al-Dunya wa'l Din Sam bin Muhammad, while the reverse cites the Qarakhanid ruler, "Uddat al-Dunya wa'l Din Ulugh Arslan Khaqan "All bin JaTar.

In 594/1198, the Ghürid ruler Sam bin Muhammad (AH 588-602) captured Balkh, which belonged to a vassal of the Our Khan, "Turk" (i.e. Qarakhanid) ruler, who died in the same year (Bartold 1963, 408) The obverse mentions the conqueror Sam bin Muhammad The reverse, perhaps due to the negligence of a mint official or because the new die was broken and there was no other die available, was struck from an old die bearing the name of the former Qarakhanid ruler "Uddat al-Dunya wa'l Din Ulugh Arslan Khaqan 'All bin Ja'far, who died not long before in 594/1197-8.

After 1198, Balkh was lost to the Qarakhanids and belonged until November 1206 to the Ghürids and then to Muhammad

Khwarizmshah until it was seized and devastated by Chingiz Khan (Bartold 1963,417).

1 This lengthy article was written originally in russian in Kirghizia (1995), but I continued to work on it for several years returning to it now and then, when some new coins appeared or some new ideas came to me In Germany (1997) I translated the article into English after which it was read by M A F Schwarz and Dr S Heidemann, who suggested some improvements to the text, for which I would like to thank him While working in Tubingen at the Forschungsstelle fur Islamische Numismatik (1995, 1998) I consulted Dr L Ilisch, S Album and T Mayer, whom I would like to thank for their kind cooperation In 1998, I rewrote the article once again and finally satisfied myself that it was ready for publication

References

Bartold, V V, Turkestan v epokhu mongol'skogo nashestvua, Sochineniia. t 1, Moscow, 1963

Al-Husami, Ah, Akhbar ad-Daulat as-Seldjuqiia, perevod A M Buniiatova, Moscow, 1990

Kochnev, B D, "Novye numizmaticheskie dannye po istorii Karakhanidov vtoroi poloviny Xll-nachala XIII v ", Kirgiziia pri Karakhantdakh, Frunze, 1983

Kochnev, B D, "Svod nadpisei na karakhanidskikh monetakh antroponimy I titulatura (chast' 2)", Vostochnoe istorisheskoe istochnikovedeme i spetsial'nye istoncheskie distsiplmy. 5, Moscow, 1997

Fritz Rudolf Kunker Munzenhandlung Katalog zur 27 Auktion 27-30 Sept 1994 1 owe the information about this coin to Dr L Ilisch

Rtveladze, E V , 'K istoni denezhnogo obrashcheniia v Saganiane Vlll-nachala XIII vv'" Epigrafika Vostoka, 23, Moscow, 1985

THE QARAKHANID RULERS OF TIRMIDH AND BALKH

TIRMIDH AH

1

2

1

3

(?)

4 (or 5?)

5 (or 6?)

6 (or 7?)

1

2

3

4

(5?)

5 (or 6?)

Qilii Tafghach Khan Mas'Qd b. Hasan

AbO'l Muzaffar Toghan-tegïn Ahmad

Qilij Tafghach Khan Mas'Qd b. Hasan

Malik Yaghan Khan, vassal of Sanjar b. Hasan

Khusrüshah b. Sanjar b. Hasan

Sultan Ibrahim b. Husain b. Hasan

Toghrul Khan, vassal of Ibrahim b. Husain

Khaqan Mahmüd b. Ibrahim b. Husain

BALKH

Qilij Tafghach Khan Mas'Od b. Hasan

Arslan Khan b. Qilij Tafghach Khan Mas'üd

Sultan Sanjar b. Hasan

Ibrahim b. Husain b. Hasan

Sultan Khusrüshah b. Sanjar b. Hasan

Ulugh Arslan Khaqan 'AlTb. Ja'far

560 (or 559-560?)

561 (or 561-562?)

568 (or 562?)-569?

574 (or 570?)-576?

(576-583?)

583-585(?)

586-591-601(?)

604-609(?)

AH

560

567(or562?)-571

574 (or 572?)-583(?)

583-585(?)

(586-...?)

...?-594

21

A Copy of a 419 AH Ghaznavid Presentation Dinar

By Vadim Kalinin and Vladimir Nastich (Moscow)

In autumn 1996 one of the authors acquired a very unusual large size coin-like medallion with Arabic inscriptions, 50 mm in diameter, with remnants of surface silvering, brought from Ashkhabad (Turkmenistan). In appearance, the piece is a rather crude modern tin-lead casting made supposedly around the middle of the present century. It has two holes at the opposite edges, one of which was made during the fabrication, the other drilled later; traces of a removed pendant tag can also be seen around the second aperture.

As follows from its legends, the medallion is a precise cast copy of a massive, presumably gold Ghaznavid multiple (tenfold?) dinar, and despite its replica nature, it turns out to be of great historical and numismatic interest. Its inscriptions were engraved in a "foliated Kufi" script typical of the Islamic coinage of eleventh century Iran and Central Asia. All palaeographic features of the object look so specific that its manual reproduction by today's craftsmen, whatever level of calligraphic virtuosity they may have reached, seems to be practically unachievable; but even if it could have been re-engraved before casting, its general outlook, together with the shape and content of the legends, leaves no doubt that it is based on a genuine original.

Obverse. Central field in a plain circle:

To Allah.' II [There is] no God but Allah, the 0\\ne. [having] no companion. || al-Qadir billah. \\ YamJn. Margin: ^ jU ^ ^ l ^ 1 JJL*JI j^yj iLj ^\i -jt

.Li^JUl JL]i l ( !) j"^J

Incessant glory and [long] earthly life to the renowned arnir AbX'l-Najm Ayaz bin Aymalaq (or Imlaq), may Allah prolong his earthly life' All in a single-line outer circle. Reverse. Central field in a double-line circle:

To Allah.' II Muhammad is the envoy of Allah. || The victorious king \\ Yamin al-dawlah. Margin: (\) jbjJ^lx^^^ ^ J \ ,^f.»J\ iS}\ »^

(\)LaJUj\j j,Lt [ ^ ] ^ ÏJ^ AJÜI l4> j> ^^^iu

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate, this dinar was struck at Ghaznah — may Allah protect it'. — in year four hundred and nineteen. Several orthographic distortions observed in the inscriptions can be noticed: the merged writing of j L j j J I i ^ ^ (instead of jLjjJI l i *» -^^ ) and missing final letters of the date — Luijjl (instead of AJLJUJI). These peculiarities were so widespread, if not actually common, in the pre-Mongol coinage of Muslim Asia that they can serve as an additional argument in favour of the genuine original having once existed. The form AbJ'l-Najm of the kunya in the obverse margin is syntactically due to the genitive required by the merged preposition /(= before al-amJr, so its normal (nominative) case is Abu 'l-Najm.

The legends of this very interesting piece show that the original dinar was struck at Ghazna in the reign of Mahmüd b. SebuktegTn (388-421/998-1030) whose honorific title is placed twice on the coin — YamJn al-dawlah and just YamJn. The first word of the date is partly gone (only one initial higher stroke and two following lower ones being seen), but it is certainly i*—j 'nine', so the entire date is 419 AH.

The most important part of the coin inscriptions is its obverse margin citing a certain amïr al-jalïl Abü 'l-Najm Ayaz bin Aymalaq (or Imlaq), a name never met with in the Ghaznavid coinage. Nevertheless, it belongs to a well-known person whose life and deeds brought him legendary fame: in that capacity he was mentioned once or more in GardïzT's Zayn al-Akhbar, BayhaqT's Tarlkh-i Mas'üdï, SamarqandT's Chahar Maqalah, 'Unsur al-Ma'alT's Qabüs-namah, 'Umar Khayyam's Nawrüz-namah etc. According to those sources, Ayaz b. Aymaq (sic!) was Mahmüd GhaznawT's faithful slave, minion and fellow-campaigner. After the death of Mahmüd he rendered strong support to the latter's son Mas'Od in his claim to the sultanate against his brother Muhammad b. Mahmüd who had succeeded to the throne at Ghazna. The only uncertainty concerns the transcription of the proper name of Ayaz's father, which is J'iLajl on our dinar, while the written sources where this nasab is mentioned call him Aymaq (i.e. (jLul without lam). Having taken the presumed authenticity of the original dinar for granted, we may proceed with the assumption reasonably emanating from the former one, that the form AymalaqlJmlaq ought to be more correct — simply because the minted commemorative was made not only for the person, but just during his lifetime, unlike any of the named manuscript sources, generally composed much later and never guaranteed from possible slip of the pen or even deliberate "corrective" misspelling. Anyway, the coin version seems to us more trustworthy.

Another "novelty" connected with the present dinar is one more title of Mahmüd's, unknown before on his coins — al-malik al-mansür "the victorious king'.

Judging by its dimension, together with the very special legends, rather unusual for regular coins, the dinar in question was never intended for circulation. It either served as a donative to a certain person, namely amir Ayaz b. Aymalaq/Imlaq (in which case it could have been unique), or to celebrate a certain event

22

connected with that person (in this case to be distributed among a very restricted number of high-ranking court attendants). It seems most improbable that we shall ever see the original: for in Turkmenistan, as in many other countries of Muslim Asia, gold and silver coins found separately or in hoards are generally considered merely as precious metals, and their destiny is usually mournful. Some of them, pierced or mounted, may adorn a local beauty's forehead or breast, until her parent or spouse considers it more profitable to sell it or melt it down it for a fresh, often clumsy piece of hand-made jewellery; — such could be the lot of the original of our tin "dinar". In our case, we must be thankful to that same destiny, that there were less prosperous people who could not themselves afford to keep such valuable old gold coins, and used to order base-metal imitations for decorating their maidens; otherwise we should never have learned about the very existence of the present specimen that turned out to have contributed an additional detail so important to the knowledge of Ghaznavid numismatics.

A New Variety in the Kota Series from Haryana / Punjab By Les Riches

The coins of the Kota series are well known to scholars and collectors of ancient Indian coins, so I will not dwell too long on explanations. Most of the larger hoards are found in or around the district o Ambala and the lower part of the Punjab. They have been recorded by many scholars over the years, starting in the nineteenth centurj' with Sir Alexander Cunningham. All the Kota series have the word KOTA or KOHA/PA on the obverse in Brahmi script of

t ^ the late Kushan / early Gupta period, thus < KOTA, ^ ^ K O H A / P A ' . Most have one or more Saivite symbols on the right

or left hand side of this script, e.g. trident, thunderbolt ' "^ The most common of the reverse types is that of Siva and

Nandi, his white bull In most cases this is represented by a collection of dots and lines, a design copied from late Kushan coins.The present coin was shown to me on a recent visit to the Punjab by a local dealer. He told me that it had been found at an ancient site near Jagadhri in the Ambala district. As there are many ancient sites in this area he was not able to identify the precise site but it was proabably Sugh, very close to the Jumna river, which has produced coins of many kinds going back as far as the punchmarked series. The hoard it came from had more than 600 coins but I saw only 526 of them, all of the main Kota series, with variations. I have recorded them in my database for further research. All the coins were in very good condition, and probably came out of a pot.

The coin described here is the only Kota coin I have ever seen with a Kushano/Greek legend on it. This legend can be clearly read behind the Siva / Nandi on the reverse. The style of the Siva / Nandi is very good, with Siva's headress being clearly seen as can the three-pronged trident behind him. On the right hand side is the legend OSHHO = OSHKO = SIVA, the ' O " being of the square

form. :^ sir ^ On the obverse are ^ T A. the Kota symbol , a

trident and a thunderbolt, as on the common types". The coin

weighs 4.65 g which is well within the norm for the series , which is 4-5 g.

1. Mitchiner, M,, Oriental Coins and their Values. Ancient and Classical. P 482, no 3663-5

2 Mitchiner, op cit, p. 483, no. 3674-83.

HARYANA

DISTRICT YAMUNANAGAR 15

.S " ' ^ ^ C H 4 i p,

'^'"•r.o'fWO

New Coin Varieties of the Gupta Dynasty Gold Dinars By Sanjeev Kumar

The Gupta dynasty (AD 260-540) during its period of rule produced one of most beautiful and artistic series of coins in the history of Indian numismatics. With its stylistic origins based on the style of the Kushan coinage, the Gupta coinage soon embarked on extremely creative new styles.

During the 1950s Dr. A.S. Altekar, did extensive study and research into the coinage of the Gupta Dynasty. His book "The coinage of the Gupta Empire", published by the Numismatic Society of India, is today an excellent reference on Gupta Numismatics.

Following Dr. Altekar's classifications, I am listing below a number of new varieties of Gupta Gold dinaras that have surfaced and are now part of the Shivlee Collection'.

Samudragupta - Lyrist Type New Variety "C" - Altekar Classification

23

Altekar divided the Lyrist type into two varieties wearing earrings There is a symbol in the upper left quadrant and the legend Sn-Vikrama on the right of the stem of the flower

Variety A consists of large, thin, artistic pieces These have a footstool on the obverse below the king's feet, but no symbol on the reverse The letter si can be seen on the foot stool

Variety B coins are thick and small, and of poor artistic design They have a symbol on the reverse but no footstool on the obverse

In this new Variety C, there is a distinct footstool under the couch, a symbol on the reverse and no letter si on the obverse near or around the footstool

This new variety is similar to Variety A in that it is thin and the design is highly artistic The size of this coin is 19 mm (similar in size to variety B) and the weight is 7 69 g On the obverse, the king IS bare-headed, shown with curls and is playing the fine strands of a vina (lyre) with his right hand His left hand is resting on a pillow He is wearing a pearl necklace and is sitting on a high-backed couch of which three lathe-turned legs are visible The king IS seated cross-legged where his right leg is bent back and the left leg IS outstretched in front of the stool There is a distinct moustache and what appears to be a small beard on his chin The legend beginning at 1 is Maharajadhiraja sn-Sa(mudra)gupta There is no si ('short for siddham) on the stool as in Variety A

The reverse shows the goddess Lakshmi nimbate, seated to the left on a wicker stool, wearing a beaded necklace and anklets The five folds of a san are visible on the right hand, which is outstretched holding a noose and a cornucopia in the left hand The Symbol in the upper left quadrantis as in Variety B , and the legend on the right reads Samudraguptah

While classifying the coins of this type, Altekar missed classifying another specimen of this variety which was present in the Bayana Hoard - BH VI-7 This coin also shows the symbol on the reverse and a footstool on the obverse

Chandragupta II - Archer type. New Variety "Q" -Altekar Classification (King to left, Chandra outside bowstring, bow held by the middle)

This coin IS of Chandragupta's Archer type. Class 11 category Altekar divided these coins into 16 varieties While the Archer fype coins were the most prolific coins, this class has >ielded some of the most fascinating varieties so far in addition to the only known half dinara type known for the Gupta Dynasty

This new variety is part of the Shivlee Collection The com is struck on a broad flan, 20 mm in diameter and the coin weighs 7 7 g The obverse shows the King inclined to the left and looking to the left and holding the bow by the middle with the string outside Chandra is written outside the bowstring The king has big loop earrings, a necklace and faint traces of a cap He is wearing a coat with long tails, with sleeves folded, bracelets and trousers with beads on the sides There appear to be strands of a hunter (whip) between the king's legs as if the hunter was on his back Legend not visible, other than traces of gup(ta) at IX

The reverse shows the goddess sitting on a lotus cross-legged, left hand holding a flower with a long stem and right hand holding a diadem fillet - both hands outstretched The goddess is

Half Dinara Coin of Chandragupta 11, from the Shivlee Collection

By Sanjeev Kumar, with contributions by Ellen M Raven

Gupta gold coinage was considerably influenced by the Kushana prototype At the start of the Gupta period, the Kushana standard of 120 to 121 grains (7 8 g) was adopted, instead of the traditional suvarna standard of 144 grains (9 33 gms), which itself was modeled on the Roman aureus normally weighing 121 grains (7 84 gms)^

In 1939, G Acharya published a unique half-dinara acquired for the Prince of Wales Museum (PWM) in Bombay'' It weighed 3 7 g. and measured 15 2 mm in diameter It carries on the obverse an image ot Chandragupta II as royal archer, and, on the reverse, Shri-Lakshmi seated on a lotus, holding a fillet and a lotus The lower stroke of kra of the king's epithet sri-vikkrama is visible near the left elbow of the goddess

At the time, Acharya already indicated that, even though smaller denominations of coins occurred before and after the Gupta period, their sudden disappearance during the Gupta period was almost inexplicable And it was believed that Gupta princes most probably never issued smaller denominations Quite understandably Acharya hesitated a lot before putting this com before the numismatic world

Altekar classified the PWM coin as Class II, Variety P(l) and found the coin "crudely executed" as the garudadhvaja can hardly be recognised as such Under the left arm is Chandra, but it is very blurred There are no traces of any circular legend As to the reverse, Altekar mentioned that the goddess has both her hands bent upwards and raised He noticed the absence of the usual geometric symbol (1957 105, PI V 13)

Ellen Raven found that, in view of its deviant designs and low weight ft IS doubtful whether this coin is a genuine Gupta issue^ She quoted Altekar on the hardly recognisable garudadhvaja, and did not include the coin in her new classification (1994 318)

I present below the only known specimen in a private collection of this rarest type of coin from the Gupta era This gold coin seems to have been struck from the exact same dies as the Prince of Wales Museum specimen, has a weight of 3 7 grams and a size of 15 mm and was struck on a thin flan

Obverse: The nimbate king is standing to left holding a bow in his left hand and arrow in his right The king has a large head with curls falling on his left shoulder He wears a beaded necklace around the neck with big beads His coat has folded half-sleeves, and the king wears armlets and bracelets on both arms The coat tails are visible The Garuda standard garudadhvaja, is visible in the lett field The Garuda bird has a round body flanked by thick, spread wings (the left partly hidden by the king's halo) In the head the left eye and round earstuds are still visible, as is the bird's dot­like crest Chandra in blurred letters under the left arm between string and body partly off flan Reverse: Goddess, seated facing on lotus She has a beaded halo, curls, wears big earrings, beaded necklace visible, armlets bracelets on both arms Sri-Lakshmi sits in a wide V posture, holding a fillet in her outstretched right hand, the left hand bent upwards holding a

24

lotus flower. Kra of sn-vikrama is visible near the left forearm Altekar noticed that the symbol was absent on the half dinara

in the PMW museum, but the Shivlee coin clearly shows the lower dot and a fraction of the outer right dot of the geometrical symbol commonly included in the left field.

Ellen Raven, after reviewing this coin, has suggested that while the designs of the dies used to strike this half-dinara are definitely similar to the dinaras of Archer Class II, subvariety 10.1 (based on her classification system), this variety now comprises a subvariety of its own: II. 10.3. Additionally, she has observed that the average size of dinara subvarieties II.10.1 and II.10.2 is 18.5 mm. The half-dinara is 15 mm (0.6 inch). We can see on the coins that part of the design did not come on the flan. In the Shivlee coin the king's legs are largely off, and so is his bow On the reverse the petals of the lotus are off, and so is the epithet. Normally these elements can be seen on the related Archer type dinaras (1994, figs c . l09-c l l4) . Therefore, she concludes that the mint used dies created for ordinary dinaras, but used smaller and thinner flans to strike these half-dinaras''.

With the discovery of this coin, there now appear to be two specimens of this variety known to the numismatic world. Even the plentiful Bayana hoard, which formed the basis for the study of Gupta coins, did not yield a single half-dinara of any kind.

The obvious question that this raises is - Why did the Gupta Dynasty, in all its long, and splendorous coinage, never utilise the half-dinara standard to its fullest potential? Why in all these years, have only two specimens ever come to light?

It seems that at the height of Gupta rule, Chandragupta II (AD 380-414), following the examples set by the Kushana kings and their successful quarter dinara coinage, experimented with the half-dmara version. It is quite possible that the half dinara, when introduced, was rejected by the populace in favour of the lower denomination silver coinage (as evidenced by the vast numbers of silver coins that have surfaced) and therefore never became a common medium of trade.

Ellen Raven has attributed coins of Class 11.10 to 'Mint D' (1994:100). While studying this specimen. Mrs Raven has suggested' that, since this specimen and the PWM coin were both struck from the same dies and came from the same mint, it is possible that the half-dinara coinage was limited to this particular mint as a local experiment. This experiment must have been quite deviant from what was accepted and common practice at other mints. Obviously, other mints did not follow the example, and the new denomination never became popular, being restricted to one series only.

(1) The Shivlee Collection is an extensive collection of Gupta and Mughal Gold coins, with many unpublished varieties that 1 hope to publish in future ONS articles

(2) Altekar, A S , The coinage of the Gupta Empire, Numismatic Society oflndia, 1957

(3) Raven, Ellen M , Gupta Gold Coins with a Garuda-Banner, Vol II, Egbert Forsten Groningen, 1994

(4) GV Acharya,'A unique half dinara of Chandragupta ir.yWS/1, 1939 27

(5) Gobi Robert, Munzpragungdes Kushanreiches, \9M

(6) Ellen Raven, personal communication with the author, June 2000 (7) Ellen Raven, personal communication with the author, March 1999

A Copper FalOs from Qandahar under Mughal Rule By B. Millancourt (with additional comments by the Editor)

This dated copper coin of Qandahar, which was one of a small lot of "unidentified" Indian and Arabic coins purchases at a provincial auction, would seem to be unpublished. It bears interesting testimony to the changing political fortunes of this city. Having formed an outpost of the Mughal empire from the latter

part of the reign of Akbar, it fell to the Safavid rulers of Iran in AH 1031. In AH 1047 the Mughals regained it, only to lose it again to the Safavids in AH 1058. They never regained it after that. There is another town by the name of Qandahar, which is in India, in the Deccan, and Mughal coins were struck there too' .

Most copper coins of Qandahar that have been published are of the local civic type, often with an animal design on one side. Valentine^, however, illustrated one issued in AH 1022^, i.e. during the reign of the Mughal emperor JahangTr, that bears the phrase shud rawan - it became current / legal. The present coin has j l & i i * t ^ S ^ ~ / a / " i qandahar on one side and what appears to be 4£.ÉI ^ - nau sikka (new coin) and the date, AD 1048, on the other. Both sides have the sort of floral background typical of Mughal coins of the period. The weight is 8.23 g and diameter 22 mm.

This coin will therefore have been struck during the reign of Shah Jahan I, not long after the city was recaptured by the Mughals. The designation "new coin" was presumably intended to differentiate it and its issuing authority from any previous coins issued under Safavid suzerainty. Valentine does not publish any coins of Qandahar issued under the Safavids for the period AH 1031-47. Does anyone have any or know of any reference to any?. Valentine did not provide the weights of the coins he illustrated but the British Museum has several coins of Qandahar issued during the reign of JahangTr, dated 1022 and 1028, mostly of the shud rawan type, and which weigh between 8.4 and 9.6 g*. It would be interesting to know if any member has copper coins with other dates or legends struck at Qandahar during this brief Mughal interval.

I am indebted to Hakim Hamidi for initial help with this com, he has a similar com

1 Wiggins, K W., "Rupees of the mint of Qandahar in the Deccan during the regin of Shah Jahan I", ONS Newsletter 76, February 1982

2 Valentine, W H , Modern Copper Coins of the Muhammadan States of Turkey , Persia etc, London, 1911, reprinted, London, 1969, p 171

3 Valentine, op cit, p 171, coin 3

4 The Lahore Museum Catalogue has a copper com of the shud rawan type dated 1019, year 5 (com no 1207), weighing 8 36 g

A Unique Silver Seal of Muhammad A'zam Shah, Son of Aurangzeb By Sanjay Godbole

Muhammad A'zam Shah was born in BurhanpQr on 20 June 1653 to Dolaras Banu, the first wife of the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb. After Aurangzeb's death he was to engage in the war of succession with his brothers and die in battle in 1707.

25

Recently I obtained a silver seal of this prince. The details are as follows: Metal: silver Size: 55 x 65 mm Shape: like a betel leaf Provenance: Gujarat

The wording is: \ • AA t5jlc oLi jb j*f(*lc ^j^ (^J«l' JCÖPCO

muhammad a 'zam shah bin 'alamgïr bad shah ghazT 1088

Mughal princes had their own seals. In addition to the name and titles of the princes, the name of their father and the date of engraving are usually found on them. This seal has a typical decorative border and background. It is dated AH 1088 = AD 1678. The style of the calligraphy is typically Mughal. These seals were used to authenticate documents like firman or nishan, i.e. orders issued by the prince on behalf of the emperor. While it is sometimes possible to procure Mughal documents with the impression of such seals, the original seals themselves are extremely rare.

Bangalore - A New Mint for the East India Company Coinage

By Shailendra Bhandare

The city of Bangalore lies in the State of Karnataka, in South India and serves as its capital. A few historical details about the city may be outlined as follows.

The city derives its name from a compound of two Kannada words - Bengalu and Uru. It is said that the Hoysala Emperor Vira Ballala (thirteenth century AD) became separated from his retinue while hunting. Tired and weary, he approached a hut where he enjoyed the hospitality of an old woman, which was a modest fare of Bengalu, or beans. The incident became known and the township that sprang up at the site was known as 'Bengalu-Uru', or the 'bean town'. This site today is situated to the north and is called 'Haley Bengaluru' or 'Old Bangalore'. Kempe Gowda Nayaka, the chief of Yelahanka, laid the foundations of the modern city in 1537 AD. Subsequently it passed under the control of the Wodeyar dynasty of Mysore and it remained in their hands until the rise of Haidar Ali. Haidar erected a stone fortress at Bangalore in 1761.

Tipu Sultan, the son of Haidar, succeeded him to the throne of Mysore in 1782. He had wide political ambitions and waged a successful war with the British, and the Marathas and Nizam, who had allied with the British against Tipu. A transient peace prevailed until 1789, when he invaded Travancore, which was under British protection. The British revived the alliance with the Marathas and the Nizam and pursued the campaign vigorously, until 1792, when Tipu was forced to sign a humiliating treaty ceding half of his territorial acquisitions to the allies. Bangalore was lost to the British as a result of this treaty. Meanwhile. Tipu attempted to obliterate all signs of the Wodeyar royalty from Mysore, by not appointing any successor when the titular ruler died in 1796.

The last war between Tipu and the British took place during the tenure of Richard Wellesley, Lord Mornington, well known for his expansionistic 'Forward Policy'. Tipu was defeated at Malawalli by General Harris, who followed him to the fort of Shrirangapattanam (Seringapatam). Tipu tried to negotiate but the British Army secured a breach in the walls of the fort. Tipu's body was found amongst those slain on May 4, 1799.

The British restored the Wodeyar dynasty by setting up an infant Krishna Raja Wodeyar to the throne. Colonel Arthur Wellesley, brother of the Governor-General and the future Duke of Wellington, was placed in charge of the military affairs of the state. Tipu's able minister, Dewan Purnaiya, was appointed the regent. At this juncture, some the territory wrested from Tipu in 1792 was handed over to Mysore. As a result. Bangalore once again changed hands and reverted to Wodeyar rule. Purnaiya ruled as regent until 1811 and made distinct improvements in the administration of Mysore.

In 1811, Krishna Raja Wodeyar came of age and was entrusted with the responsibilities of the government. But through his lack of governance skills, Krishna Raja soon brought the prosperous kingdom he inherited from Purnaiya to the verge of financial ruin. In 1825, the governor of the Madras Presidency, Sir Thomas Munroe, visited Mysore personally to admonish the King. But it was in vain. The situation came to a head in 1830, when a rebellion began in the province of Nagar. Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-General, sought to appoint a committee of inquiry and it resolved to deprive Krishna Raja of his ruling power. He surrendered the reins of the kingdom in October 1831 to the British Commissioners appointed to administer the country. In 1834, the Board of Commissioners was headed by Colonel (later Sir) Mark Cubbon, who brilliantly restructured the governmental and administrative systems until his retirement in 1861. During this entire period, the affairs of the state were managed increasingly from Bangalore, which found favour with the British administrators owing to its pleasant and temperate climate. Cubbon's memory survives in Bangalore, which has a park named after him. Krishna Raja died without issue in 1868, but managed to adopt a son in 1865 to continue the lineage. This prince was trained in the best European traditions and, in 1881, the Board of Commissioners for Myosre was terminated. The state was restored to the Wodeyar family, with new agreements coming into effect defining the powers of the king and appointing a Dewan (Prime Minister) with responsibilities to govern. At this juncture, several districts in the state were restructured and, as a result. Bangalore was divided into two adjacent but separate tracts. The city remained under Mysore rule and the Civil and Military Station (the Cantonment) was placed under British administration through the resident at Mysore.

It may be seen from the foregoing discussion that the state of Mysore, along with the city of Bangalore remained under direct British administration for a long time in the nineteenth century. From a numismatic point of view, it had important outcomes. The coinage of Tipu Sultan, with all its innovations and merits, was terminated under the Purnaiya regency. Instead, a 'user-friendly' coinage with denominations both in the South Indian 'Pagoda-Cash' system and the North Indian 'Rupee-Anna-Paisa' system was employed. A bridge between these two currency systems was made by having a copper coin of 20 cash, equivalent in value to the Paisa. Similarly, the Pagoda was made exchangeable at around VA Rupees, subject to market fluctuations. Initially, coins of 6%, 12 and 25 Cash were minted, but after establishing the parity of 20 Cash to a Paisa, a new denomination set of 2'/2, 5, 10, 20 and 40 Cash was issued. Under Krishna Raja Wodeyar's own rule, they are known in two distinct series, one bearing an elephant, and the other the mythical lion, Shardula. When the State was placed under the British Board of Commissioners, coins with the Shardula design were in circulation. As the result of a uniform

26 V.

coinage being introduced in British India in 1835, the independent coinage of Mysore was terminated in 1843 Economic reasons had also precluded the mint from commercial viability

In the >ear 1833, nearly one and a half years after Krishna Raja surrendered the administration of his kingdom to the British, the mint situated at Mysore was shifted to Bangalore This resulted in a change in the design of the coins Evidence to this effect can be seen from mentions in two numismatic sources of reference published in the 18* century The first of them is a small booklet by Col H P Hawkes It is entitled "A Brief Sketch of the Gold Silver & Copper Coinage of Mysore, and of once independent Principalities comprised within its Boundaries, together with a list of coins generally to be met with in South India &c &c ' and published from Bangalore in 1856 On page 12, it is mentioned that 'on the removal of the mint to Bangalore in 1833, the date (AD) was inserted below the lion, and arrangement of reverse slightly modified The Bangalore mint was abolished in 18 ' Curiousl>, Hawkes leaves the space after 18 blank, not giving the date when the mint was abolished But Edgar Thurston, in his 'History of the Coinage of the Territories of the East India Company in the Indian Peninsula' (Madras, 1890) mentions that it was abolished in 1843, the same year in which the Mysore coinage was terminated

So far, coins struck at the Bangalore mint are known only in the Shardula design They all bear the mint name as 'Mahisur' in Persian even though they were struck at Bangalore I publish here a coin in the name of Shah Alam II, with the mint name Bangalore The coin is in the collection of Dilip Shah of Jabalpur, India, to whom I am thankful for his co-operation The coin may be described as follows -

Copper, 15 8 gm Obverse: legend in two lines i/ia/i alam bad shah The letter

shin in shah forms the divider There are traces of numerals ' 06' inscribed after bad, there is a possibility that the date 1206 may have been placed there Unfortunately the coin is obliterated just at this important detail

Rev Legend in two lines sanah 33 julüs zarb bangalür The letter be in zarb forms the divider

The attribution of this com presents no problem - it is certainly not an issue of Tipu Sultan The fact that it is struck in the name of Shah Alam makes it amply clear Regnal year 33 of this Emperor corresponds to 1792-93, and is not far removed from the date of signing of the treaty between Tipu and the British (February 1792), which effected the transfer of Bangalore to British hands Tipu had a mint functioning in the city and the last year his coins bear is Mauludi 1219, corresponding to 1790-91 In would therefore imply that the British struck this coin in the mint soon after the city came under their control As such it should be attributed to the East India Company If at all the obverse bears a date AH 1206, that also corresponds with the regnal year The design of the com presents a remarkable similarity with the designs of the Contract Coinage of John Prinsep struck for the East India Company at his mint located at Fulta near Calcutta, during 1782 -1785 The placement of the regnal year, the execution of the legends and the placement of the date next to bad on the obverse.

all match with the Prinsep issues As they are not chronologically placed far apart, the influence of Prinsep issues on this piece from Bangalore may be at once understood

It IS not certain how long the mint remained operational under the British There is a reference to the activity of Bangalore mint after the transfer of power to the Board of Commissioners in 1833 An interesting piece of information to this effect was found while I was researching for more details on the British monetary operations in Mysore, Bangalore and Madras It is a detail of a letter from the Commissioner's Office, Bangalore, to the Governor's Office, Madras Presidency It is reproduced on page 61 of Edgar Thurston's treatise on East India Company coinages (vide supra) Thurston however does not mention the names of the respective officers at Bangalore and Madras between whom this correspondence was effected I reproduce the text of the letter as given by Thurston hereunder -

Commissioner's Office

Bangalore 23'''^August 1833 SIR, I am directed by the Commissioners for the affairs of Mysore to Explain that, in making the application contained m my letter of the 20* June last, the Commissioners acted under an impression that an ample stock of copper coin received from Europe might probably be in store at Madras, and disposable for the use of Mysore As this however is not the case, and as the Commissioners find that they can have the coin made at Bangalore (a course of proceeding which does not appear to them liable to any serious objection) on more advantageous terms than those on which it could be supplied from Madras, they direct me to state that it is not their intention to avail themselves of the offer, which the Right Honourable the Governor m Council has had the goodness to make to them of the Madras mint on this occasion

I have, &c &c

Thurston remarks - ' from this letter, it appears to have been the intention to have the coinage supplied from the Madras mint' What he fails to note is the fact that there is a specific reference to have the coins made at Bangalore' in this letter It therefore

transpires that the British had an intention to strike coins in Bangalore, most likely in the name of the East India Company, similar to those struck at Madras What seems to have happened in reality is that the authorities in Bangalore simply continued with the minting of the Mysore Shaidula type coinage with insertion of the date

Two Postscripts

By Shailendra Bhandare

/. The mint-town Zafarnagar In my article in the ONS newsletter no 162 regarding the

numismatic vestiges of Shahjahan's campaign in the Deccan, I published a paisa of Shah Jahan minted at Zafarnagar from the J P Goenka collection 1 commented that the place has not been located satisfactorily I realised my ignorance when I read an article by the late Prof S H Hodivala in Numismatic Supplement no XXXIV, 1920 entitled 'Notes and Queries regarding Mughal Mint-Towns' (pp 190 - 249) On page 241- 246, he discusses the mint-town Zafarnagar He has identified it with Tembhurni, located in Aurangabad district, and supported his attribution with historical details from contemporary Persian chronicles As such there is little doubt about his identification The most important of Prof Hodivala's remarks is a passage from Amal-i-Salih or

Shahjahan-nameh of Muhammad Salih Kambu. I quote it here for the reference of the readers -'...And as the district of Balaghat possessed no stronghold fit to be the headquarters of the Governor, the camp of an army or for the establishment of a thana...X)^^ Imperial officers laid the foundations of a substantial fortress of great height and strength in a chosen spot on this side of Tamarni and on the bank of the Gharakpurna river. The fortifications were completed in a short time, and it was named Zafarnagar fittingly with the time and place.'

The 'fitting times' alluded in this passage have reference to the victory of Raja Bikramajit, a Mughal commander against the forces of Malik Ambar at Daulatabad. Since 'Zafar' means victory and as this new fortress was situated not far from Daulatabad, naming it 'Zafarnagar' was thought to be fitting.

2) Description of a mark on a copper coin ofBhilsa In ONS newsletter 160, I published the first part of my article

on copper coins of the Bhilsa mint. In a postscript in that paper, I described a copper coin from the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, which had a pearl-shaped mark with enclosed Nagari inscription on it. As the clarity of the inscription was not very good, I had attempted to restore it as Shri Ja (followed by two dots) Saruja, and further opined that it should in all probability be an issue of the Sironj mint. While concluding in this manner I had assumed that the legend was a degraded version of 'Sironj', while the character 'Ja' followed by two dots would stand for the contraction of the mint indicative 'Zarb', translated in Nagari as 'Jaraba' as is the case with most other Bhilsa coins.

During my visit to the National Museum in New Delhi in March 2000, I spotted a clearer specimen of the same type of coin, while I was examining the coins from the collection of the late Dr. Nagu of Ujjain, which has been acquired by the National Museum. The collection is replete with varieties of 18"^-19"' century copper coins from Central India. I am grateful to Mrs. Reeta Sharma, Keeper of coins at the National Museum for her co-operation and help.

The legend on this coin reads clearly 'Shri Jotisaroopa'. This is a degenerate rendering of the Sanskrit word 'Shri Jyotiswaroopa'. This is a very significant term for the Sindhia dynasty. 'Jyotiswaroopa' is a Brahmanic appellation for Jotiba, a local deity situated in the vicinity of Kolhapur. Iconically, he is a Maratha warrior, shown astride a horse and carrying weapons of war. But he is equally revered in his aniconic form, which is said to be a 'flame'. 'Jyoti' or 'Jyot' in Sanskrit and related languages means a 'flame' and as such the name 'Jotiba' derives from his aniconic form. The deity is of a local guardian (Kshetrapala) category and, as such, of a low standing in the Hindu pantheon. Like many other deities in this category, he is often regarded as a form of Shiva. He enjoys a cult following in the regions of Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur. The Sindhias hailed from the village of Kanherkhed in Satara district and were the followers of the 'Jotiba' cult. As such, he was regarded as the family deity (Kuladaivata) of the Sindhias. Another instance of veneration shown to Jotiba may be seen in the seals of the family members, which have an inscription that begins with an invocation to Jotiba. It is interesting to note that the term used in this invocation is 'Jotiswaroopa', the same as that seen on the coin under discussion. It may be seen that its occurrence on the coin is well justified.

Three Sikh Medals or Tokens By Bernd Becker

The first of these medals or tokens has. on the obverse. Guru Gobind Singh on horseback holding a hunting hawk and accompanied by a dog, and followed by Bala Sindhu with a fly

whisk. On the reverse is the mool mantra - the first van; from the holy book of the Sikhs in Gurmukhi:

I Omkara Satanama Kartapurusha Narabhau Nir-Vaira Alaka Murata Ajuni Sebhanga Guru Prasada Japa Ada Sacha Jugada Sacha Hai Bhi Sacha Nanaka Usi Bhi Sacha

The One All-prevailing: Truth is His name, the Creator-Being, without fear, without enmity, the Timeless Being, without birth, self-existent and revealed by the grace of Guru (God). That master is ever true. His name is truth. The One sho has created this creation is true and will be true for all time. This medal or token exists in copper, silver and gold. The diameter is 32 mm. Weight: copper - 12.13 g; silver - II .33 g; gold - 11.88 g

References Spink & Son, auction of 7 March 1995 Herrli, H., The Corns of the Sikhs, second edition, P. 259 Brotman, I.F., A Guide to the Temple Tokens of India. Strenge, S , The Art of the Sikh Kingdoms.

The second item is made from sheet copper of gilded bronze.

It is stamped on one side like a mediaeval bracteat, showing Guru Nanak with Bala and Mardana and another attendant arranged in an unusual manner. The weight of these pieces varies from 9.5 to 11.4 g and the diameter is 90 mm.

The third item is made of cast copper and weighs 11.05 g

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Obverse: a blossom or flower and, in Gurmikhi, Nanak Sahai Reverse; a leaf and, in Gurmukhi, Akal Sahai

A Potentially Important Coin of Cooch Behar

By S K Bose

With the death of King Nara Narayana in the second half of the sixteenth century, the Koch empire he had established encompassing the northern part of undivided Bengal and almost the entire North-East India' was reduced only to an area within the modem Cooch Behar district in West Bengal and Rangpur in Bangladesh Such was his influence, that his coins were in circulation till 1845 AD, though he had ruled way back from 1555 to 1587 AD It was due to the East India Company's efforts that these coins ceased to be legal tender after 1845 AD^

Up to now, coins of Nara Narayana ranging in denomination from rupee to quarter-rupee have been noticed The author could himself record as many as ninety die-varities, bearing legends in Sanskrit and with Assamese-Bengali and Maithili or Tirhuti script These mentioned the king's religious leanings and his name in separated or joined letters on the obverse and reverse respectively

Apart from the machine-struck coins issued trom the late nineteenth century, all coins of Nara Narayana and his successors are bereft of figural devices This was perfectly normal for the time, and no exception was anticipated, but for an interesting anecdote Victor Niteyendra Narayana^ the brother ot the then Koch king Jitendra Narayana (1913-1922 AD), while going through the royal com collection of his brother and of his father Nripendra Narayana, noticed an unusual coin In a letter dated 5 October 1917, to Pandit Hem Gossain, an Assamese scholar, he mentioned that the coin had ' a whole head of Maharaja Nara Narayana, Chila Rai's elder brother it is only one I know of in existence and I do not think there is one even in the British Museum collections"''

Although the said coin has not been recorded by anyone, we should take Victor's statement seriously Knowing that King Nara Narayana patronised both art and literature, it is quite possible that this coin was struck as an example of art m coinage This piece may thus be viewed as a potentially important coin of Nara Narayana, and if it can be rediscovered, and proves to be genuine. It would be a unique example of royal portraiture in sixteenth century Hindu India'

1 Rhodes, N G and S K Bose, The Coinage of Cooch Behar, Dhubn, 1999, p 49

2 Ghosal, SC A History of Cooch Behar, Cooch Behar 1942 p 360 3 Queen Victoria acted as the Godmother of Niteyendra Narayana

and the latter came to be known as Victor Niteyendra Narayana (Das, B , Memoirs of Maharani Sumty Devi of Cooch Behar Cooch Behar 1995 p6)

4 Letter dated 5 October 1917, addressed to Pandit Hem Gossain (Collection by Padmabhusan Benudhar Sharma, Guwahati, Assam)

5 This coin would predate the rare Moghul mohurs with portraits of Akbar and Jahangir

The Gosaba Rupee and Sir Daniel Hamilton By Vasant Chowdhury

This article is published in memory of its author, who died recently

Around 1880 at the age of twenty, Daniel Hamilton joined his family enterprise in India - McKeen & Mackenzie Company, who were the sole agent of the P&O Line - and, in due course, became the head of the organisation in India

In the early part of the twentieth century he obtained the lease of three islands - Gosaba, Rangabelia and Satjelia - uner the zammdari management system These are delta islands located at the meeting point of the Bhagirathi and the Bay of Bengal The total area covered about 25,000 acres of land consisting only of dense forests with wild life He cleared the forests, distributed land

and initiated human settlement Sir Daniel conceived a model habitation programme based on a co-operative system The inhabitants benefitted from this system and, before long, the "Gosaba Central Co-operative Bank" was formed

Sir Daniel argued passionately with Sir James Greek, the Director of the Department of Finance, for the introduction of one-rupee currency notes in order to enhance the purchasing capacity of the Indian farmers at large, which, as it happened, resulted in the issue, in 1935 of one-rupee notes in British India In the following year. Sir Daniel also introduced one-rupee notes for circulation in his zamindan through his co-operative bank. This is probably the only attempt to experiment with a local monetary system m a zammdari

We are extremely grateful to the late Dr Gopi Nath Burman of Gosaba for showing the specimens of these old notes To the best of our knowledge no systematic investigation has been carried out in the past, with the result that information on these notes is rather scanty After a thorough scrutiny of these notes, the following conclusions may be drawn 1) The look of these notes IS similar to cheque-books where the

transactional part was torn-off and the conterfoil retained, each book consisting of 50 pages (AI-A50)

2) Though there is no record of where the notes were printed, it may be assumed that they were printed at the zamindan s regular printers, Mr N N Mukherjee's Art Press in British India Street, Calcutta

3) The notes were issued in two different series A l - A 5 0 t o Z l -Z50 and AAI-AA50 to AZ \-AZ 50, giving a possible total of 1300 for each series

Detailed dates and numbers of these issues are given below

Date of Issue 8 February 1936

22 February 1936 29 February 1936 14 March 1936 21 March 1936 11 April 1936 9 May 1936

Total

Series Letter A, B, C, D, E F, G, H, I J K, L M,N 0, P, Q, R, S, T U, V

Number Issued 250 200 50 100 100 300 100

1100

From the above table it can be seen that during the fourth months between February and May 1936 1100 notes were issued It has also been noted that the bank re-issued the notes with a fresh date-stamp for recirculation when they were returned to the bank There are in fact examples of notes bearing six or seven consecutive issuing dates This process of circulation continued for a period of two and a half years and then it became necessary for new notes to be introduced Thus on 3 December 1938 a fresh series was issued

Date of Issue 3 December 1938

Series Letter W, X, Y, Z, AA, AB AC, AD, AE, AF, AG, AH, AI, AJ

Number Issued 700

There was no further issue after this Thus the overall total number of notes put into circulation was 1800 Since there are no subsequent issuing date-stamps on the last set of notes released on 3 December 1938, it can be assumed that these notes did not circulate for long It is not known whether the discontinuation of these notes had anything to do with the outbreak of World War II in 1939 The remaining set of 800 notes (series letters AK to AZ ) was probably never released except perhaps as the occasional souvenir

29

• " ' x T s : ^ m O N E RUPEE. ML.

The value received in exch ange for this Note may be given in the form of bunds co: istructed, or tanks excavated, or land reclaimed, or buildin js erected ; or in medical or educational service. The Ps óte may be exchanged for

.coin,-if- necessary,--.at-the-Estai è Office. The Note is made good, not by the coin, whict, makes nothing, but by the assets created and the servi :e rendered. •' T h e ' Note is based on the living man, no ^ on the dead coin. It costs practically nothing, and yield; a dividend of One Hundred Per Cent, in land reclaimer, tanks excavated, houses built-'&o,, and in a more h^ l thy and abundant LIFE.

rr

ONE- RUPEE.

.r*-i^ / - • - -• - - tmfiiA^

Rs. I SIR D A N I E L M A G K I N N O N H A M I L T O N RS. I

promises to pay the Bearer, on demand, at the Co­operative Bhundar, in exchange for value received. One Rupee's Worth of ric^stfloth, oil or other goods.

M. Q 10 .^f ,A 1,^

Gosaba. ^ •. - 5> ^

<=^^c2X-c:^'^ ^5^^-c^^ta^^^^t^^ ""V^^V^^^feTTv-^-^^-é^Cl

^^y^^^ Manager. ^emindar.

A Chinese Silver Ingot Stamped in Russia, 1830s By Helen Wang

The British Museum has acquired a small silver Chinese ingot, weighing 72.32 g, with a Russian overstamp. The ingot is of a type known as a "Gansu province waisted ingot" (in Chinese' Gansu yaoding), on account if its shape and place of origin The two Chinese stamps indicate that it was made in Lixian county, and gives the name of the smith who made it. The Russian stamp obliterates ail but the last character '"shao" of his name.

The Russian stamp reads (in Cyrillic) SEMI T PR. SEREBRA and gives a year in the 1830s. This is an abbreviation for Semipalatinskii Tamojnoi Probirnoi Serebra, or Semipalatinsk Customs Assay Office silver, 1830s. The Russian inscription and date is not fiilly visible.

Joe Cribb's Catalogue of Sycee in the British Museum. 1993, lists five examples of Gansu province waisted ingots: two in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, another reported by the famous Swedish explorer Sven Hedin in Chinese Central Asia, two more in the British Museum collection (one from the Kann collection, and one in the BM collection since before the 1870s) They are all two ounce local tax ingots.

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