| SPECIFICATIONS | ||
| Alloy | Pb | |
| Type | Cast | |
| Diameter | 23.6 mm | |
| Thickness | 2.9 mm | |
| Weight | 5.62 gms | |
| Mint | Ruhuna | |
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Obverse : Antelope in flight to right
Reverse : Legend in Brahmi - pa ra ga ha
The coloured Artwork of Antelope; a realistic representation of the stylised drawing on coin, is by Wildlife Artist Sanjaya Weeratunge.
Described in OBRW as a lion jumping, looks like a Antelope in flight. The pair of hind legs curved up, the short stubby tail, a pointed head with antlers are clearly visible in the high resolution scan.
Jan Lingen in the Review of OBRW book reports on another specimen of this same inscribed coin which also looks like a antelope and has a more clear reverse with Brahami inscription read by Prof Harry Falk as Gaha*pa*ti-Guta-puta-Gutaha, with Shanka (?) and Trisul at the centre. Translation: of Gutta (skt. Gupta), son of the Gahapati (householder) Gutta. According to Jan his coin is cast from the same mould as this OBRW E12 and as far as he knows, the first Brahmi inscribed lead token found in a non-Lankan context.
Click here for longer discussion of items from Ancient Ruhuna and links to other Plate coins from this book in the lakdiva collection.
The specimen was scanned at 600 dpi and displayed at 300 dpi.
It was obtained in 2016 May from Lalith Raddella in Colombo who had purchased a
selection from Raja Wickramasinghe.
A modern Replica of this lead token is documented.