Century 3rd BCE. to 1st CE - Lanka
Ruhuna - Elephant and Svastika - Cast

The cast Elephant and Svastika coins are recent finds at Akurugoda near Tissmaharama in south east Lanka and are thick and rough casts. The thin and finely Struck coins of same type were mainly found at the Abhayagiri Dagoba in Anuradhapura. It is the Classic and largest of the ancient coins which is uniquely from Lanka.

SPECIFICATIONS
AlloyCopper
TypeCast
Diameter32.6 mm
Thickness3.2 mm
Weight18.42 gms
Shaperound
DieAxis
OBRW_H1_ele+sva_cast_obverse OBRW_H1_ele+sva_cast_reverse
Obverse : Elephant with tusk walking to the left with trunk extended and tail ending in a triple fork, occupying the whole of the base. Above are four symbols
AJust above Elephant The Pennant Dhajaya symbol -|<|
BOn Top The Svastika revolving left or right (not clear) mounted on a staff and surrounded by a railing indicated by four vertical lines rising from a horizontal line.
COn upper leftTree with three-Branches each ending in a triple fork in a enclosure, divided into four compartments by a vertical and a horizontal line.
DOn upper rightChitaya of three cells, the two bottom ones are contiguous. (not clear)
Reverse : four symbols arranged
AOn Top The railed Svastika revolving right.
BBelowChitaya of three cells, the two bottom ones are divided by space, beneath a horizontal line.
CTo leftThe hour glass symbol i.e. |>|<| upright. (not clear)
DTo right Nandipada symbol. (not clear)

The description of six of these coins (H.1 to H.6) found in Akurugoda and cataloged in 1999 by Osmund Bopearachchi and Rajah Wickramasinhe in the book Ruhuna. An Ancient Civilization Re-visited . This coin is Plate Specimen H.1 in this book. Click here for longer discussion and links to other Plate Specimens from this book in this collection.

The coin was scanned at 600 dpi and displayed at 200 dpi. ex: Raja Wickramasinghe, it is from part of Lalith Raddella's collection I purchased in 2016 December.