1st-3rd Century CE - Lanka
`Lakshmi' Plaque - Struck lead

SPECIFICATIONS Alloy Pb Type Struck Height 33.0 mm Width 16.8 mm Thickness 2.4 mm Weight 6.59 gms Shape oblong DieAxis 0°

Obverse : goddess Lakshmi standing between two stalks of a plant Elephants on right side of head clearly visible. Left side chipped off.
Reverse : railed svastika revolving to right (clockwise). Images of two symbols on either side. Three lines below.

Twenty Lakshmi and svastika lead coins (H.30 to H.49) with heights from 13 to 47 mm ; width from 5 to 23 mm and weights from 0.5 to 16 grams that were found in Akurugoda are cataloged under Local Coins in 1999 by Osmund Bopearachchi and Rajah Wickramasinhe in the book Ruhuna. An Ancient Civilization Re-visited . The coin above was obtained directly via the same collector who provided most of the items for that book.

The plaque shown above is far more metallic silver-like appearence than other Plaques in the LakdivaCoin collection or I have seen. If it is lead, then it has a relatively higher content than normal. The metal composition of coin needs to be determined. For longer discussion and links to other Lakshmi plaques see collection.

The coin was scanned at 300dpi and displayed at 300dpi. It was obtained in 2001 December directly from farmer who found it in Ruhuna via Mr A. Ratnayaka a collector in Katharagama, Lanka.