1st-3rd Century CE - Lanka
`Lakshmi' Plaques - Cast

SPECIFICATIONS Alloy Pb-Cu Type Cast Height 33.2 mm Width 17.3 mm Thickness 3.0 mm Weight 6.53 gms Shape oblong DieAxis O°

Obverse : goddess Lakshmi standing between two stalks of a plant.
Reverse : railed svastika revolving to right (clockwise).

The metal is brittle and flakes easily; there is a general tendency to split at the junction of the moulds, as if the obverse and the reverse had been cast separately and then soldered together.
The analysis of a small plaque weighing 21.5 grains, made at the instance of Mr P. E. Pieris, yielded the following result :-

Lead -

59.93%

Copper -

14.84%

Silica -

0.62%

Iron -

0.14%

Nickel -

A trace

Click here for longer discussion and links to other Lakshmi plaques in collection.

The coin was scanned at 300dpi and displayed at 200dpi. This broken Plaque was purchased with an exquisite fragment . in 1995 at a coin show in Baltimore, USA and motivated the restart of this Lankan coin collection.

Text edited from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  Page 26 Chapter III - Ancient Coins - Plaques