3rd century BCE. - Lanka
Ruhuna - `Punch Mark' silver
The identifiable silver Punched-marked coins from Tissamaharama in
Ruhuna belong to the Magadha-Myurya karshapana series.
The best known of the Magadha Empire (B.C. 542-413) is King
Bimbisara (B.C. 542-493) the Royal patron of the
Buddha Siddhartha Guatama (B.C. 563-483) in Pataliputra (Patna).
The best known of the Mauryan Empire (B.C. 322-185) is Emperor
Ashoka (B.C. 273-232) who sent his son Mahinda to Lanka with the
Buddhist philosophy he conveyed to King Devampiya Tissa
(B.C. 247-207) in Mihintale in B.C. 247.
The obverse is usually covered with Five or Six punch marks, often
overlapping. The reverse his has usually fewer punches, frequently
smaller and less distinct, often just one or even none.
The Punch-marked coins below illustrate the wide variety of shapes,
sizes (11-23 mm), thickness (1-3 mm) and weights (1.6-3.4 grams)
in which they have been found in Lanka.
Please help me identify some of the Punch Mark coins on this page.
I thank Anne van't Haaff and Pankaj Tandon who have so far sent me comments.
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Height | 19 mm |
| Width | 14 mm |
| Thickness | 1.2 mm |
| Weight | 2.4 gms |
| Shape | Rectangle |
|
|
|
01
Obverse : 468 Sun; 417 6-arms; 348 dog-on-Mountain; 58 Bull(r); G12 Python
Reverse :
ID Brig Muna: GH424 IV-Group XXXI G12 Python
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Height | 19 mm |
| Width | 16 mm |
| Thickness | 1.4 mm |
| Weight | 3.0 gms |
| Shape | Rectangle |
|
|
|
02 Identified by Anne van't Haaff as Gupta/Hardaker # 442, (XC, extremely common).
A Punch-Mark coin of this type illustrated as G.71 in OBRW
Obverse : Clockwise from 2 O'clock: 468 Sun; 446 6-arms; 349 tree-on-Mountain; 58 Bull(r); A1 Elephant
Reverse :
ID Brig Muna: GH 442 Series IVd - Group XXXII A1 Elephant, Belongs to Nandas 370-320 BCE. This coin has been restruck. Worn Revese symbpls difficult to identify.
See Fish and arrowhead symbols at the ends of 6-arms.
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Diameter | 16 mm |
| Thickness | 2.5 mm |
| Weight | 3.4 gms |
| Shape | Round |
|
|
|
03 Identified by Pankaj Tandon as Gupta/Hardaker # 574
At the very top of the scan, the punch appears to be what I think of
as "the stag," punch #4 on GH 573-575. The coin is possibly 574,
because I think I see the bull on the left of your scan.
Obverse : 2 O'clock: 270 tree tilting out of enclosure(not seen);
8 O'clock: 392 6-arms;
Reverse :
ID Brig Muna:
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Side | 13 mm |
| Thickness | 3.1 mm |
| Weight | 3.4 gms |
| Shape | Clipped Square |
|
|
|
04 Identified by Pankaj Tandon as Gupta/Hardaker # 501-503
The coin seems to have the well-demarcated square, plus the pile of
hills over on the right of the scan. On the other hand, down below the
punch seems to be the jumping dog. So I don't know ...
Obverse :
Reverse :
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Diameter | 16 mm |
| Thickness | 2.3 mm |
| Weight | 3.4 gms |
| Shape | Round |
|
|
|
05
Obverse :
Reverse :
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Diameter | 15 mm |
| Thickness | 2.5 mm |
| Weight | 3.4 gms |
| Shape | Round |
|
|
|
06 Identified by Pankaj Tandon as Gupta/Hardaker # 586 or 587
I am eliminating 584 and 585 because of the reverse). You don't often
see these with the separate human figures.
Obverse :
Reverse :
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Side | 15 mm |
| Thickness | 1.7 mm |
| Weight | 2.7 gms |
| Shape | Square |
|
|
|
07
Obverse :
Reverse :
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Diameter | 14 mm |
| Thickness | 2.7 mm |
| Weight | 3.2 gms |
| Shape | Round |
|
|
|
08
Obverse :
Reverse :
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Major | 17 mm |
| Minor | 14 mm |
| Thickness | 2.1 mm |
| Weight | 3.1 gms |
| Shape | Elliptical |
|
|
|
09 Identified by Anne van't Haaff as Gupta/Hardaker # 493, ( N, Normal, neither scarce, nor common).
This type is not listed in OBRW
Obverse :
Reverse :
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Diameter | 14 mm |
| Thickness | 2.5 mm |
| Weight | 3.3 gms |
| Shape | Round |
|
|
|
10
Obverse : 2 O'clock: 15
Reverse :
Brig Muna: Series VIb
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Height | 13 mm |
| Width | 12 mm |
| Thickness | 2.7 mm |
| Weight | 3.2 gms |
| Shape | Rounded Rectangle |
|
|
|
11Identified by Pankaj Tandon as clearly a series VI coin,
with the sun, the 6-arm, and the 3-hill, but I'm not sure beyond that.
Obverse :
Reverse :
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Height | 23 mm |
| Width | 12 mm |
| Thickness | 1.0 mm |
| Weight | 1.7 gms |
| Shape | Rounded Rectangle |
|
|
|
12
Obverse :
Reverse :
Punch-marked coins from the single hoard of 28 Imperial Punched-marked
and 4 Lakshmi plaques found in a Terracotta money box (I.1) found in
Akurugodella are illustrated in the 1999 catalog Ruhuna. An Ancient
Civilization Re-visited by Bopearachchi and Wickramasinhe, OBRW
G.59-G.86 Plates 9-11.
Note: The images of the punch-marked coins in that book have been scaled
up by about 60% unlike the most of the other coins illustrated.
Eight of those coins are round to slightly elliptical, Eighteen of the
coins are square to slightly rectangular (ratio 0.87 +/- 0.7 ) and two
are highly rectangular (ratio 0.55. like #12 above).
The size is on average 17 x 15 mm (+/- 2 ) with
an average weight of 2.7 +/- 0.4 grams.
The punched-marked coins #02-#12 illustrated above were obtained from
the Author of this catalog, where those coins have been identified
according to the classification proposed by P. L. Gupta and
T. R. Hardaker (1985) in Indian Silver Punched-marked Coins:
Magadha-marura Karshapara Series, Nasik.
| Series | G&H# range | Number | Comment
|
| Series I | 001-264 | 264 | Not Found in Lanka
|
| Series II | 265-290 | 26 |
|
| Series III | 291-334 | 44 |
|
| Series IVa | 335-354 | 20 |
|
| Series IVb | 355-383 | 29 |
|
| Series IVc | 384-397 | 14 |
|
| Series IVd | 398-476 | 79 |
|
| Series Va | 477-509 | 33 |
|
| Series Vb | 510-526 | 17 |
|
| Series VIa | 527-539 | 13 |
|
| Series VIb | 540-583 | 44 |
|
| Series VII | 584-596 | 13 |
|
Text from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
Page 16 Chapter III Ancient Coins - Edlings - Plate 1
The coins were scanned at 600dpi and are displayed at 400dpi. These
punched-Mark coins which had been found in Lanka were obtained in Lanka
in 2000 August. #01 was a gift from Brig. Munasinghe, and the rest
obtained from Rajah Wickremasinhe author and collector in Lanka