i 9 . NUMISMATIC SUPPLEMENT No. XIII. 



Xote— The numeration of the article below is continued 

 from p. 389 of the u Journal and Proceedings " for 1909. 



76. Punch- marked Coins from Afghanistan. 



Though Cunningham has stated that punch- marked coins 

 are found all over India ' ' from the Himalaya mountains to 

 Cape Comorin, and from Sis tan to the mouths of the Ganges/' 

 it is by no means certain that they have ever been found in 

 large numbers in Afghanistan. At least no one has described 

 in detail any coin of this class found to the west of Indus. The 

 westernmost limit of recorded coins is Rawalpindi, or more 

 properly Shah-Dheri, near the Sarai Kala railway station of the 

 North- Western Railway. 1 Recently Dr. D. B. Spooner of 

 the Archaeological Survey has described a hoard of punch- 



corns 



In this connection I must 

 record that no one of the solar symbols found on these coins are 

 wheels. It would require an extra strong effort of one's imagina- 

 tion to call them so because in the majority of cases there are 



rims. 2 



The coins described below were sent to me for examination 

 by our President Sir Thomas Holland, who obtained them from 

 his Majesty the Amir, when he was staying at Calcutta. The 

 chief interest of the paper lies on the new symbols found on 

 these coins, Mr* Theobald in his learned essay 

 elaborate account of the punch-marks on these coii 



has 



The coins 



Afghanistan add 



list. These are most probably marks of the shroffs of Afghanis- 



tan. 



Brahml 



,ome of these coins. New symbols have been found on three 

 coins with blank reverses which according to Mr. V. A. Smith 

 are to be ascribed to Taxila. 3 The new symbols and letters are 



described below : — 



I. Letters. — The occurrence of single letters on copper 

 punch-marked coins has already been recorded, 4 but their 

 occurrence on silver coins has not, as far as I remember, been 

 noticed as yet. The Brahml letter na occurs twice (Nos. 31 

 and 36). The punch-mark is elliptical in shape and bears the 



1 Cunningham, A. S.R., vol. xiv, p. 18,pl.x, J. A. S. B„ 1901, pt. I. 



p. 64. 



* Annual Report of the Archseological Survey of In 



3 V. A. Smith, Catalogue of Coins in the Indian 

 p. IS8. 



* Cuimingham, A. 8. R.. vol. xxii, p. 114-16. 



