5. NUMISMATIC SUPPLEMENT No. XXVIII. 



Vo^.-The numeration of the articles below is continued 



from p. 140 of the "Journal and Proceedings" 



for 1916. 



i' 



170. The Drachme of the Sassanian Queen Boran. 



In the Numismatic Supplement No. XVI, Art 99 bv 

 Mr. Thanawalla is a description of the rare " dirham of Queen 

 Purandukht," belonging to my friend Mr. Maneck R. Settna. 



The mint monogram on this drachtne is giren in the des- 

 cription as r i; (ram), but on referring to the illustration I felt 

 unable to accept this rendering, the correct version bein„ 

 undoubtedly g*±i (nihch). The owner, in order to enable me 

 to confirm my opinion, courteously gave me an opportunity of 

 inspecting the coin, with the result that I have no hesitation 

 in declaring the reading fa to be incorrect and misleading. 



Mordtmann reads the monogram as '« nach " and would 

 identify the mint with Nakhjevan, situated on the Araxes on 

 the Russo-Persian frontier. This rendering is verv doubtful. 

 The ^ is indisputable, but the intermediate letter," composed 

 >f two strokes rounded off and not resembling A, has the first 

 part complete and distinct, while the second forms the head of 

 H. In preferring nihch to nach I am supported by De Morgan , 

 who argues that the reading of Mordtmann can be accepted 

 only if his interpretation of A be given the Pahlavi value of 

 Ml, a condition prohibited by the distinctness of the letter I. 

 He suggests as the mint name Nfhchavan, but unfortunately 

 he has not indicated the situation of this town. 



The suggested similarity of monogram with that in Dorn , 



XXIV, fig. 38, noted in the description, does not exist. 

 On the contrary the monogram tallies exactly with that on 

 fig. 35 of the same plate and also with fig. 19 on PI. XXIX. 



According to Mordtmann the mint "ram" occurs only 



PI. 



Kh 



The 



mint " nihch ' ' is found frequently on the drachmes of the ephe- 

 meral sovereigns between Khusrau Par viz and Yezdegerd 

 Shahriyar. I have a coin of the second regnal year of Hor- 

 mazd V bearing the monogram "nihch," exactly resembling 

 that on the coin under review. 



An important part of the obverse legend has been omitted 

 altogether. This is the monogram above the word yi}k (af- 

 zutu) behind the head of the Queen. This monogram Mordt- 



