1889.] Philological Secretary — Reports on coins. 229 



this description have been occasionally found, and specimens of several 

 different kinds have been described and figured in Prinsep's Indian Anti- 

 quities, Wilson's A-riana Antiqua and elsewhere, lint no Indo-Sassa- 

 nian coins, so far as I am aware, of a type so closely resembling the 

 real Sassanian coins as those of the present find, have ever been dis- 

 covered. Those approaching nearest to the present coins are figured in 

 Plate XXXIII (figs. 7, 8, 9, 10) of Vol. I, of the Indian Antiqui- 

 ties. 



The coins of the present find show a very striking resemblance to 

 the genuine coins of the Sassanide king Firiiz, who reigned from A. D. 459- 

 486. His coins are of two different types of which one appears to be- 

 long to the earlier part and the other to the later part (about A. D. 471- 

 486) of his reign. It is the latter type (*. e., later type) of Fmiz's coins which 

 the coins of the present find resemble. The distinguishing features of these 

 later coins of Firiiz are : on the obverse, the king's bust wearing a tiara 

 to which two eagle's wings are attached and which is surmounted by a 

 crescent enfolding a globe or a star. The king's face is more or less 

 bearded and occasionally moustached, his hair is gathered in a coil at 

 the back of his head. In the field, in front and behind the head, are the 

 conventional corkscrew fillets. On the reverse there is the usual fire- 

 altar flanked on each side by a human figure and surmounted on the 

 right by a crescent and on the left by a star. In exceptional cases the 

 star is on the right and the crescent on the left, and in some others there 

 is another crescent instead of the star. On both the obverse and reverse 

 there are Pahlavi legends. See E. Thomas's Sassanians in Persia, 

 plate V, figs 8 and 9. Every one of these particulars is clearly trace- 

 able, though in somewhat cruder execution, on all the coins of the 

 present find. There is only one noteworthy exception ; on none of 

 them is any Pahlavi legend, nor indeed any legend whatsoever. 



The coins are distinctly divisible into two classes according to the 

 features of the head represented on the obverse. On those of Class I the 

 head is of a distinctly Sassanian type, and in the better specimens has a 

 decided resemblance to the head of Firiiz as seen on his coins. On those 

 of Class II, on the other hand, the features are those of a rude Barbarian 

 with thick lips and large nose, not unlike those of the Indo-Scythian 

 king Kadphises on some of his well-known gold-coins. The coins of 

 Class I, are of two different types, distinguished mainly by the artistic 

 execution of the head. Under each type there are the two varieties 

 marked by the position of the star and crescent on the reverse ; there 

 is a third variety which clearly shows the moustache of the king. One 

 specimen shows clear traces of having been twice struck. 



The age of the coins may be determined by their remarkably close 



