124 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal { April, 1905. 
33. A Zodiacul Half-rupee. Pl. V. 1. 
A few days ago I came across in the Ahmadabad bazar a 
zodiacal Leo half-rupee [ Legend, normal: Date, Hijri year wanting, 
regnal year 13; Mint, Ahmadabad]. If this be, as it seems to me 
to be, a genuine specimen, it furnishes evidence, hitherto wanting, of 
the existence of zodiacal coins of that denomination. Imitation half- 
rupees, indeed, bearing representations of the signs of the Zodiac, 
are well known (See Br. Mus. Catal. Nos. 386-401), and these them- 
selves, gud imitations, may fairly be taken as proof more or less 
substantial of the currency of the original coins they counterfeit. 
Had there been no genuine half-rupees, it is hard to see why the so- 
called “imitations” should ever have been fabricated. 
Beside the recently-discovered half-rupee, three full rupees of 
Leo type lie before me on the table at which I am now writing. 
Two of the three were evidently struck from one and the same die, 
but the third not less evidently from a die slightly different. On 
the two, for instance, the word 493) is written as )»4) with no 
superscribed dot over the “ze” (Pl. V. 2), but on the third as 
yx) with no subscribed dots under the “ye” (Pl. V. 3). Also on 
the duplicates after the word sls of Jahangir Shah comes a small 
curved flourish distinctly to the left of the “ha ” ; but on the third 
we have a longer sprawl, not to the left at all, but directly above 
the “ha.” The two are evidently indentical with the coin 
No. 385 figured on Plate XI of the Br. Mus. Catal., and there styled 
an “imitation rupee.” If these be imitations, then the third (of the 
y9) type) is certainly genuine, and it is with this third specimen 
that the half-rupee agrees in every particular. 
But, indeed, on what ground the Br. Mus. rupee No. 385 is 
adjudged to be an imitation I fail toapprehend. A complete state- 
ment of the differentiz that serve to discriminate between a genuine 
Zodiacal muhr or rupee and the beautifully-executed ‘‘ imitations,” 
a statement more detailed, and thus more practically helpful, than 
the paragraph on pp. LXXXITI, f. of the Br. Mus. Catal., would, 
I feel sure, be very acceptable to the collectors of the coins of 
this fascinating series. 
Gro. P. Tayior. 
Ahmadabad. 
Note.—1 take the opportunity to figure yet a third variety in 
which the word 593} 1s written without any dots (Pl. V. 4.) All 
three types appear to be equally genuine. I note also that on the 
two specimens of the “Cancer” rupee in my cabinet, the reverse 
legend of which is similar to that on the “ Leo” rupee above 
mentioned, the word j943 also appears without dots. 
H. N. WriGaHr. 
