126 Nine Finds of Old Coins. [Nov., 



Two letters were read from the Curator, Central Museum, Madras, 

 forwarding 1, a specimen of a Nagri Gold Fanam found in the Nellore 

 District, 2, an old Madras Gold Pagoda found in the same district and 

 both acquired under the Treasure Trove Act. 



The Philological Secretary read the following Reports on nine 

 finds of Coins, viz. : — 



I. Report on 1191 old coins sent by the Deputy Commissioner of 



Singhhoomy with his letter No. 779 of 6th January 1885, 

 (found at Chaihassa ?) 



1. The place where the coins were found is not mentioned, but they 

 were forwarded from Chaibassa, in Singbhoom, Bengal Presidency. 



2. They belong to the class commonly called *' old Hindu punched 

 coins." They are well-known and have been often described by Prinsep, 

 Thomas and others (see Indian Antiquary, Vol. I, pp. 209 ff.). They are 

 supposed to be the earliest kind of Indian coins, but probably were in 

 use down to comparatively late times, side by side with more regular 

 currencies. They consist of small flat pieces of metal of all kinds of 

 shapes, marked with a great variety of " punches," some on one side 

 only, others on both sides. 



3. They are mostly of silver more or less pure (weight generally 

 of about 4 annas), but a large portion in the present collection, on being 

 tested, proved to be of some very base material, and many of them 

 entirely crumbled away. The latter may have been forgeries. 



4. They have been found very numerously all over India and are 

 of little value. 



II. Report on a find of 94 pieces of copper coins forwarded by the 

 Deputy Commissioner of Nimar, with his No. 2973, dated 23r(i 



December y 1884. 



1. The find-place is the village of Kirala, Tahsil Khandwa of the 

 Nimar District. Date of find 2nd May, 1883. 



2. The collection consists of 94 copper coins weighing about 2 pice 

 each. They are of the following Muhammadan rulers of Gujarat. 



No, of Specimens. 



(1) VIII. Qutbu-d-din Muzaffir Shah bin Mahmud, 917—932 

 A. H. = 1511— 1525 A. D. Dates represented, 921 (2 speci- 

 mens), 922 (2 sp.), 924 (1 sp.), 925 (6 sp.), 926 (3 sp.), 927 

 (3 sp.), 928 (5 sp.), 932 (2 sp.), illegible dates (4 sp.), bad 



(5 sp.) ; total, ... ... ... ... 33 



(2) XI. Bahadur Shah, 932—943 A. H. = 1525— 1536 A. D. 

 Date represented, 935 (2 sp.), 9 (1 sp.), 940 (4 sp.), 943 



(1 sp.), illegible date (1 sp.), total ... ... ... 9 



