1840.] of the Bactrians and Indo- Scythians. 1223 



hidden by the lion's skin, which it carries, and he has omitted the 

 club altogether. This omission alone is sufficient to prove that the 

 engraved tetradrachm is a forgery ; but when taken in conjunction 

 with the lowness of relief in the figures, the ludicrous barbarism of its 

 workmanship, the full eye in a side face, the two feet of Hercules turn- 

 ed to one side after the fashion of Indian art, and with the incomplete 

 monogrammatic letter ^^ there can be no doubt whatever that it is a 

 forged coin. 



I observe that both the legs of Hercules exhibit a double outline to 

 the right, which can have happened only from double striking ; prov- 

 ing clearly that this piece must have been struck from dies engraved 

 by the forger. When dies are once engraved they may be used either 

 for striking, or, with the addition of some clay round the edges to 

 separate the two dies to a distance requisite for the thickness of the 

 coin, they may be used as a mould for casting forged pieces ; and indeed 

 Dr. Chapman, to whom this piece belongs, mentions that there is a 

 cast of it in existence. The piece was procured at Bajawur ; and it 

 has been subjected to the fumes of sulphur to give it a dark appear- 

 ance. 



No. 2. A small round silver piece of the size of a drachma, weighing 

 61 grains ; it is one of two pieces in the cabinet of Dr. Chapman ; and 

 there is a third specimen also weighing 61 grains in the possession of 

 another gentleman, of which an impression is now lying before me. 



The execution of this piece is considerably more barbarous than that 

 of the spurious tetradrachm of Euthydemus just described. The 

 head faces to the left, instead of to the right, as on all the genuine 

 coins of Eucratides : one of the three spurious pieces however has the 

 head to the right. The change in the direction of the head, from 

 right to left, may possibly be owing to the inadvertence, and not to the 

 cunning of the forger ; for if he engraved his die from a genuine coin, 

 and not from an impression, the die would have the head in the same 

 direction as the coin, and the stamps made from it would be reversed. 

 I doubt however whether the forger had a genuine silver coin in his 

 possession ; if he had one, he would surely have made several casts 

 from it, instead of putting himself to the expence and trouble of cut- 

 ting dies. I am therefore inclined to believe that the forger had 

 nothing more than a sketch to guide him in engraving the dies of this 



