1226 Second Notice of some forged Coina [No. 108. 



Greek, Mendndrasa. I may add however that this is the only coin on 

 which I have seen the name written in this way. 



In No. 7 I have copied the Bactrian Pali characters of the name of 

 Amyntas, as they appear upon the beautiful drachma belonging to Dr. 

 Chapman. The first letter is the initial a; the second is m, inflected 

 with the vowel i ; the third is compounded of the half of the letter n 

 (as above) and t; and the last is s j the whole four letters reading 

 together in perfect accordance with the Greek, Amintasa. 



It is a curious fact that the engraved originals of all the five forged 

 coins, now published, are to be found in the same plate in the Journal 

 of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, (PI. 46. Nov. 1836); and as I have 

 shown that the foot stroke to the initial letter of the Bactrian Pali name 

 of Amyntas, which is found in the engraving in that plate, does not 

 exist on the actual coin, and that the wanting portion of the stroke of 

 the monogrammatic letter ^ on the spurious tetradrachm of Euthy- 

 demus is the very portion that is faintly sketched in Mr. Prinsep's 

 engraving ; I am almost tempted to believe that the forger of these 

 spurious coins is in possession of a copy of that plate ; and that all 

 these forged pieces have been imitated from the engravings contained 

 in it. It is scarcely possible that a native of the East, resident in 

 Afghanistan, should have one of these plates in his possession ; and as all 

 the information which I have received from Dr. Chapman and from 

 others, tends to prove that a white man is the superintendent forger 

 of many false coins, I have little doubt that he (the white gentleman) 

 is in possession of a copy of that plate, and of others ; and that he has 

 pointed out to his native assistants the particular coins which he 

 wished to be forged. Of the common coins, such as drachmas of 

 Menander and Antimachus, the forger has made casts, because he was 

 easily able to procure original specimens ; but of the rarer coins, such 

 as those of the types imitated in the forgeries which I have just des- 

 cribed, the fabricator, unable to obtain original specimens from which 

 to form his moulds for casting, has taken advantage of Mr. Prinsep's 

 etchings, and has iinitated them as well as he was able. Such at least 

 is the conclusion that I have come to from the facts before me ; and I 

 have hopes that before long, I shall be able to expose the white gentle- 

 man, who superintends the forging of these coins, to the merited con- 

 tempt of the public. 



