564 DESCRIPTION OF SELECT COINS. 



erection of the building; but by how long an interval it is not safe to 

 conjecture, nor is any light thrown upon their origin, although it is not 

 likely that they were of remote fabrication either with regard to place or 

 time, and the present Coin may be referred with some probability to the 

 Indo-Scythic princes of Western India, about the commencement of the 

 Christian era. 



The Coin in question is not Greek in any of its details, except the 

 doubtful similarity of some of the letters. It differs also very materially 

 from the Parthian or Arsacidan Medals in the general character of the ob- 

 verse, although in some of Vaillant's Coins, particularly one in the Ap- 

 pendix, ' Nummus Regis Persarum incogniti,' the head dress is much the 

 same. The reverse, however, is totally different from any thing observ- 

 able in the Parthian Coins, and on both faces the impressions are utterly 

 distinct from those borne by Medals of the Sassanian princes of Persia. 

 It cannot, therefore, be referred to either of those series ; and, from the 

 decidedly Hindu character of the reverse, is no doubt the Coin either of an 

 Indian prince or of a prince ruling over a Hindu people probably in the 

 Punjab, or on the north-western frontier, (see observation on No. 23,) 

 about the commencement of the Christian era. 



Plate I. Figure 2. 



A Gold Coin. 



Obverse. — A male figure standing : he has a cap on his 

 head, with fillets floating over his shoulders : he appears an 

 old man with a beard and mustachios, and is drestin a sort of 

 tunic and pantaloons, with a mantle at his back : his right arm 

 is extended, and his hand appears to grasp a small altar, his 

 left supports a sceptre or spear: the following inscription is on 

 the margin— *p£\«mpNGPFOK£>> «i»«it9MtC0&D"N<? . 



