No. 58. — 1907.] EARLY COPPER COINS. 



211 



Any one who wishes to prove 

 they are not coins must, in the 

 first place, give a satisfactory 

 explanation of the swasti mono- 

 gram on them, which as much 

 belonged to royalty as "God Save 

 the Queen" at the end of a mo- 

 dern Proclamation is an indica- 

 tion of its royal authority. I 

 fancy it would be a difficult 

 matter to produce instances of 

 the ancient use of swasti without 

 royal authority. 



In a book on the swastika* so 

 many instances are given that 

 the difficulty is to choose those 

 most striking. 



Some of its meanings are the 

 sun, male and female principles, 

 those of the Scandinavians, 

 blessing, long life, good fortune, 

 &c. It is found on the spinning 

 whirls of Troy ; in the graves 

 of American Indians, engraved 

 on shell or cut from copper. In 

 England, Ireland, and Scot- 

 land it has been used decora- 

 tively ; it is a favourite orna- 

 ment with the Chinese and 

 Japanese, and was in the seventh 

 century a.d. the Chinese char- 

 acter meaning the sun. It is 

 marked on the pottery of Baby- 

 lon, Assyria, Chaldea, Persia, 

 Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, and the 

 Swiss lake dwellings. It was 

 the first of the 65 auspicious 

 signs on Buddha's feet. The 

 Jainas use it, drawing it with 

 the finger in spread rice flour, 

 sugar, salt, or any suitable sub- 

 stance. It is a horse brand in 

 Circassia, and has been found 

 stamped on copper ingots from 

 Ashantee and carved on a pillar 

 in Algeria. At the present day 

 it is drawn by the Bengalee 

 merchant on his door, and is 

 used generally as the symbol of 

 good luck. 



In fact it is no more royal 

 than is the four-leaved sham- 

 rock, 



*The " Swastika," by Thomas Wilson, Government Printing Office, 

 Washington, U.S.A. 



