222 Numismatic Gleanings. 



[NO. 6, NEW SERIES, 



extremely short and throw little light on the subject. The speci- 

 mens of southern coins which fell in the way of James Prinsep 

 were not likely to be overlooked by such a zealous numismatolo- 

 gist. They appear to have been but few and are included in his 

 plate'of Ceylon coins published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society 

 in the year 1837.* These together with such other incidental re- 

 ferences as have fallen in our way, will be duly noticed in their pro- 

 per places. 4 



We possess no data to show at what period the use of a coined 

 currency as a medium of exchange was introduced into India. But 

 this we know, that the art of stamping metal with a die for such a 

 purpose, came into Asia from the west. Long previous however 

 to the introduction of a die-coinage, the employment of pieces 

 of metal stamped or punched with various symbols was general 

 throughout India. It is true that a punch or wedge (in French 

 coigne whence the modern term coin) was also used in the fabri- 

 cation of the earliest known coins of Europe. But this was al- 

 ways done in conjunction with a die or matrix on which the piece 

 of metal was placed and an impression obtained by means of a 

 smart blow with a hammer on the wedge. One side only of the 

 coin therefore was stamped, the reverse exhibiting the marks of the 

 wedge in the form of one or more square cavities. 



The oldest Hindu coins, on the other hand, are distinguished by 

 numerous small indented symbols cut on the punch itself and evi- 

 dently struck at different times, the later ones often obliterating 

 those which had been previously impressed. And this mode ap- 

 pears to have continued without the introduction of any interme- 

 diate process until superseded at once by an improved die-coin- 

 age with perfect reverses. 



European writers assign the earliest known employment of wedge 

 struck pieces by the Greeks, to the middle of the 7th Century B. C. 

 The piece of metal was generally of a spherical shape which be- 

 came somewhat flattened after being struck. Of this kind are the 

 staters of Melitus, the drachmas of Egina called sax^ or thick, 



* Vol. VI. PI. XX. 



