186 
HINTS TO COIN-COLLECTORS 
concerned, was but a nominal coin, the actual rix-dollar not 
being issued till 1821. This was contemporaneous with a 
far ruder imitation of the same, evidently the produce of a 
local mint and first issued in 1801. "While obverse and 
reverse remained the same, except in point of value, the 
workmanship was of a very different character. Instead of 
the thin symmetrical coin already described, we have a set of 
thick clumsy pieces, closely resembling the familiar Mahom- 
edan dubs, so common in Indian bazaars, while the style of 
literation is infinitely inferior, and the careless method of 
stamping rarely brings the die on to the centre of the coin. 
This series appears both in silver and copper ; in the foi-mer 
metal of the value of 96, 48 and 24 stivers, and in the latter 
of and of a rix-dollar. The silver issues of this 
series are now very rare. The dates on them extend up to 
1817. In 1815 and 1821, however, we find a return to the 
European style of coining and the issue of a series of coins 
of the value of one rix-dollar in silver, and of two, one and 
half stivers in copper. The silver coin bears on the obverse 
the usual elephant in the centre, the lower portion being 
siirrounded by a wreath of leaves, beneath which appears the 
date, 1821, while above is the inscription in three lines, 
CEYLON ONE RIX DOLLAR ; the reverse bears the king's 
head to the left crowned with a wreath of leaves and the in- 
scription G-EORGIUS IV. D.G. BRITAN^IAEUM EEX 
F.D. The copper series also bears the elephant, but with- 
out the wreath, the date being 1815 and the inscription above 
CEYLON, TWO STIVERS, the reverse being as the last, 
except that the head and inscription are those of George 
III instead of George IV, and the head faces to the right. 
Two small silver coins also deserve notice here. The first 
of these bears on one side the word FANAM, and on the 
other TOKEN, each inscribed roimd a small dot in a circle 
in the centre, though whether this little coin is peculiar to 
Ceylon or not I cannot say. I have met with several speei- 
