100 Hon. E. C. Bayley— Note on a hoard of 543 Sassanian Coins. [No. 2, 
and in anticipation of the troubles which eventually followed that 
occurrence. 
It is then clear of all Muhammadan influence, and this may be a matter 
of some importance in respect to the marginal marks which are found on 
the obverse of some of the coins of Khusru II. The only marks to be 
found in this hoard are all evidently expressive of the same formula, what¬ 
ever that may be, which when clearly written, appears to be -3 aU , 
though this is sometimes altered into ^ , &c., apparently carelessly, 
as may be seen by the gradations in which these last two are derived from 
the first, which I take to be some form of the word “ afzud.” 
No such marks are found in any of the coins in this hoard, of earlier 
dates than the 11th year of Khusru’s reign. They are not found at all on 
the coins of some mintages, as, for example, on the mintages marked 1, 2, 
8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, in the accompanying table. I may add, however, 
that on another coin, dated the 20th year of Khusru II. and with the 
mint mark No. 8 ( which was not found in this* hatch ), I have found another 
“ countermark,” viz.: • 
Can this indicate that this separate coin was a mere reproduction of 
Khusru II.’s type, struck after his death ? for none of the large batch, which 
were clearly struck in his lifetime, have any other countermark than those 
I have described. 
It is, however, to be said that the application of these marks seems to 
have been very capricious ; for they do not appear, when adopted, to have 
been continuously used, and they sometimes are not found on the coins of mint 
cities which show them both on earlier and later dated coins, and similar 
coins of the same mint and year will be countermarked or plain indiffer¬ 
ently. 
As Mr. Thomas is engaged in identifying the mint cities, I have not 
made any attempt in this direction; and the only other remark which 
occurs to me is that apparently the obverses have first been struck and 
then the reverse, as in process of minting the symmetry of the obverse 
impression is very frequently destroyed. 
N. B. The small figures above the dates in the accompanying table in¬ 
dicate the number of coins (if more than one) of the year in question ; thus 
Khusru I. 29 2 means that there are two coins dated in the 29th year of 
Khusru I. of the same mintage. 
# It was brought from Herat by Capt. Marsh. 
