The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c35.s6.t1.2

v1.c35.s6.t1.2

On Persian coins generally see B. V. Head, The Coinage of Lydia and Persia (London, 1877), and E. Babelon, Les Perses Achéménides (Paris, 1893), pp. i–xx. The intimate connexion between the countermarks on Persian *sigloi* and those upon early Indian coins was suggested by E. J. Rapson, J.R.A.S., 1895, pp. 865 ff. Subsequent observations have tended to disprove this view, since it appears that most of the countermarked *sigloi* were not found in India; see G. F. Hill, J.H.S., 1919, pp. 125 ff. On the comparative value of gold and silver in ancient India see A. Cunningham, Coins of Ancient India (London, 1891), p. 5. In some parts of Asia in the thirteenth century the ratio was as low as 1 : 5; see Marco Polo, Book ii, Chapters l and liii.