The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c12.61

c12.61

¹ This ‘coined’ or ‘stamped’ silver (*signatum argentum*) probably consisted of the little flat ingots known to numismatists as ‘punch-marked’ pieces, because they are not struck with a die, but are marked irregularly by small punches of various patterns applied at different times. A hoard of these coins was found in the Bhīṛ mound at Taxila, deposited with a gold coin of Diodotus, gold jewellery and other relics (Marshall, *Guide to Taxila*, pp. 117, 118). For accounts of this curious coinage, which was used throughout India, see Rapson, *Indian Coins*, §§ 4–6; Cunningham, *Coins of Ancient India*, pp. 54–60, pl. I and II, 1, 2; and *Catal. of Coins in the Indian Museum*, vol. I, pp. 131–42. The punch-marked coins follow the monetary system of the Achaemenian dynasty of Persia (558–330 B. C.), as proved by Monsieur J. A. Decourdemanches (*J. As.*, Jan.-Fév. 1912, pp. 117–32). The early *copper* coinage of Taxila is described in the works cited.