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History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c14: 3.3 Methods of Coin-making

History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c14

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English

Contents

3.3 Methods of Coin-making

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Sources of our knowledge of minting coins in ancient India consist of indications given by the relevant coins, archaeological finds (other than coins) and references in literature. The extant specimens of coins are mainly in silver, copper, gold, lead, billion, potin, bronze and brass.

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On the basis of discernible minting techniques, ancient Indian coins can be broadly divided into four classes, viz, (i) archaic die-struck including the so-called ‘punch-marked’, (ii) cast, (iii) repousse and (iv) die-struck. In contrast to the coins of class I those of class IV may be characterised as “sophistically” die-struck.

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Devices on a large number of silver and copper coins do not cover the whole or most of the flan. Here the devices are impressed by separate punches with various dies ‘applied irregularly at various points on the surface’ (Smith, 1906). This peculiarity led Prinsep to use the term ‘punch-marked’ for describing this series of coins (JASB, 4, 1835, p. 627). For manufacturing such pieces a prescribed amount of metal (and alloying materials) should have been melted in a crucible and the molten metal was left to be cooled as a lump or was cast into sheets of required thickness.

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In case of a lump, it had to be beaten out into a sheet. Strips, cut out from sheets of this type, were divided into pieces of same weight and final adjustments were made by cutting small bits from one (or more than one) corner of heavier pieces. Where such trimming was not necessary the pieces cut out from the sheets could be roughly of the required size (square, squarish, rectangular, oblong, bar-shaped, round, nearly round, oval, etc.) If the sheet was very thick, the rectangular or square pieces cut out of it would look like ingots. These pieces of prescribed weight, technically known as blanks were probably slightly heated and then impressed with devices from different dies punched on them on one or both of their two sides (obverse and reverse). The deeply struck devices would look like independent incuses on a flat and fairly broad surface. If a bar-shaped blank was struck heavily with two devices at two ends, it would naturally bend in the middle resulting into a bent bar coin.

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Some irregularly oblong or roundish coins give the impression of having been formed out of drops of molten metal. Here the dropped blank¹ (in contrast to cast blank or beaten-out lump blank) was perhaps stamped with a symbol or symbols while still in a semi-molten stage. A number of saucer shaped coins and numerous small coins might have been minted with the help of dropped blanks. If the quantity of dropped metal was sufficient enough to be impressed by only one die and if the die was struck very hard, the blank would have resulted in a saucer-shaped coin.

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In case of the dropped metal having been very small in quantity (looking like a small molten globule), the resultant blank was very small in size, often not being spacious enough to receive the impression of even one die. However, such cup-shaped and minute coins could well have been produced out of beaten-out or cast blanks².

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All these varieties of specie were struck with dies. So all of them can be broadly called die-struck coins. However, they lack the more sophisticated technique and appearance of regular die-struck pieces. Both sides (obverse and reverse) of most of the latter pieces appear to have been struck simultaneously with two dies (obverse and reverse dies). On the other hand, the archaic die-struck pieces bearing more than one symbol on at least one side seem to have been impressed with them by punches from different dies, all of them having not been struck simultaneously (even when impressed on one single occasion). Such pieces, which received more than one ‘punch’ should be strictly classed ‘punch-marked’. These as well as the others bearing not more than one ‘punch’ on one side may be loosely classed under the category of ‘archaic die-struck pieces’. There are indications that the coins displaying not more than one symbol or marked on one side were in circulation in *inter alia* the period of regular minting of ‘punch-marked’ pieces (Curiel and Schlumberger, 1953; Marshall, 1951; Mukherjee, 1977).

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The evidence of the larger Bhir mound (Taxila) hoard indicates the circulations of the punched-marked coins in the 4th century B.C. The contents of the Chaman-i-Hazuri hoard may be considered to allude to the minting of the punch-marked pieces even in the 5th century B.C. The use of the punch-marked coins on a large scale in the Maurya period has already been suggested (Mukherjee and Lee, 1988).

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In the light of these inferences we can discuss the minting of coins as indicated in the *Arthaśāstra* of Kauṭilya, generally attributed to the Maurya age (late 4th to early 2nd century B.C.) Kauṭilya referred to a list of objects used in the atelier of a counterfeiter of coins (*Kutarūpakāraka*). These included metals, alkali, crucible, charcoal, bellows, tongs, hammer, chisel, anvil and die engraved with design (bimba) (*Arthaśāstra*, IV, 420). Same articles were apparently used in a regular mint. It appears that lumps of metal were fired with purifying agents (including some other prescribed metal)³. Then prescribed quantities of ‘purified’ metal lumps and alloying materials were melted in crucibles and the molten mixed metal (including the hardening alloy) was cast into sheets (or mixed metal lump was hammered into sheets). The sheets or strips from the sheets were cut into pieces of required size and weight. The sheets or blanks could be blanched with alkali. Then the blanks (cold or slightly heated) were placed one after another on the anvil and stamped by the die (bearing the design in negative) with the help of a hammer. If more than one design was to be impressed on the blank in one single operation, relevant number of dies (each carrying one design in negative) were used one after another.

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Kauṭilya recommended minting of silver and copper coins. According to him, the Lakṣaṇādhyakṣa (i.e. mint-master) should manufacture ‘silver’ coins with one-fourth part copper and a māṣa of supporting material (vīja) (i.e. hardening alloy) consisting of iron, tin, lead or antimony⁴.

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In a silver coin of paṇa denomination, weighing 16 māṣas⁵ only 11 māṣas were of pure silver. In case of a copper coin the sustaining material (ājīva) (i.e. hardening alloy) was one-fourth of its total weight⁶.

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The method of coining indicated by Kauṭilya might well be applicable to the manufacturing of many of the above noted types of archaic coins including ‘punch-marked’ pieces. Unfortunately archaeological remains of any mint used for producing such coins have not yet come to light. Nevertheless, we have data to indicate atleast the major stages in the production of these coins. The manufacturing method does not appear to have been very sophisticated. In fact, the practice of stamping semi-molten lump or drop of metal or striking the blank successively (or at intervals) from different dies (as on punch-marked pieces) was laborious as well as detrimental to the quality of production. However, devices or symbols stamped carefully with well engraved dies could have produced clear and artistic reproductions on blanks.

II

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A great number of coins carry devices, which are not as sharply cut or clear as those on a great number of archaic coins including the ‘punch-marked’ series. These devices seem to have been impressed on coins not by hard striking, but by casting metal in moulds bearing the required impression in negative. The process of manufacturing these coins involves preparation of mould(s), melting of metal and casting of the latter in the mould(s). The negative of the intended coin-type could have been engraved or etched on a blank mould made of heat-resisting plastic clay or on a mould in cast metal. It was perhaps technically also possible to have the metal mould with the intended impression by casting the required amount of molten metal in a clay mould bearing the positive of the impression in relief. Similarly, according to an alternative and possibly more convenient method of preparing a clay mould for producing coins, the intended coin-device could have been carved in relief on a lump of clay or on a piece of metal. It was not difficult to rectify the positive impression, if it was found necessary. The latter, made either in clay or metal, served as a model. By pressing this positive impression on a lump of heat-resisting plastic clay, specially prepared according to the shape (round, rectangular, square, etc) and size of the intended coin, a mould was made, consisting of the intagliated negative impression. The mould with raised rim around the coin-socket was then baked.

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Molten metal, of pre-determined quality was now poured into the mould. Gradually hardened, it would receive the positive impression of the type found in negative on the mould. Some copper coins bearing device only on one side may have been minted following this process.

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If a coin was destined to carry devices on both faces, a second mould had to be prepared and an opening made through the rim of each of the moulds. The openings as well as the moulds were then jointed face to face. Molten metal could now be poured through the channel and into the cavity thus formed.

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Some cast coins found still joined together by a bar of metal indicate that these were cast in pairs. Each pair of moulds (bearing obverse and reverse devices), facing each other, were jointed with another pair of moulds by a channel. Molten metal poured probably through a hole in the channel, could flow into each socket. But in the process some portion of the metal could have sometimes dried up in the channel resulting in a bar joining both the coins. Ordinarily the bar should have been broken and detached from coins. But sometimes this was (mistakenly) left attached to the pair of coins.

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Some of the Yaudheya coin moulds, found at Sunet, consist of pairs of discs bound together back to back (i.e. by their blank faces) with the help of mortar. This evidence suggests that sometimes pairs of discs, each forming a set of moulds for obverse and reverse devices, were placed one above the other so as to make a cylindrical pile.

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The engraved faces of each pair of discs faced each other, while the blank side of each of them was attached to the outer side of the immediately upper or lower pair (as the case might be). The opening on the rim of each pair (as indicated in the last but one paragraph) was usable for channelling molten metal into the inner side. Available data indicate that the series of discs was then plastered over on the outer side, leaving only the channels leading to the sockets uncovered. Molten metal could now be poured into different moulds separately, or, which was more likely, it could be made to flow down through a vertical hollow column communicating with the channels leading to the coin sockets of the moulds placed vertically. The practicability of the latter method is indicated by the ‘U’- or ‘V’-shaped cut leading right into the socket of some Sanchi and Sunet moulds. The deep cutting through the side of each of these moulds seems to have been designed to allow metal run directly into the socket from some central channel (like the above mentioned vertical hollow column).

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The method of letting the molten metal flow down the hollow column was less time-consuming than that of pouring through the opening in each pair of discs. In the former case several coins could be made in one single operation. However, it also had greater risk of loosing part of the metal before reaching the socket. Commenting on the above noted moulds from Sunet, B. Sahni has observed that two or more cylindrical piles of moulds have been joined together “round a vertical axis so as to bring all the individual channels into communication with the single axial canal fed through a crater at the top” (Sahni, 1945, p.36). Similar Roman coin moulds have been discovered at Lingwell Gate in England (Sahni, 1945, pp.36 and 52; Pl. VII, Figs. 143-45). It is significant to note that the Sunet moulds of the later Yaudheya coins are to be dated long after the inception of Indo- Roman trade.

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More interesting are the discoveries of several coin sockets in single coin moulds. The shape of such moulds is either rectangular (as that of an Atranji Khera or Taxila piece) or circular (like that of several Taxila finds) in shape (Sahni, 1945, pl. VI, no. 126, pl. V, no. 123, nos. 119-122). The rectangular coin mould from Atranji Khera displays the negative impressions of Huviṣka’s coin devices in sockets arranged in rows. Only the sockets of the row nearest to the opening on the rim or the mould received metal through channels connecting them with opening. Each of the sockets in succeeding rows received metal through the channels connecting it with the nearest socket of the earlier row and also of the same row. Pairs of such moulds were often used to be fixed face to face with the help of tenons and were probably plastered over. Several Taxila moulds, however, do not betray traces of tenon or mortise. Here “the funnel-like inlet on one side of a mould narrows into a final canal which feeds the nearest coin socket and it is from this socket that all others have to be fed by narrow connecting channels” (Sahni, 1945, pp. 41 and 48).

v1.c14.s1.9

A similar arrangement was noticed by J. Dattari in some Roman moulds discovered in Egypt (Sahni, 1945, pp. 42 and 54). Several copper coins yeilded by a hoard at Masubazar (32 miles south of Purulia in West Bengal), which are joined with one another by metal bars, might have been produced through an analogous method.

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A complete set of three discs, found at Mathura, have the top and bottom ones blank on their exposed sides. Their inner faces bear coin sockets, while the central discs have coin-impressions on both faces. Traces of luting on the outer side indicate that these were plastered over. A part of the edge of the middle disc was cut away into a ‘V’-shaped notch, with a straight channel on each face leading from the notch to a point just beyond the centre. From this main channel four short branch channels came off at straight angles, two from either side of it. The ends of these four channels and that of the main channel itself communicated with the five coin sockets.

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To complete the opening at the edge of the triple mould, the two outer discs were excavated on their inner sides into shallow depressions which were either fitted opposite each other (on either side of the notch in the middle disc), or lay obliquely on two sides of the middle disc. Molten metal could be poured through the channels made of the above noted ‘V’ shaped notches (on two sides of the middle discs) and depressions (on the inner sides of the outer discs).

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The most elaborate process of coin-casting has been revealed by the fragments of early Yaudheya coin moulds found at Khokrakot, near Rohtak. Each disc seems to have a hole in the centre, from which radiating channels run into eight coin sockets arranged in a circle.

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B. Sahni thinks that at first a clay disc was prepared around a peg on the middle of a base plate enclosed by a hollow cylinder. Then an eight-rayed metal with a hollow centre was slipped down the peg and pressed on the clay. At the end of each of the radiating channel, thus excavated, “a coin model” was pressed to create a coin socket bearing the negative impression of the obverse or reverse concerned.

v1.c14.s1.14

Two discs, prepared in this way and coupled face to face, made one pair. Two such discs, one carrying the obverse and the other reverse impressions, were coupled face to face and fixed to each other with the help of tenons. Several pairs of discs, placed one above the other and marked with grooves cutting the outer face of the rims, formed one set. A number of such sets, dried up in sun, were placed one above the other. These were then plastered over with a paste of clay mixed with unhusked grain and then baked in a furnace. However, the central hole of the top disc and so of all discs were left open.

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These holes formed a hollow shaft. Molten metal poured down through it, with the help of a funnel-like opening at the top, would run by means of the radiating canals of each pair of discs into the cavities of coin sockets. B. Sahni is of the opinion that casting was done when the pile of moulds was still hot. The pile was probably enclosed in a furnace into which wind was passed with the help of a bellow, and the molten metal was probably poured in the manner described here. When the pile cooled down after the operation, it was broken up and coins were then taken out and cleared.

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The Rohtak moulds may be compared with ancient Chinese system of casting coins in a circle (T de Lacouperie, 1892, p. xxv), or with a stone mould for casting ten Pao luh kwa coins “arranged like a tree whose stem and branches are the rivulets for the metal and fruits or leaves the coins” (T de Lacouperie, 1892, p. xxviii; Macdonald, 1916, p.61; Sahni, 1945, p.55).

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A great advantage of the Rohtak system of casting coin was its capability of producing a very large number of coins in one single operation. However, an equally great disadvantage was that the moulds were broken and lost in that process. This drawback might not have been always faced in casting coins in moulds having one socket. At least we have evidence of producing coins in modern times from such ancient Roman moulds (Sahni, 1945, p.52). As part of the metal was likely to be lost in channels and before reaching sockets, it was difficult to control weight of each and every cast coin. This fact explains the divergence in weight of cast coins of apparently one and the same denomination. A part of the metal hardened in the channel leading to a coin socket in a mould which was sometimes left unseparated from the metal hardened in the socket. This distorted the shape of the coin produced from that socket.

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Again faulty casting could allow formation of air bubbles in the metal, resulting in the fragility of the coins concerned. Moreover, mould-impressions were not always properly transferred (with all their details and sharpness) to coins since such a transfer was not mechanically or manually controlled.⁷

III

v1.c14.s2.1

The apprehension of loosing matrices or of failure to ensure sharpness in devices on coins did not apparently plague the producers of a few classes of coins of thin fabric and light weight (Altekar and Mukhejee, 1982, p. 1387). These pieces bear devices on one side only, the other side carrying only their negative impressions. Apparently the thin flan of such a coin was placed on a piece of stone or metal displaying the positive impression of the device concerned either in high relief or in a sunken state. Then the thin blank was carefully hammered to receive on one of its sides the positive impression of the device either in relief or as incised (depending on the manner in which it appeared on the matrix). Consequently the other side of the thin flan got intagliated or raised traces of the device in negative. This process of transferring impression from a matrix to a piece of metal, popularly know as the repoussé technique, allows production of numerous coins from matrix and ensures good impression of the matrix-device on coins. But the repoussé technique not only involves a laborious and time consuming process, but also does not allow impressions of two distinct devices on two sides (obverse and reverse).

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The insignificant number of known pieces, minted according to this technique, indicates that the repoussé method of production was the least popular among moneyers. Probably its defects outweighed its merits⁸.

IV

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These difficulties faced in producing casts or repoussé coins could have been obviated by following another technique of minting. We are referring to the system of producing coins with the help of well prepared blanks and dies (each of which, meant to be impressed, with the exclusion of others, on obverse or reverse, bears a cohesive picture of devices related to one another or such devices and legends or only a meaningful legend or a part of it). This system was, at least in the early centuries of its use, a sophisticated development on the above noted archaic die-striking (including ‘punch-marking ’) methods.

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Among the most well produced die-struck series of specie of Ancient India we can include the coins (or at least many pieces) issued by the Indo-Greeks, Schtho-Parthians, Kuṣāṇas and Imperial Guptas. The appearance of two distinct devices or rather two distinct sets of cohesive devices of their coins and traces of double striking on blurred faces of some of these pieces suggest that the coins of these rulers were struck from two separate dies, used probably simultaneously. The method of die- struck coins of the Gupta and Pre-Gupta periods consisted mainly of gold, or silver, or copper or lead or billon (an alloy of silver with copper or tin), or potin (a compound of copper, lead, zinc and tin)⁹.

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The exact process of extraction (or segregation) of crude metal from native metal deposits and also the exact process of purification or refining of crude metal varied from metal to metal, as suggested by mediaeval and modern experience. However, a few early and mediaeval treatises perhaps indicate that firing of the metal was an essential part of each method (Dravyaparīkṣā, 17ff; Āīn-i-Akbarī, 6,3-9; 10-14; Viccaji; Ray, 1956, p.209 vide Parrington, 1961 pp. 716ff; Arthaśāstra IV, 4, 20; 11,13, 9 and 49).

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‘Purified’ remains of gold, copper, silver, etc., could have been melted and cast into ingots. “Mixed” metal like billon or potin could have been prepared by mixing prescribed quantities of molten metals and then casting the materials into ingots. These ingots supplied the basic materials for preparing blanks.

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It appears that the required amount of basic material was first melted down. The molten metal could have been mixed with prescribed quantities of alloying materials (whenever necessary), as in the case of preparing gold or silver coins.

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Then the required amounts of molten metal were probably poured into circular shaped moulds of regulated sizes.¹⁰ The blanks produced for the moulds could be heated and worked upon by hammering, etc., for achieving the required thickness and for destroying the brittle cast structure of their grains and thereby making them conducive to receiving the blow at the time of striking. Alternatively, the molten metal (mixed with alloying material) could have been cast into sheets or plates, which could be heated and worked upon and finally cut into round pieces of the size of the coined money.

v1.c14.s3.7

After preparation of blanks their weight might have been checked and adjusted according to the specified standard. We do not know whether, as in several manually operated mints of medieval and early modern times, the blanks were blanched by boiling them in a solution (like that of tamarind and salt) in order to clean and perhaps also to soften them.

v1.c14.s3.8

Preparation of dies was another important stage in production of coins. Impressions in relief on most of the well produced die- struck pieces suggest that devices on the relevant dies were hollowed out. We can guess two, if not more, possible ways for preparing these “intaglio” dies.

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Negative impressions of the obverse and reverse types (and inscriptions) could have been engraved, perhaps following an original design, on two separate dies of soft steel or bronze, prepared by cutting into slices a bar of steel or bronze, cast in mould and then annealed (i.e. softened by heating the bar to a temperature somewhat below the melting point and then allowing it to cool slowly)¹¹. The engraving might have been done by a sculptor with the help of such instruments as a graver’s wheel, drills of different shapes and sizes, a burin, a hammer and perhaps a compass.

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We can consider an alternative and perhaps a more practical or an easier way of making dies. The sculptor could have engraved in positive the obverse or reverse design on a lump of specially prepared plastic clay containing aluminium silicate and so possessing high heat-resisting capacity and high softening point (PCE).

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The lump of clay displaying the design would have to be fired properly. Then the terra-cotta design or model could be covered by molten ingredients of steel or bronze for transferring the design in negative on the gradually hardened material¹².

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Increased hardness could be achieved in case of a metal die, prepared following the first or second process, by heating it to a temperature somewhat below the melting point and cooling it by water quenching.

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The obverse and reverse dies were now fit to be used in a mint. One of them was fixed on or embedded in an anvil. The other die was attached to (or engraved on ?) a (square or an oblong shaped?) punch.

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Each metal blank was heated or was slightly softened by annealing (to make its hard material ready to receive the required impressions) or was left cold. The blank was then set on the die fixed on the anvil and the die-end punch was placed on it (i.e. the blank).

v1.c14.s3.15

The fact that the reverse type on numerous die-struck coins is found double-struck and/or partly out of flan does not at least indicate a regular use of any mechanical instrument (like a hinge connecting the two dies)¹³ to keep the upper die in proper place during the time of minting. Nevertheless, a regular alignment of the obverse and reverse impressions on a great number of coins suggests that care was at least sometimes taken before striking to put the upper and lower devices parallel to each other.

v1.c14.s3.16

The actual striking seems to have been done with the help of a hammer. After placing the die-end of the punch on the cold, or annealed or incandescent blank already set between the anvil-die and the punch-die the other end of the punch was struck with a hammer. As a result both sides of the blank received the required impressions and it was transformed into a coin. A recent experiment in Greek minting technique reveals that two blows of the hammer were sufficient to give full impression of both the dies on the flan (NC, 1963, p.226).

v1.c14.s3.17

Several coins, scrutinised under microscope, show homogeneity or near-homogeneity in size of the grains of their metal.¹⁴ This indicates that even if the coin was cold worked, the cast metal of the blank was heated and worked out (as indicated above). Or we may presume that a cold worked coin was heated to a high temperature to remove the strain sustained by its metal at the time of striking. At the time of heat treatment a good amount of recrystallisation could have taken place making the metal quite homogenized from the point of view of size of its grains. The same effect could have been achieved by striking the blank at a high temperature. But the hot-working could have affected the die-life.

v1.c14.s3.18

An examination of a large number of coins apparently intended to be round reveals that only a few of them are exactly circular in shape. It appears that the very method of production followed in ancient Indian mints made it impossible for the true circle to be obtained, since there was nothing to stop the flan from spreading irregularly under the blow of the hammer.¹⁵

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Unutilised space around the full impression of a reverse device can be noticed on a number of coins. This indicates that in these case the punch-die or the upper die was smaller than the blank set on and covering the face of the anvil-dies.

v1.c14.s3.20

The use of smaller upper die may have originated from the desire for allowing the blank to have enough space to receive the full impression of the reverse device even if there was some oscillation of the punch-die during the time of manually operated production. We should also note that the available evidence in other fields of numismatic research shows that an upper die (trussel die) was less durable than the lower die (pile die). So in a given period a mint might require more upper dies than lower dies. Hence the smaller size of the punch-die could have lowered the cost of production in a given period which would have been otherwise grater then the amount required for manufacturing the anvil-dies. As a result of hard striking by the smaller upper die on the blank its outer marginal part outside the area stamped with the relevant device became a little raised. Such concave reverse may be noticed on some coins, which have convex obverse (Mukherjee, 1967, Pl VI A, No. 9; Pl. VIII A; No.21; JNSI, 1956, Vol.XVIII; Pl 1, No.2f).

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Defects of various types, as noted above, are, however, not noticeable on a large number of coins of the pre-Gupta and Gupta ages including numerous Indo-Greek, Kusana and Gupta pieces. Many of these can be classed as objects of art. (Mukherjee 1978, pp.16ff; 1982, pp.20ff; 1983, Vol. XVII pp.22 ff). Production of such quality die-struck coins depended on the artistry of the obverse and reverse devices, excellence of the relevant die(s), purity and/or suitability of the required metal, efficiency in technique of minting and will and resources of the minting authorities (Mukherjee, 1982, pp.10 and 64).

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The majority or even all of these conditions remained unfulfilled by the strikers of the greater number of series of specie in the post-Gupta age, when a large number of ruling families did not at all strike coins (Mukherjee, 1982, p.66, n.2) We even do not know of coins of all members of all the ruling families of this age, who are credited to have their own coinage.¹⁶ There are reasons to believe that coins were used to be minted by rulers of at least certain dynasties only when there was demand for them in market and then also new pieces were struck often with old familiar types (Mukherjee, 1982, pp. 66-67, n.3) and sometimes even with the names of dead rulers (whose coins had already become popular with the people). Private moneyers were also allowed to mint coins. They were understandably not at all keen to maintain the quality of coins and purity of metal. As a result, coins bearing the name of a ruler might have continued even after his death, to be imitated in gradually debased metal and technique (Mukherjee, 1982, pp. 49ff).

v1.c14.s3.23

¹⁶ *Valdettaro (JNSI,35, Pl.1. no.13, 1973) and, following him, A.N. Lahiri, calls the pieces in question as “droplet” coins (JNSI, 1976, vol.XXXVIII, p.4). The word “droplet” means “a little drop”. But a blank of this type of coins might have been produced by a large drop or several small drops of metal. So it is

v1.c14.s3.24

This situation explains the hopelessly debased materials used in minting several series of die-struck specie in post-Gupta India (Mukherjee, 1982,pp. 39,41, 43, 49 etc). On many coins the figures are ill-executed and even grotesque, obviously due (partly or fully) to deficiency (a) in the merit of the designer, and/or die engraver (or designer-cum-die-engraver), and (b) in the metal of the die, and also (c) in the technique of minting.

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. On a fairly large number of coins an emphasis on delineating only the outlines of the figures in high relief is noticeable. This technique of execution was probably necessitated due to use of poor and alloyed metal and of dies deeply sunk in the relevant places only (Mukherjee, 1982, pp.43 and 53).

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Economic and political factors led to deterioration in the system of coinage, affecting seriously its typological, metrological, and technological aspects. The situation was quite chaotic when the power of Islam became firmly established as the most dominant political authority in the subcontinent in the 13th century A.D. However the conditions of minting became, to some extent, improved in the next few centuries, particularly in the age of the early Great Mughals.¹⁷

Notes

v1.c14.s4.1

wise to categorise the blank simply as made of “dropped” metal. Some dumpy silver coins found in the Bhabua area of the Sahabad district might have their blanks prepared in the same way (JNSI, 1973, Pl.I, no.13).

v1.c14.s4.2

2 Examination of several pieces of these types gives this impression.

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3 The Arthaśāstra refers to the purification of impure silver by adding lead to the extent of one-fourth of the weight of the silver (II; 10, 13) and apparently by heating the total mass of metal. In another place the same text recommends that impure silver should be heated four times in a crucible of bone (i.e. made of a mixture of clay and bone dust?), four times with equal amount of lead (in a pot of clay), four times in a dry crucible, three times in a pot-sherd and twice in cowdung and then it should be made bright with Indus-earth (II, 13, 49). According to Pliny, silver ore “cannot be smelted except when combined with lead or with the vein of lead, called galena. The lead ore, is usually found running near veins of silver ore. When submitted to the process of firing, part of the ore precipitates as lead while the silver floats on the surface, like oil in water” (NAH, XXXIII, 31, 95). For the purification of crude gold the Arthaśāstra indicates the use of lead and heating of the mass by cow-dung fire (II, 13, 9). The sufficiency in the degree of purification was to be attested to by an equation of the quality of the colour of two lines drawn on a touchstone, one by a piece of pure gold and the other by a part of the material (varṇikā) already heated for attaining fineness (II, 13, 17).

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4 Arthaśāstra, II, 12, 24. For Kauṭilya’s prescription for purification of different types of metal, see ibid,11,13

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5 Arthaśāstra, II, 19 refers to a dhāraṇa of silver as weighing 16 māṣas. Dhāraṇa as the name of a silver coin was of the denomination of silver kārṣāpaṇa, paṇa, or purāṇa.

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6 Arthaśāstra, II, 12, 24, according to Kauṭilya, a rūpadarśaka or coin-examiner should test the purity of hiraṇya (ibid, II,5). The term hiraṇya generally means “gold” or “gold coin” it may, however, also refer to coin in general.

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7 The practice of producing cast coins in official mints declined after c.3rd-4th century A.D. In the Gupta and post-Gupta ages the casting method was perhaps increasingly adopted by counterfeiters for imitating coins struck officially from dies. It is interesting to note that the moulds found at Kadal in the Deccan bear legends in the Nāgarī script datable to the period from the 11th to 15th century (Sahni, 1945)

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8 Gupta and Jha (Ed.), 1987, p.129.

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9 A small number of coins, including a piece attributed to Candragupta II, are considered to be made of brass (Mukherjee, 1982, p. 32, n.41)

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10 Some clay-slabs or cakes were found at Bhambor and Brahmanabad in Sind. These “are about half to three- quarters of an inch thick, upon one side of which are impressed rows of little cup-like hollows, forming a regular honey-comb pattern, while the lower sides have been subjected to great heat and are vitrified”. A few of these were found during excavations at Bahmanabad along with some pellets, which fitted the hollows, and some copper coins, produced apparently by striking such pellets with dies.

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According to a hypothesis, these were "first heated upon a furnace to prevent sudden chilling of copper" poured into the cavities. After the molten metal became frozen in the hollows, they took the size and weight of intended coins. These slabs were used for minting coins of Arabic rulers (ANRASI, 1903-4 p. 137; pl. XLVIII, no. b).

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11 Del Monte, 1961, p. 21. It was perhaps also possible to engrave the negative impression of a design on a block of stone and then to use it as a die. (In this connection see also NC, 1922, p. 2).

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12 It was also possible to cut a positive design in high relief on the lower end of a bar or punch and then to punch it on soft metal to produce a intagliated die with the negative impression. This method, known as hubbing, allowed die-cutters to have identical dies from one master punch (NC, 1922, pp. 18-22; 1963, p.221). The positive impression could also be impressed, while the bar or punch carrying it was hot, on a piece of hard wood. The latter could then possibly serve the purpose of a die (NC., 1922, p.2). It is difficult to ascertain whether the system of hubbing was known to ancient Indian mint-masters.

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13 That the Roman mints used hinge "is proved by the discovery in Gaul, of an obverse and a reverse die of Constans I, still so connected". Alternatively, the upper die might be so constructed as to fit on the lower one like the lid of a box, as is the case with a pair of dies of Faustina Junior, now in the Lyons Museum (Macdonald, 1916., p.66; COROL, 1906, pp. 178f).

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14 The coins so examined belong to the Indian Museum, Calcutta. These were examined under microscope at the Conservation Section of the Museum.

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15 There is no evidence of the use of any type of collar around the dies to check the blanks from spreading out (see also. Linecar, 1962, p.25).

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16 "Bull" and "Horseman" devices were used not only by different members of the Shahi Dynasty, but also by rulers of other families. The "seated goddess" type of Gāṅgeyadeva influenced the coin type of several other groups of rulers.

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17 For a discussion on minting in medieval India, see Mukherjee and Lee, pp.23p.f; pp.24-25 .

References

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Āin-i-Akbarī of Abul-Faẓl-i-Allāmī, tr into English by H. Blochman, 2 vols, Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1867-77; Vol.3. translated into English by H.S. Jarett and annotated by Jadunath Sarkar, 1948.

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Altekar, A.S and Mukherjee, B.N. : "Coinage" in R.C. Majumdar (Ed) 1982, p. 1387.

v1.c14.s5.3

Arthaśāstra of Kautilya, tr.into English by R. Shamasastry, 4th edition, Mysore, 1951; edited and translated by R.P. Kangle, three parts, Bombay , 1960-65.

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Curiel, P. and Schlumberger, D. : 1953, Tresors mone'tairs d' Afghanistan, Paris.

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Del Monte, J.: 1961, Fell's International Coin Book, 4th ed. N.Y.

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Dravyaparīkṣā of Thakkura Pheru, Vaisali, 1976.

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Gupta, P.L. and Jha, A.K. (Ed): 1987, Numismatics and Archaeology, Nasik.

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Linecar, H.W.A. : 1962, *Coins*, 2nd ed. London. Marshall, J. : 1951, *Taxila*, Vol.II, Cambridge. Macdonald, G. : 1916, *The Evolution of Coinage*, Cambridge. Majumdar, R.C. (Ed): 1982, *A Comparative History of India*, Vol.3 Part. II, New Delhi. Mukherjee, B.N. : 1967, *The Kuṣāṇa Genealogy*, Calcutta. Mukherjee, B.N. : 1977, “Tiny Coins of Malwa” in B.D Kosambi Commemoration Volume, Varanasi. Mukherjee, B.N. : 1978, *Kuṣāṇa Coins of the Land of Five Rivers*, Calcutta Mukherjee, B.N. : 1982, *Art in Gupta and post-Gupta Coinage of Northern India*, Lucknow. Mukherjee, B.N. : 1983, “Some Aspects of Technique of Minting Kushana Coins”, *IMB* 17, pp.22. Mukherjee, B.N. and Lee, P.K.D. : 1988, *Technology of Indian Coinage*, Calcutta. Parrington, J.R. : 1961, *A Text Book of Inorganic Chemistry*, 6th edition, London. Ray, P. (Ed.): 1956, *History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India*, Calcutta. Sahni, B. : 1945, *The Technique of Casting Coins in Ancient India*, Bombay. Smith, V.S. : 1906, *Catalogue of the Coins in the Indian Museums*, Vol.1, Calcutta & Oxford. T. de. Lacouperie : 1892, *Catalogue of the Chinese Coins in the British Museum*, London. Viccaji, *Notes on the Hand Minting of Coins in India*.

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