History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c14.4

v1.c14.4

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.