History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c14.5

v1.c14.5

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.