Copper in Ancient India c8.s5.3

c8.s5.3

slabs or cakes are about half to three-fourths 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 verified. The honey-combing I have found in three-sizes, the hollows in the largest being about seven-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. These puzzled me when I found them first at Bhambor, a ruined site near one of the mouths of the Indus upon a small heap at one corner; but upon finding near them both at that place and Brahmanabad (afterwards Mansura) not only copper coins but little pellets of copper which fitted them, the real use of these clearly marked tablets became apparent. I also found many fragments with small lumps of verdigris (sub-acetate of copper) adhering to the edges of the little cells. They were no doubt connected with the coining apparatus of the Arabs. I take it that these slabs of clay were first heated upon a furnace to prevent the sudden chilling of the copper poured into them, and when filled and all surplus copper run off, each hollow contained a pellet of uniform size and weight. These were then placed between the dies and struck by a heavy hammer”.¹