Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Catalogue of the Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, Including the Cabinet of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 1: Part II, Ancient Coins of Indian Types
Although the coins known as 'punch-marked' are rude and ugly, bear no legends, cannot be precisely dated, and, as a rule, are not assignable to any particular State or locality, they possess very special claims on the interest Of the scientific numismatist, as documents in the early history of coinage. They also appeal to the anthropologist as authoritative records of the symbolism - religious, mythological, and astronomical - current throughout India for many centuries.
The term 'punch-marked adopted by general consent means that the devices on the coins are impressed, not by means of a die covering the face of the coin, but by separate punches applied irregularly at various points on the surface. Naturally the impressions so effected often interfere with one another, and in cases where they are numerous the result is a confused jumble of symbols. Ordinarily, no difficulty is experienced in distinguishing the obverse from the reverse, the former being occupied by the larger symbols, commonly numerous, and the latter being sometimes blank, more Often marked by a single minute device, and not infrequently marked by two or three comparatively inconspicuous devices. The cases in which both sides are crowded with symbols are rather rare. Examples will be found in Nos. 52 - 8 of this catalogue.
Mr. Theobald has been at the pains of enumerating more than three hundred different devices found on punch-marked coins. Examination of about one hundred and fifty specimens in detail resulted in proof that ninety-six symbols are confined to the obverse area, twenty-eight to the reverse, while fifteen symbols occur on both sides'. On the obverse the average number of symbols is about five, whereas on the reverse the average does not exceed two.
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