A Coin Mould-Piece from Nagarjunakonda

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MOULD-PIECE FROM A COIN NAGARJUNAKONDA EXCAVATIONS NEW LIGHT ON THE SILVER COINAGE OF THE SATAVAHANAS BY 1. KARTHIKEYA SARMA (Archaeological Survey of India, Hyderabad) During my recent study of the Satavahana coinage, I have come across a baked clay mould-piece 1) containing the design repertoire of the reverse of a portrait coin-type of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi, from among the Satavahana antiquities obtained in the earliest historical layers at Nagarjunakonda. The preserved portions of the legend are quite clear and this unique example, first of its kind, therefore deserved a detailed publication. Physical Features (Pl. II, 3, 4). This discular terracotta 2) piece is the underside of a single-mould intended to produce the reverse of a portrait coin. The diameter of the disc is 2-.5cms, while the coin-socket proper measured 1.35 cms, (i.e., .62"), and is cut slightly deeper. The size tallies with the known silver coin of this monarch. The wedge-shaped channel at X above, between the coin-socket and the raised border, is the passage for the molten metal to get in. The rear side is flattish and roughened. The design in the negative contained,-at the center a chaitya of six-arches on a platform and surmounted by a crescent; wavy line below; to left Ujjain symbol with the top arm crescented; in between the crescents a rayed sun symbol; and the legend around the margin starting at XII reads :- 1) I. Karthikeya Sarma, "Regional Distribution, Sequence, Chronology and Historical Significance of the Satavahana Coinage", In Shastry, A. M. ed., Coinage of the Se7tavibanasand Coins from Excavations, pp. 75-103 (Nagpur, ig72). 2) Indian Arcbaeology, I 9 j 6- j 7-A Review, p. 3 8, Pl. LXI (centre). This is wrongly attributed to Gautamiputra Satakarni, (= IAR). 90 Fig. i. Portrait Types on the Sätavähana Silver Coins (Courtesy : P. R. K. Prasad) .

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