Ceylon aka Sri Lanka

Here's a herd of elephants from the reigns of George III

1/2 stiver 1815


1 stiver 1815


2 stivers 1815

 

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That's neat. Thanks for the pictures.

 

Ian,those are nice coins,but the 1/2 & 1 Stiver coins are actually quite common.It is the 2 Stivers that is quite scarce.

Aidan.

 

I know that Aidan, but I thought it best not to split up the family.

Besides, I meant to include this one from the reign of George IV as paet of the herd.....

1 rix dollar 1821

 

Ian,that Cingalese Rixdollar is very nice.I haven't yet been offered one.It would be a nice coin to have.There are a couple of Cingalese counterstamped coins that are worth looking out for.They are quite scarce,as is the Cingalese silver 1 Fanam token.

Aidan.

 

Speaking of S(C)ingalese coinage here's three very early ones, all of them copper Massa Kahavanu roughly 19mm in diameter. Very three dimensional coins these.

The first is from the first reign of Queen Lilawati (1202- 1205 ad)


The second is her usurper, Sahasa Malla (1205 -1213 ad)


The third is from the reign of Parakrama Bahu II (1216 -1219 ad according to notes i've just reviewed)

 

Ian,that is Sinhalese coinage.Cingalese coinage dates from 1801 to 1972.The term 'Cingalese' in reference to Ceylon is derived from Sinhalese.

Aidan.

 

Speaking of Cingalese counterstamped coins, here's one of mine circa 1823. It's a 1/3rd rix dollar. Crown counterstamp on a Madras Arcot 1/4 rupee. Rarely seen these days. C/S is EF on a good VF coin. Is that one of the one's
to look out for Aidan?

 

I really like those 'Octopus Man' coppers. Thanks for showing them.

 

Yes,there is also a 1-1/3 Rixdollars as well.

Aidan.

 

Many people fail to correctly interpet the image as portrayed. The obverse shows a man (raja) standing holding a flower in the left hand, and an instrument of war in the right (fancy type of club?). The skirts of his clothing are crudely depicted on either side of his lower body, giving the impression that he has four legs.....hence the concept of an `octopus man'. The reverse sees the figure in a seated position. Interesting art involved in the design of these coins

 

Singhales is the main language in Sri Lanka.

 

My only one fro Ceylon (so far) nasty bit of green on it though any thoughts on how to get rid of it and preserve the coin?

De Orc

 

Any idea what this is?

 

If you take a moment to look at the pictures that Ian has posted, you will see some that are more or less the same as the one you have posted This should give you a good starting point.

De Orc

 

I did and thought its similar to the second one.

Where do you research about these coins? Any books?

When I bought it they didn't really know what it was, they had a bunch for sale and I picked this one. I didn't really know what it was either. Does anyone know its value?

 

Those 5c's are nice chunks of copper. Pity about the start of verdigris, but i would imagine that it is still at the `curatable' stage. It's hard to tell from the image if the verdigris is still at a superficial level on the reverse, or if it has eaten into the surface of the coin. The smattering of `green' on the obverse looks like it might remove with relative ease though.

 

When i brightened up the image / improved the contrast, it looked to me to be nigh on a perfect match to the one I posted of Sahasa Malla (1205 -1213 ad). According to an article written by WH Scott (Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland) the Sahasa Malla type are the most frequently found of the Ceylonese `raja' coins. That does not mean that it is `common' given that this series of coins was only struck between 1202 -1303 ad, a period of only 100 years.

As to `value'....i've never seen any particular strong demand for these coins in the past, mind you I haven't seen all that many of them on the market at any given period in time either. In other words, to be perfectly honest I haven't a clue about their current values.

 

Ian what would you sugest using to rid myself of the green scourge LOL

De Orc

 

Ian, thank you for the info.