Yes, gold fanams from the Indian Princely States. Some of the tiniest and most affordable gold coins you can acquire. I used to be able to get them for less than ten bucks apiece, but nowadays $25-30+ is more the norm. They're tiny and crude, but a few centuries old. (I do not have the skill to exactly attribute yours, beyond confirming them to be gold fanams as @goombanj pointed out.) Because of their gold content and the novelty of their small size, these are quite popular. I heard a story that they were "largesse money"; that is, they would've been scattered to the crowd by the local prince or potentate, perhaps during festivals. I have no idea if that's true or not, but it's a colorful story, and fun to think about. Makes me wonder what a metal detector could find in some of those Indian villages. If those things hit the dirt, a lot of 'em would've stayed gone. I lost one in @Aethelred's old apartment once, in the living room. We tore the place apart looking for it and failed to find it. Months later, he or his wife found it while sweeping dustbunnies out ... from under the fridge, two rooms away, in his kitchen! The moral of that story is, keep those in a secure holder, and don't drop 'em!
PS- Coin #1 seems tiny even for a fanam. They might've had fractional fanam issues. I don't know. Most of these I've seen attributed were from the 1600s to early 1800s. At least now you know where to start looking, if you want further information.
The bigger one of the two is not a gold fanam but a 19th century south-indian "Puveera" token. Beware if anyone tried to sell this to you as gold, as these are made of brass.
Thanks for the info guys... I have been thru about 500 pics of fanam's with no matches. The smaller one weighs .55g which is about right for other gold fanam's that Ive researched. The larger one weighs 2.93g and does look to be brass. Is there any value for these Puveera tokens?
