Ian,do you know which Maharajah of Jaipur this Nazarana Rupee was struck under? A Nazarana coin was struck as a presentation piece by some of the Indian Princely States. Aidan.
Yes Aidan, I do. If you look closely you'll see that his name is written on the coin. Be carefull though as the coin can throw you off. Queen Victoria is also named on it. Just one of those quirks where her name continued to be used through to 1922. Obviously 1911 is well past her sell by date and could lead you to believe that it's either an error coin or older than it actually is. PS it's Maharaja Madho Sing II (1880 -1922).
Ian, are you able to read those scripts? I dont know anything about this one... I know Hindi (Devanagiri script), Sanscrit, Malayalam, Marathi, Urdu and Tamil scripts... I guess this one is Arabic or Persian.. I just know that they are written from right to left..
Yes.....and no. I've come to learn the `pattern' as opposed to the meaning. For example, in the images below I have highlighted what I know: The first image highlights `in the names of Queen Victoria' The second image highlights `Madho Singh II'. The area highlighted underneath is the numbers `32', signifying year 32 (also known as 1911 AD).
thats interesting... so how many patterns do you know? or do you refer to these patterns? I know that some slight changes here and there can change the entire meaning of words in Arabic...
Well, your question is a bit like asking `how long is a piece of string'. I either recognise what is in front of me, or i don't. If i don't I refer to whatever books i have to see if they can help. If they don't....I ask around. Numbers in arabic or pashtu or any other language are just `patterns' after all. If you recognise them you recognise them. if you don't it's handy to have a reference source..... I don't have all that many coins from the reign of Madho Sing II. He's a bit `modern' for me. If you have a copy of Krause Mischler, it provides assistance with some scripts like mint names and rulers / shahs. What the scripts look like on the coins (as opposed to on paper) are often pretty abstract. Its an education in itself deciphering them! The main script that appears on early arabic Indian coins is usually `there is but one god, and his name is Allah' or similar. I have a number of early coins from the Khilji's and early Sultans of delhi etcetera. Some of the language is Farsi as opposed to arabic. I had difficulty with these.
