Ancient Ceylon. Anuradhapura period. 1st Century AD. Lakshmi Plaque (lead) . Unusually large specimen. 44mm long & 13g weight. Only 1 of 4 such larger heavy specimens found on Sri Lanka. Extremely rare. These plaques bear on an obverse showing the Hindu goddess of fortune Lakshmi. Reverse is the sign of a swastika mounted on a pillar. These were excavated only from 1917 and a majority were of copper struck specimens. The lead alloys scarcer and rare intact being brittle and buried for 2 millenia. Even so, most specimes are smaller with only 4 of such large size ever excavated from Sri Lanka.. Used to be regarded as offerings, later more and more specimens were unearthed thus leading Numismatists to believe that they were ancient currencies. Also comes in fractional pieces
these are cool, ancientnoob posted on of these not long ago i believe...i don't recall the size, but it was in pretty good shape.
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/feast-your-eyes-anuradhapura-kingdom-plaque-coins.267075/ I think Noob's examples are copper rather than lead.
Yup.. in fact what prompted me to get one was after seeing @Ancientnoob excellent piece. Then I later had the good luck of finding a good and reliable source for it.
Excellent Goh, it was only a matter of time. The huge cast lead is an amazing piece and certainly one of the great numismatic curiosities. These do not survive well. TIF is correct mine is a copper alloy. Struck not cast. Which in itself is a minting achievement.
Like I said yours was the first I saw that introduced me to these. Before then I never knew they existed. Also an excellent struck piece with sharp details and original patina. Dark and shiny.. initially I thought it was lead too