The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

118 NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE.
ing original from which the Bukhara coins, now under
review, were copied, reveals itself manifestly in the
mintages of Varahran V. In this obvious assignment,
I find that M. Lerch has no more hesitation than myself.
There is, however, this difference in our views, that he
assumes that the imitative type described by me in the
Num. Chron. for 1873, p. 240, No. 77a which we both
of the Bukhara coins 1
accept as the direct prototype
formed one of the ordinary, though degraded, series of
the coins of Varahran V. ; whereas, I am disposed to
consider them as mintages improved upon the first crude
camp-issues of Varahran Chobin, as he grew in power.
No. 1. Plate VI. Fig. 1. Coin of Varahran Chobin
2
before A.D. 578.
Obverse. Head of Varahran Chobin, similar in its
typical details to the technical bust of Varahran V. The
execution of the die is, however, very inferior to that of
the earlier regal models, and the ornamentation of the
dress, etc., is far less rich than that appertaining
to his
royal namesake, and the profile itself seems to point to
an independent set of features.
Legend, in very imperfect letters, reversed, and reading
from the outside, from the front point of the crown.
"Varahran of the mace." 3
1 Planche xii. No. 16 de la collection . . . de M. de Bartholomaei publiee
Third Oriental Congress, 1876,
par M. Dorn, sec. ed. St. Petersbourg, 1875 ;
vol. ii. p. 422.
2 The autotype reproduction in Plate VI. is taken from a sulphur cast of
Mr. Steuart's original coin engraved his by Italian artist, and reproduced in
in Plate IX. Fig. 10, Vol. XIII. Num. Chron.
3 The mace was the special weapon of the heroes of the Shah Namah, and
formed part of the ordinary equipment of the heavy cavalry
of the Parthians
and Persians. It was calculated to prove peculiarly
effective against the chain
armour of the period. Mahmtid of Ghazni was celebrated for the use of the
mace, and its ceremonial employment survives to this day in the "C/wbddrs"
of Indian native courts.