Coins In Lucknow Mus. Vol 01 [56 MB - IndianCoins.org

ROMAN COINS.gold coin amid these jewelled treasures" What ! AWhy send me such a relic " ? So you say." Good to enhance some antiquary's pleasures ;Stamped for dead people in a buried "!dayTrue now, but look a little I If one ponderThe legend of this piece, its gold mayWith shinelustre leaving dull the gems of wonderWhich I did lay in those dear hands of thine.An aureus of the Roman empireSee IEdwin Arnold.I HAVE included in the present catalogue all the types of coins of theRoman Imperial series, which are contained in the museum collection,although the majority of the copper issues were doubtless not discoveredin India.The earliest notice, so far as I am aware, of the discovery of goldRoman coins (aurei) in the Madras Presidency, is contained in a letterfrom Alexander Davidson, Esq., formerly Governor of Madras, datedpeasant near Nelor, aboutJuly 12, 1787, who 1 writes as follows : "A100 miles north-west of Madras, was ploughing on the side of a stonycraggy hill his ; plough was obstructed by some brickwork he ;dug anddiscovered the remains of a small Hindu temple, under which a littlepotwas found with Roman coins and medals of the second century.He sold them as old gold, and many no doubt were melted, but theNawab Amir ul Umara recovered upwards of thirty of them. Thishappened while I was governor, and I had the choice of two out ofthe whole. I chose an Adrian and a Faustina. Some of the Trajanswere in good preservation. Many of the coins could not have been incirculation ; they were all of the purest gold, and many of them asfresh and beautiful as ifthey had come from the mint but yesterday ;some were much defaced and perforated, and had probably been wornas ornaments on the arm, and others pending from the neck."In 1800 a pot was dug up at Palachy, containing a great manycoins of Augustus and Tiberius, which were all of the same weight andvalue, each weighing 56 grains. Concerning these coins Buchanan2says " One of the kinds is of Augustus. The : legend round the headis CAESAR AVGVSTVS DIVI F PATER PATRIAE, that is, CfBSCtr Augustus,Divi Filius, Pater Patrice. Above the reverse, representing two personsstanding with two bucklers and spears placed between them, thelegend is AVGVSTI F cos DESIG PRINC JVVENT, that isAugusti Fitio,Ooitsule designate, principe juwntiitis. Under the figures is writtenCAESARIA or Ccesaria, at some city of which name it has been struck.The other coin is of the same weight and belongs to Tiberius. Thelegend round the head is TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS Tiberius1 Asiatic Researches, 1790, vol. ii, p. 332.2Journey through Mysore, Canara aad Malabar, ed. ii, 1870, vol. ii, p. 31.