Century 3rd BCE. to 1st CE - Lanka
Ruhuna - Elephant and Svastika - Cast
The cast Elephant and Svastika coins are recent finds at Akurugoda
near Tissmaharama in south east Lanka and are thick and rough casts.
The thin and finely Struck
coins of same type
were mainly found at the Abhayagiri Dagoba in Anuradhapura. It is the
Classic and largest of the ancient coins which is uniquely from Lanka.
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Alloy | Copper | |
| Type | Cast |
| Diameter | 32.6 mm |
| Thickness | 3.2 mm |
| Weight | 18.42 gms |
| Shape | round |
| DieAxis | O° |
|
| 
|
Obverse : Elephant with tusk walking to the left with trunk extended and tail
ending in a triple fork, occupying the whole of the base.
Above are four symbols
| A | Just above Elephant | The Pennant Dhajaya symbol -|<|
|
| B | On Top | The Svastika revolving left or right (not clear)
mounted on a staff and surrounded by a railing indicated by
four vertical lines rising from a horizontal line.
|
| C | On upper left | Tree with three-Branches
each ending in a triple fork in a enclosure, divided into four compartments by a vertical and a horizontal line.
|
| D | On upper right | Chitaya of three cells, the two
bottom ones are contiguous. (not clear)
|
Reverse : four symbols arranged
| A | On Top | The railed Svastika revolving right.
|
| B | Below | Chitaya of three cells, the two
bottom ones are divided by space, beneath a horizontal line.
|
| C | To left | The hour glass symbol i.e. |>|<| upright. (not clear)
|
| D | To right | Nandipada symbol. (not clear)
|
The description of six of these coins (H.1 to H.6) found in Akurugoda
and cataloged in 1999 by Osmund Bopearachchi and Rajah Wickramasinhe
in the book Ruhuna. An Ancient Civilization Re-visited .
This coin is Plate Specimen H.1 in this book.
Click here for longer discussion
and links to other Plate Specimens from this book in this collection.
The coin was scanned at 600 dpi and displayed at 200 dpi.
ex: Raja Wickramasinghe, it is from part of Lalith Raddella's collection
I purchased in 2016 December.