We are very happy to announce that the 3rd National Numismatic Exhibition – 2012 Will be held on 18th, 19th & 20th May 2012 in Hyderabad at the  Maruti Gardens Convention Center No. 11-4-669/1 Beside Om International Hotel Lakdi Ka Pool Hyderabad.  The venue is approx 1.5 KM from  Nampalli (Hyderabad) Railway Station

• Everyone is invited for this 3days of Exhibition cum Fair of Coins, Bank Notes & Stamps.
• For more information like Exhibits & Dealers Stall Rent and other information, please mail us at info@maruphilaque.com

Very soon we’ll update all the information in our website www.MaruPhilaque.com

Thanks & Regards, Maru & Team

Marudhar Arts 

114 (F6), 1st Floor
120, Pamadi Chambers,
Dr. D. V. G. Road, Basavangudi (Gandhi Bazar) 
Bangalore 560 004 (INDIA)

Fax +91-80-2661-9800
Phone + 91-80-6532 – 9800
Mobile + 91-9243145999

The place today known as Pawaya, situated very close to Gwalior in MP, used to be the capital of their last empire. This place started yielding an unbelievably large number of small copper coins two centuries ago. One of the hoards is reported to have yielded more than 100,000 coins in a single place and in a single container.

These coins started making an appearance in the numismatic market in the past few years. But people who buy them have very little idea about the kingdom that produced these coins. The only book published so far on this topic is 60 years old and is not available now in the market. It is hoped, therefore, that this book will furnish the highly needed introduction to the coins of the Nagas of Padmavati.

You can download your free copy of this e-book either by clicking on the picture or by clicking the link given below:

Dowload Free Ebook

Picture 1: A Fake Tipu Sultan Coin, Fabricated In Mysore After It Was Cleaned. Examination At 10X Magnification Shows That It Is A Cast Fake.

The number of fake coins appearing in the Indian coin-market has been on the increase in the last few years. Therefore any person who is interested in collecting coins should make sure that he buys coins only from  reputed dealers. Buying from a reputed dealer will ensure that the seller will take the coin back if it turns out to be fake.

What is more, reputed coin dealers would not knowingly sell you a fake coin. They know that selling coins to a customer is a long term affair and they also know that they will have long-term customers only if what they sell is genuine, of reasonably good quality, and reasonably priced.

The first thing, therefore, that every coin collector should do is to ask for references from others who have been buying coins for some time. They will be able to tell you who the reputed and reliable sellers are.

Picture 2: The same coin as above before cleaning. It was sold in this condition first of all to hide the fact that this was a fake. Secondly, it was sold in this manner to convince the buyer that this is a very ancient coin that was dug up by someone. 

It has come to our notice that fed up with coin shortage, some people in Mumbai have minted a large number of private one rupee and two rupee coins. According to the news:

Fed up by the constant shortage and increasing black-marketing of coins, wholesale traders in South Mumbai have minted their own coins and are using them as currency. So far 50,000 coins of Re1 and Rs2 denominations have been minted and are being distributed in the wholesale markets in Bhendi Bazaar and Masjid Bunder.

The coins, made by the Mandvi-Koliwad association, were put in circulation in the first week of January. “A metal cast was made for one rupee and two rupee coins. Coins worth Rs50,000 have been made in the first batch; more will be made depending on the response,” said Dinesh Shah, a grocery store owner and member of the association. [http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_mumbai-traders-mint-coins-to-beat-shortage_1641080]

Such an activity is not allowed as per the laws, and the Reserve Bank of India has initiated actions. According to the news:

Perturbed by reports of illegally-minted small denomination coins being used in certain parts of the city, the Reserve Bank of India Tuesday promised to get to the bottom of the case.

“I have gone through the reports. These are newspaper reports indicating its use in some areas. We have to verify it. I have asked the RBI’s Mumbai office to get details of it,” RBI Governor D. Subbarao told media persons here while unveiling the third quarter review of monetary policy.

He said that the RBI Mumbai Office has been instructed to investigate the issue and if required, initiate appropriate action in the matter. [www.pravasitoday.com/rbi-to-probe-illegal-coins-circulated-in-mumbai-markets]

While India was relatively free of coin-forgery till the 1990s, and though most of the forgeries were of paper currency, the fast-growing numismatic and tourist market has resulted in a boom for counterfeiters also.

Coins of Tipu Sultan, both copper as well as silver, have always enjoyed great demand and they are being forged now with a vengeance in Karnataka. The bulk of them are sold to tourists, but gradually they are permeating into numismatic markets also.

If you do not wish to be duped by these coin-sellers, then you MUS read this ebook. It is totally free. The book will be revised often to add information and pictures, so be sure to download the latest issue. Click the picture for your download. Alternately, you can click the link given below:

http://www.IndianCoins.org/Encyclopedia/Intro_Ind_Coin_Forgeries.pdf

This is because by invaders started attacking and subduing the northern part of India by this time, and they heavily influenced the coinage and monetary system in the North of India. Very few invaders went to south beyond what today is called the Maherashtra sate. Thus the coinage in the four southern states evolved almost totally independent of the coinage in the North. The divergence was so great that even a person uninitiated in numismatics can spot the difference easily.

The North Indian coinage: North Indian coinage from roughly 200 BC onwards started sporting the image of the ruler and inscriptions. Images other than that of the ruler, plus symbols, were also introduced but the image of the ruler and corresponding inscriptions adds tremendous value to these coins in discovering and reconstructing ancient Indian history. Indestructibele that coins are, they are able to survive longer than other media or writing such as leaves and animal skins that were available during this period. Romans, Greeks, and allied people were the first to prompt these kinds of coins.

Initially the inscriptions were in Greek, but they were followed by Brahmi. The arrival of the bull and horseman series of coins with hundreds of variations brought inscription in Sarada and derivative languages. One can see a gradual evolution from Brahmi up to Nagari scripts.

Persian was introduced as the language of inscription some time after that, and with that came voluminous inscriptions but dropping of almost all pictures and images, except symbols. Large gold, silver and copper coins (10 grams or more) became common. The larger size in turn helped them to survive and be discovered centuries after they went out of circulation. The large amount of inscription on these coins lends prcious information about rulers, the years in which the coins were minted, the mint names, co regents, regnal years, and many other items of historical information. This information has in turn enriched the process of reconstructing North Indian history.

The South Indian Coinage: Once the two streams of coins became isolated, the South Indian coinaget took a distinctly Indian cultural form. The most striking feature is that practically no ruler ever places his personal image on the coins. The exceptons came only in the last two centuries or so. This means that there is no easy way to know about how kings and rulers of South India looked like till around AD 1800 or later.

Most of these coins had no inscription for a long period of time. This gives great difficulty to numismatists and historialns to identify the precise years in which these coins were issued and the rulers who issued them. This also means that reconstruction of local history as well as the history of coinage is more difficult in the South than in the North India. This is also one reason why breakthroughs in South Indian coin studies are more difficult, causing a slowdown of South Indian coin studies, though the number and variety of coins issued in south is very large.

The average size of South Indian coins is much smaller than that of their North Indian counterparts. The weight is also proportionately low. This in turn has made it easy for South Indian coins to get chemically destroyed in underground horadings. This has also made it difficult to spot and discover them from places where they might happen to lie for centuries.

Fortunately, the South Indians have a habit of dropping coins into rivers as they pass besides it or as they cross bridges. Also, a large number of famous South Indian temples are built on riverbank so that the river forms least one side of the temple. Some temples are built even inside the river and a bridge connects the mainland with the temple. Here also people liberally drop coins into the river to propitiate gods.

Hundreds of Millions of coins have thus fallen into South Indian riverbeds over the last three millennia. Coated by sediments, a large number of these coins are discvered every year from South Indian rivers when the waterlevel is low or when the rivers are dry. Picking up coins from riverbed has become a profession for thousands of people in South India, and this brings in hundreds of thousands of coins to the numismatic market every year. Coated coins require electrolysis or similar methods to clean them. Uncoated coins, which also tend to be heavier than the coated coins, tend to be pitted due chemical reaction over hundreds of years in the riverbed.

Coin Counters: many South Indian coins are so tiny that counting them is a difficult job, particularly if one has to count a few hundered or more of them. They developed an ingenious coin-counter for this task where a wooden board has slots to accept coins of a certain size. People would take a handful of tiny coins, drop on the board, and shake it in a particular way so that coins fall into all the avilable slots. Once a manual inspection shows that all the slots are filled, the exess coins are removed and then the coins in the slot are emptied into a box or a bag.

Again, spelling COUNTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One letter can throw off the whole attribution.  Note length of the legend, note breaks in the legend, the whole legend is a big key in the attribution.  The wording of this legend will most likely tie into the Reverse Device.

If you are using a book like Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC) knowing the issuer and cross referencing the reverse legend from its index to the pages where the issuer is listed one can cut down the amount of different pages that need to be looked at.

If you are using a book like Van Meter or Sear knowing the issuer and then looking for the reverse legend in alphabetical order under the proper denomination works here. Knowing your reference book and how it is set up helps you find what you are looking for quicker.

Titles or descriptors -  These words or abbreviations used will help to finalize the attribution.  There are a lot of abbreviations that could be attached within the legend, such as IMP, AVG, COS, P, F, DN, GAL, VAL, A, M etc.  Just one title could change the whole coin’s attribution.

Known legends -  There are several places to find lists of legends like:

·         Moneta or other software

·         RIC, Sear, Van Meter or other books

·         Web sites like the FORVM, WildWinds, Dirty Old Coins, etc.

These known legends are most of the time able to be attached to the various mints. One legend may be only used at a single mint. This is important information when you are looking for the various available places where a certain coin was made.

Partial legends -   There are several places to find search engines of legend’s characters if you can only see a few of the letters.  These are found in places like:

·         Moneta or other software

·         FORVM

·         WildWinds

·         etc

Note: some letters are very common and will produce a long listing of possibilities. Examples of those letters are AVG, IMP, DN CAE, and NOB. While other combination of letters like COSXXIX are very unique and return a short list if not a single hit when they are used.

Reverse Device (the picture on the back of the coin)

For an Imperial issue it will most likely tie to the reverse legend.  Expect certain devices with certain legends. For example; the “FEL TEMP”s will be a “fallen horseman”, a “Phoenix” type (either on a mound or on a globe), a hut (with spear point up or down) type or a Galley (with either Phoenix or Victory) type.

Type -  There are many different types of reverse devices on these coins. These run from the common “two soldiers that are flanking one or two standards” to special one of a kind architectural depiction of a building that could even be shown in 3D. The device most likely will be a noun a person(s) place or thing.

·         Person(s) -  Emperor(s), Deity(s), family member(s), soldier(s), combinations, etc

·         Place -  Harbor, on a boat, in the clouds or another type of scene

·         Thing -  Altar, wreath, building, animal, etc

Description -  What is going on?  Is someone-

·         Walking

·         Standing

·         Holding

·         etc

Items – There could be many different items held or just in the scene such as:

·         scale

·         cornucopia

·         scepter

·         rudder

·         globe

·         whip

·         the list goes on and on and on…………..

Number in the scene – How many figures make up the complete scene and where are they in relationship to each other. Such as:

·         Four Princes in front of………..

·         Emperor and a Deity facing………….

·         Two Soldiers flanking…………

“Extra” items -       Are there “extra” parts to the scene? If so what are they?  Items like:

·         Eagle at the feet……….

·         Holding Victory on a globe….

·         Captives being speared.

·         Etc

Mint Marking(s) and other control marks

Placement on the coin – Where on the coin are the various marking: ·        

·         Fields:

    ·         Center

    ·         Right

    ·         Left

·         Other places:

    ·         Above- as in: star above the She Wolf or Campgates

    ·         Behind- as in: (delta) behind bust

    ·         After- as in: pellet after legend

    ·         Under- as in: pellets under Bust

Type of markings – Letters, symbols, characters and other types of marks

From these marks and the placement along with the right references you can even know the timing of the striking of the coin at a certain city.
 
Putting it all together…………….
Now all six of these points need to be brought together to form the complete attribution.  The reference book, if any, that was used must be cited and an “attribution” must be written.

Most common descriptions of imperial coinage start off with the ruler or issuer of the coin in question and then list the descriptors to pull all of it together.  For clarity and brevity some of the exactness may, and should, be left out of the written attribution.

Here is a “typical” attribution written for a coin.  Common name of the ruler and the time frame of rule, denomination, physical characteristics, mint with coin striking timing if known. Next the obverse legend (in capital lettering and bold characters), obverse device description, reverse legend (in capital lettering and bold characters), reverse device description, with the placement of mint and control marks and finally the citing of reference numbers.  Sometimes you can even put a picture with it to help in the visualization of the attributed coin and/or a quick visual description.

Aurelian (270–275 A.D.)

AE-Antoninianus, 22 mm, 3.26gm, die alignment 180 degrees, struck at Siscia in 274 or 275; obv- IMPCAVRELIANVSAVG Radiate bust, cuirassed, right; rev- CONCORDIAMILITVM Aurelian standing right facing Concord standing left, clasping right hands, with XXIVI in exergue.  RIC 244 (vol. V part II page 292), VM 7 page 257, Sear 3258 (1988 4th ed.) & C. 60.  This coin exhibits an even toning on both of the silvered (nearly complete) surfaces. There is some damage form the lower part of the Emperor through the exergue, that obscures some of the mint mark.

A much shorter version would be:

Aurelian (270-275) ANT. CONCORDIAMILITVM  This gets you close, but very little help is given to the reader, who could be a buyer for a coin you are looking to sell.  Don’t get me wrong, each of these attributions have their place as well as the spectrum of all of those in between them.

If you can’t find all of the information, give as much of it as you can. If you are asking for help in completing an attribution make sure you give as much information as you can. Asking someone to help ID a coin that is described by saying, “it has a head on one side and two figures on the other with some lettering around both” will be a waste of your time and no one will be able to help. While on the other hand if you post a picture of both sides of the coin and tell all the letters that can be seen, together with any book  or internet references that you feel may apply, your chances are much better for someone to be able to help you.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Roman%20Coin%20Attribution%20101

You can identify or “attribute” your coin with knowledge of the following characteristics of it.  These six points will help  you to pinpoint the ruler it was issued under, the type  of coin, the denomination  and possibly the time and place of its minting.

Physical Characteristics

Obverse Legend

Obverse Device

Reverse Legend

Reverse Device

Mint Mark and/or other markings

Physical Characteristics

Weight:  Usually given in grams with an accuracy of at least 1/10th of a gram, but it is better to have figures to 1/100th of a gram, this weight data will help with your determination of the denomination of the coin in question.

Diameter:  Usually given in millimeters with an accuracy of at least 1mm, but it is better to have figures to 1/10th of a mm, this dimensional data will help with your determination of the denomination of the coin in question.

Die alignment:  Die alignment is expressed in degrees and describes how the obverse and reverse dies were aligned to each other when the coin was struck.  The best way to look at it is to put a straight edge on the face of the coin with the edge at the top (0 degrees) and the bottom (180 degrees) through the center.  While holding the straight edge to the coin turn it over and note where the “top” of the reverse device is.  If it is in the same place as the top of the front device it is called 0-degree alignment. If the top of the reverse is at the bottom it is called 180-degree alignment.  Another way to examine die alignment is to hold the coin on the edge with the obverse facing you, your index finger at the top of the obverse design (0 degrees) and the thumb at the bottom of the design (180 degrees); then rotate the coin horizontally maintaining your index finger and thumb fixed on the same spot on the rim.   The 0-degree alignment is called Metal Rotation, while the 180-degree alignment is called Coin Rotation.  Now for the “real world”; Roman coinage was made using dies that were movable, so true 0 or 180 degree rotations were not always made.  You must guess at the rotation, to the nearest 15 degrees, if it is not at the 0 or 180 degree mark.  If you turn the coin over with the straight edge on it and the top of the obverse at the top of the rotated coin you must observe where the “top” of the reverse device is. If you observe that the top of the reverse device is pointing towards where the 3 would be on a clock face this is said to be 90-degree rotation. Or if it is pointing to the spot where the 9 would be on the face it is said to be 270-degree rotation.

Color:  Color could help to determine the material the coin is made from, this material data will help with your determination of the denomination of the coin in question.  Also by knowing the material you will know in what section of a reference book to look for your attribution references. The most likely materials are Gold (AU), Silver (AR) or Bronze and/or Copper (AE). There are several alloys of Bronze ranging from a high content of silver (alloy called Billon) to very little different metals except copper. Most are intermediate types with various metals alloyed with the copper to make the bronze, all are called AE in the nomenclature.

Obverse Legend (the wording on the front of the coin)

Spelling COUNTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Note length of the legend, note breaks in the legend, the whole legend is a big key in the attribution.

Name of the issuer -  This name is the single BIGGEST KEY to the whole attribution process.  Without this name the whole process is much more complicated if not made almost impossible in some cases.

Titles or descriptors -  These words or abbreviations attached to the issuer’s name will help to finalize the attribution.  There are a lot of abbreviations that could be attached within the legend, such as IMP, AVG, COS, P, F, DN, GAL, VAL, A, M etc.  Just one title could change the whole coin’s attribution.

Known legends -  There are several places to find lists of legends like:

·         Moneta or other software

·         RIC, Sear, Van Meter or other books

·         Web sites like the FORVM, WildWinds, Dirty Old Coins, etc.

These known legends are most of the time able to be attached to the various mints. One legend may be only used at a single mint. This is important information when you are looking for the various available places where a certain coin was made.

Partial legends – There are several places to find search engines of legend’s characters if you can only see a few of the letters.  These are found in places like:

·         Moneta or other software

·         FORVM

·         WildWinds

·         etc

Note: some letters are very common and will produce a long listing of possibilities. Examples of those letters are AVG, IMP, DN CAE, and NOB. While other combination of letters like POTXXXVII are very unique and return a short list if not a single hit when they are used.

[http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Roman%20Coin%20Attribution%20101]

India is one of the oldest civilizations, and at least 5000 years of its history is available in fragmentary form. Money, exchange, and rudimentary financial systems are mentioned in books written around 1000 BC, which means that it is one of the earliest countries to evolve a metal-based financial system. By 300 BC it had its own manual of economics written by the great thinker Kautilya (c 350–-283 BC).

Barter was the earliest method of transaction and it continues as a system of transaction even today in remote Indian villages. Cowrie shells were used as currency in certain parts where very high quality Cowrie shells were available in the seas. Since getting these high-quality Cowries was a labor-intensive job, their demand as currency was high. Such high quality cowries have become rare, and therefore they continue to enjoy demand among rural folk even today as currency or as precious items of personal decoration.

CowrieShells: Commonly called Cowrie, high quality cowrie shells are used even today by tribals in India for transaction

As many as 84 different types of precious stones were found in India. Many of these were available in Indian riverbeds. Others were available on rocky mountains and even in fields, and from earliest times thy found a place in material transaction.

What gave an impetus to the development of a long lasting metal-based monetary system was the eventual arrival of gold, followed by silver and other metals. Gold was abundant in several south Indian rivers and people were able to glean gold nuggets from them. They were also able to extract coarse gold dust from sand with a reasonable effort. These gold nuggets and gold dust became an important medium of currency within India by 1000. Gold dust was placed in impervious bags and these bags were used for transaction. There are numerous references in ancient Indian literature to these bags of gold. This in turn attracted Indians to gold and silver which foreign merchants offered to purchase Indian products.

Once a metal-based economy came into common practice, a more formal currency system developed quickly. Metallic coins produced around 600 to 400 BC in India are readily available today for collectors. Several factors helped the development and spread of a formal metal-based currency, the first of which was a flourishing international trade that India had via seas and also via a number of trade routs on land.

According to records, India had a flourishing trade at least from 1000 BC in elephants, peacocks, perfumes, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, precious and semi-precious stones, and black pepper. Black pepper was known at that time (and till 1800s) as black-gold, and even the territorial wars fought by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, and the British on Indian seas and on mainland India was mainly for monopoly over the purchase of black pepper from India. Obviously, this brought in a large amount of metal-based currency (mostly gold and silver) to India.

Merchants from Israel and surrounding nations used to come to India frequently around 1000 BC on convoys of ships as per the record in the Bible. The Arabs used to come to India with very large camel caravans at the same time for spices and precious stones. China had a flourishing trade with India at the same time. The Persian Emperor ruled up to India around 500 BC according to the Old Testament, and this brought convoys of businessmen from that nation. After 400 BC the Romans, the Greeks, and then merchants from other European nations started coming to India. Many of them even tried to invade and subdue India.

Men Have Searched For Gold Nuggets In All Cultures And At All Times, And Its Value Has Never Decreased

While barter is fine for small quantities of sales and purchases, the massive trade that India had via seas required a metal-based economy in the long run. This resulted in massive quantities of gold and silver coming to India to buy Indian products. In turn this gave a taste for gold to Indians, and even today the amount of gold people use in coastal areas of South India is amazing.

The arrival of massive quantities of Gold and silver soon resulted first in uninscribed metal pieces and then in stamped metal pieces for use in business. Stamping (branding) cattle has been an ancient practice. Similarly the use of impressing things with personal and official seals has been known since at least 2000 BC or before, and not surprisingly the unstamped or uninscribed metal pieces soon evolved into stamped pieces of currency. The stamped figures lent them credibility about the value and metal content.

PMCs, The Earliest Coins With Markings: The oldest stamped currency discovered in India is called Punch Marked coins because punches were used to stamp certain figures on these coins. They started with one punch on the obverse, but gradually increased to as many as five different shapes punched on to these coins. Eventually some of them also had punches on the reverse of the coins.

India had conglomerates of villages that were ruled by people (jana) and were called Janpadas. The punch-marks contained official marks of the issuing Janpadas along with additional marks by shroffs, local experts in bullion who certified the coins. Since India is a large country, the number of Janpada was very large and the number of symbols punched on these coins is equally large. Much work has been done to analyze the symbols, but much more work yet remains to be done.

Gradually the smaller Janpadas started to merge with each other giving rise to Maha-janpadas (mega-janpadas). The Mahajanpadas issued PMCs of their own, which were also certified by local shroffs, adding to the already large number of symbols. Work on deciphering the precise meaning, relation, and function of these symbols awaits a substantial breakthrough to bring some kind of a Periodic Table of PMC symbols.

The number of Silver Punch Marked Coins and coin-hoards discovered throughout India in the last two centuries is staggering. A large number of these were simply melted because numismatics and coin-collection became a serious profession in India only a century after large silver coin hoards started coming to light. Because of this, millions of silver coins have vanished but, in spite of that, hundreds of thousands of silver Punch Marked Coins remain in museums and with private collectors.

Silver Punch Marked Coins Came In All Kinds Of Shapes

Gold Punch Marked coins are not known with certainty. Copper Punch Marked Coins do exist, but they came centuries after the silver PMCs went out of circulation. Thus they will be treated separately.

By BC 300 Silver Punch Marked coins started giving way to inscribed coins with or without picture. Invasion by foreign powers such as Rome and increased business activity with foreign nations led to this welcome change. It is far more easy today to study inscribed coins than PMCs. What is more, inscribed coins often contribute to the reconstruction of Indian history through the information that can be read from them.

About The Author: Shastri JC Philip is based in Kochi, India, and is the webmaster of www.IndianCoins.org

He aims, eventually, to produce dozens of free Ebooks on Indian coins and these will all be made available on this website for download.

—————

Picture Credit:

Arenamontanus, Shastri JC Philip

The best way to look at it is to put a straight edge on the face of the coin with the edge at the top (0 degrees) and the bottom (180 degrees) through the center.  While holding the straight edge to the coin turn it over and note where the “top” of the reverse device is.  If it is in the same place as the top of the front device it is called 0-degree alignment. If the top of the reverse is at the bottom it is called 180-degree alignment.  Another way to examine die alignment is to hold the coin on the edge with the obverse facing you, your index finger at the top of the obverse design (0 degrees) and the thumb at the bottom of the design (180 degrees); then rotate the coin horizontally maintaining your index finger and thumb fixed on the same spot on the rim.   

The 0-degree alignment is called Medallic Rotation, while the 180-degree alignment is called Coin Rotation.  Now for the “real world”; Roman coinage was made using dies that were movable, so true 0 or 180 degree rotations were not always made.  You must guess at the rotation, to the nearest 15 degrees, if it is not at the 0 or 180 degree mark.  If you turn the coin over with the straight edge on it and the top of the obverse at the top of the rotated coin you must observe where the “top” of the reverse device is. If you observe that the top of the reverse device is pointing towards where the 3 would be on a clock face this is said to be 90-degree rotation. Or if it is pointing to the spot where the 9 would be on the face it is said to be 270-degree rotation.

Die alignment is useful in detecting older forgeries because the consistency of die alignment in some issues was not know centuries ago.  Die alignment is much less useful in detecting modern forgeries because most forgers are now aware of this characteristic.

Some issues do not show any consistency or pattern in die alignment.  These issues can be described as struck with "loose dies."

An alternative system is to use hours of the clock, (0 degrees = 12:00; 30 degrees = 1:00; 90 degrees = 3:00, 180 degrees = 6:00 and so on).

Article Credit
Sarathi | Guide4Income | Physics4u | Shastri | India