PUNCHED MARKED COINS
✓The oldest coins found in the subcontinent are punch-marked coins, made mostly of silver, some of copper.
✓Usually rectangular, sometimes square or round. These coins are often irregular in shape.
✓Blanks for making these coins were generally cut from a metal sheet.
✓The symbol or symbols were then hammered on these coins using dies or punches.
✓Most of the silver punch-marked coins weighed 32 rattis or about 56 grains.
✓The punch-marked coins of northern India can be divided into four main series :-
• Taxila Gandhara type of the north-west with a heavy weight standard and a single punch type;
• Kosala type of the middle Ganga valley, with a heavy weight standard and multiple punch marks.
• Avanti type of western India, with a light weight standard and single punch mark.
• Magadhan type with a light weight standard and multiple punches.