This important contribution about ancient coins in India has been written jointly by Osmund Bopearachchi and Wilfried Pieper. It is an impressive volume of 289 pages with 59 plates which presents a private collection of ancient coins patiently gathered trough the years. In Part one, W.Pieper develops a historical commentary about the earliest coinages of India, the imperial period of late Magadha and Maurya rule ( ca late IVth-early IInd centuries B.C.), Ujjain and Eran, the Satavahanas (ca Ist century B.C.-early IInd century A.D.), and tribal republics and kingdoms in post-Mauryan northern India ( ca 200 B.C-ca 300 A.D.). This commentary is followed by a detailed catalogue with very precise drawings of more than 600 coins and punch-marked coins. Part two by o. Bopearachhi is organized on the same pattern: a historical commentary about foreign powers in ancient northern India, from the Bactrian Greeks untill the time of the early Kushans followed by a precise catalogue presenting Greek, Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian, and early Kushan coins (in fact, more than 300 specimens). The commentary intends to give a general overview of the coins concerned and of their historical context with a more extensive discussion of the series best represented in the collection. For the indigenous Indian coins this is specially true for the coinages of Ujjain, Eran, Taxila and Kausambi, many of which are new and published here for the first time.

This book deals with the fact that coins form an important source of the history of ancient India; in fact, for certain periods, like those of the Indo-Greeks, the Saka-Pahlavas, and the Western Kshatrapas, monetary issues are almost the only source of our information.

*An exploration of one of the greatest collections of ancient Indian coins in the world, revealing secrets lost in history Through this book, the Hinduja Foundation provides valuable glimpses into the Lance Dane collection. This remarkable collection brings together 34,907 ancient Indian coins and other rare artifacts, donated to the Foundation by its eponymous owner. This book is part of an ongoing project developing the Hinduja Antiquity Collection. The collection aims to promote the advancement of knowledge and education about India's glorious history and culture, and to become a repository of other such collections, which the Foundation promises to look after, maintain, and exhibit in the years to come. This rare and unique collection of coins goes back three millennia, recording the monetary evolution of a highly developed ancient civilization. Kingdoms and Empires once stretched across India, boasting their own systems of justice and sound economic governance. The Hinduja Foundation are confident that this important collection will, over time, grow and develop into an unparalleled representation of India's ancient history, the significance of which will be acknowledged worldwide.

This Volume Brings Together Twelve Of Kosambi`S Major Essays On The Statistical And Analysical Study Of Coins From Ancient India.

This book discusses theories of monetary and financial innovation and applies them to key monetary and financial innovations in history – starting with the use of silver bars in Mesopotamia and ending with the emergence of the Eurodollar market in London. The key monetary innovations are coinage (Asia minor, China, India), the payment of interest on loans, the bill of exchange and deposit banking (Venice, Antwerp, Amsterdam, London). The main financial innovation is the emergence of bond markets (also starting in Venice). Episodes of innovation are contrasted with relatively stagnant environments (the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire). The comparisons suggest that small, open and competing jurisdictions have been more innovative than large empires – as has been suggested by David Hume in 1742.