[CPProt.net] Forgery: PAGES FROM HISTORY: HOW OLD IS COUNTERFEITING OF COINS?

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PAGES FROM HISTORY: HOW OLD IS COUNTERFEITING OF COINS? 

November 5, 2005
 

'Bad coin drives away good coin', is a phrase commonly used in economics.
Counterfeiting of coins, paper currency, court and registration stamp paper,
is as old as the first coin ever minted. Remember Telgi? Read about
counterfeiting of coins in ancient India in this article.-Ed.


By Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy,


former Head, Dept. of Ancient History & Archaeology, University of Mysore.


Cheating is as old as man himself. It does not know geography or chronology
and hence it is widespread, all over the world. Our ancient texts have
always reminded us of the co-existence of dharma and adharma. One form of
cheating, namely counterfeiting of coins, has been an ancient practice
prevalent all over the world, including our own country.


Speaking of our own ancient country, this practice was rampant in the
Mauryan period in which great kings like Chandragupta and Asoka ruled.
Kautilya was the first author to dwell at length on the problem of
counterfeit coinage. The manufacturer of forged coins is called Kutarupa
Kara. According to Kautilya, one who mints coins in any place other than the
Government mint or without being supervised by the State Mint Master is a
counterfeit coin-maker.


Kautilya gives a list of apparatus that the counterfeit coin-makers used.
They are metals, alkali, charcoal, bellows, clipper, hammer, anvil, designed
die and crucible. He suggests that the Police should keep a vigil over such
persons who frequently visit the shops and buy these materials required for
minting. If a person, who has a white-collar job, returns home in dark with
soiled clothes, such a person must be watched regularly because he may be a
maker of counterfeit coins. Though at one place he suggests a fine of twelve
(pana) gold coins, at another place he states that the fingers of the
counterfeit coin-makers should be cut off. The punishment would be double
for the person who helps in these operations.


Vijnanesvara, a commentator on Yajnavalkya Smriti and hailing from
Karnataka, was an illustrious writer and his book Mitakshara enjoys
paramount authority in our law courts in matters relating to adoption,
inheritance and partition. He flourished in the last part of the eleventh
century. He noticed counterfeit practice is his days. Coating the base metal
coins (copper) with gold or silver polish was very common and even the
government officials colluded with criminals and amassed huge amount of what
we today call blackmoney. In fact, both Manu and Yajnavalkya have suggested
more severe punishment, namely cutting off the limbs bit by bit. No doubt
this punishment looks inhuman, but they were interested in making the
punishment a deterrent. Perhaps, people were prepared to loose their limbs
but were bent upon amassing wealth by counterfeit methods. That is the power
of greed.


>From the studies made by the experts, it has become clear that
counterfeiting took place on a mass scale during and post- Mauryan period.
The Mauryan coins called 'punch-marked coins' were generally made of silver
and contained various symbols like sun, elephant, bull, peacock, hill etc.,
punched on one side only. These coins were in circulation over a large area
including Afghanistan upto Kerala.


The next coins which attracted the attention of the counterfeit makers was
Indo-Greek and Roman coins. Both of these series were in great demand for
their higher percentage of fineness of gold and naturally Indians desired to
make imitations of these gold coins to get higher profits in monetary
transactions. About two thousand years ago, Roman merchants used to come to
India, particularly South India including Karnataka, to purchase spices like
pepper, cardamom, semi-precious stones like beryl, sapphire and other
commodities like cotton, sandalwood etc. There was a great demand for these
commodities in Rome and Europe. Hence, there was a brisk trade between Rome
and South India. Thus there was great demand for Roman gold Aurei and silver
dineri.


This gave good scope for the unscrupulous elements to mint Roman coins not
in Constan-tinople but in different places of India. One enterprising person
from Talakad, not far away from Mysore, began minting gold coins of Roman
emperor Ti-berius who ruled two thousand years ago. The mould and other
equipments have been excavated at Talakad excavations.


Coming to the later period, the reforms introduced by Muhammad-bin-Tughlak
concerning coinage in general and token currency in particular, led to a
large-scale counterfeiting of coins. He issued token coins of copper in
place of silver and gold and ordered that they were equivalent to the gold
and silver coins in value. This was an idea far ahead to his times and
people were not prepared to accept it. Today, a piece of paper with
autho-rised signature has been accepted as currency. But that was not the
case then. Hence, during Tughlak's time every home became a mint. People
prepared gunny bag loads of copper coins, took them to the treasury and
exchanged them for gold co-ins and they became rich overnight but the
Government became poor and bankrupt.


However, Vijayanagara period, generally referred to as the golden age of
South India, has a different story to narrate. The contemporary foreign
writers paid glorious tribute to the genuineness of the Vijayanagara
coinage. An Italian traveller Barbosa, who spent some years in Vijayanagara
empire, has stated that 'coins of this place (Vijayanagara) are perfectly
genuine. To prevent any malpractice in coinage, Vijaya-nagara Government had
appointed a large number of officers who had some weights and balances which
were so small that they did not weigh more than half an ounce and could be
kept in the pocket. They were very accurate and the difference of a hair
could be detected, states another traveller Varthema. Vascodagama also has
paid handsome tribute to the coinage of Vijayanagara.


Finally, we may refer to the modern or the present day forgeries. Forgery of
currency notes are reported these days in the media frequently. But what is
alarming is the counterfeiting of ancient coins like punch-marked,
Indo-Greek, Kushana, Gupta, Mughal emperors and Tipu. Coin collection as a
hobby has developed all over the world and ancient Indian coins are in great
demand by the foreign tourists and coin collectors for their antique value.
Naturally, ancient coins are in short supply, hence counterfeiting ancient
coins. For example, a genuine Gupta coin or Jehangir's zodiac silver coin,
or Tipu's double rupee may fetch a fabulous fancy price of over a lakh of
rupees. Hence, one should be extremely careful in buying ancient coins.


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