XXXI
ll.TUODUCTrOX. I
may
add, in referonce to No. 73 in this volume, that I
can find no trace of the
aJJL>
and
j^e>.
Dr. Hoernle refers to
Bengal Asiatic Society (1881).
in the Journal of the
In the arrang-ement of posthumous coins, as well as in
some other minor pattern which
is
details of order, I set,
generally with excellent judgment, in
I class the
the Chronicles.
have departed from the
posthumous coins under the king
they bear, and give a cross-reference in the place
whose name
where they should come
The matter
is
if
the order were strictly chronological.
merely a question of convenience; and I fonnd
that the coins were more clearly described and more easily
compared in
this order
demanded.
their dates
than
if
they had been placed where
Instances of this arrangement will
be frequently met with in this volume, and the student must
not be deceived by the classification into the belief that the Sultans enjoyed preternaturally long reigns. principle to that
410
coins, Nos.
hammad
which prompted the
By
issue of
a contrary
posthumous
— 412 in this catalogue were struck by Mu-
III. before he actually
became Sultan, when he was
associated with his father Firoz III. in the government. It would have been better
had indicated
if I
this circum-
stance in the heading.
As
coins,
without reference to their historical or geogra-
phical or other relations, those of the Sultans of Dehli are
singularly issues of ficies
But
fine.
Especially beautiful are the clear-cut gold
Muhammad
enabled a better impression to be struck with the the chief test of a coinage
in the calligraphy,
upon
ibn Taghlak, where the smaller su])er-
though the
Muhammadan
coins,
is
die.
rather in the assay than
latter is
where the
not to be despised
finer
departments of
Mr.
the engraver^s art could not be allowed free
s'cope.
Thomas has given some
experiments
details of assaying
with the coins of Dehli, and the result in the higher metals shows great regularity.
Muhammad
example, had a fineness of 94"2, and Firoz
More
interesting are the assays which
I.'s
gold, for
II.^s of 94'5.
Mr. Thomas had