Gold Stater of Lahor, 127-151 AD (1944.100.30714)

South Asian

The Society's South Asian collection includes the coins of the Indian subcontinent, of Southeast Asia as far as the Philippines, and certain ancient Central Asian coins. There are some 55,000 in all. Although the ANS collection of coins of the Indian subcontinent is one of the world's finest, it is unfortunately relatively neglected for lack of scholarly attention.

In the first decades of the century, the collection grew rapidly under the care of Edward T. Newell and Howland Wood, who were enthusiastic and knowledgeable. After World War II, George C. Miles was more specialized: it was no longer possible for one person to be competent in all "Oriental" coinages. For many years, from 1964 until 1985, Charles K. Panish looked after the South Asian coins as a volunteer, one day per week. His expertise and donations went particularly to develop the collection of Indian States coins, and the holdings of the Himalayan states: Tibet, Nepal, Assam and Ladakh.

At present, Robert Hoge is in charge of the South Asian coins. Some work goes on: the collection, for example, has been nearly completely catalogued in the Society's computer data base, and once the transition to a new computer software system is completed, it will be possible to produce listings of any part of the collection. In the past two decades there have been several South Asian specialists among the students in the Society's Graduate Seminar--applications are always welcome.

In the ancient field, the collection includes over a hundred examples of the early punch-marked silver coinage, and a large representation of Indian cast copper coins. Central Asian dynasties, including the Indo-Parthians, Sakas, Kushans, and Hephthalites, are included in the South Asian department. The Society probably has the world's best collection of Kushano-Sasanian coins, thanks to recent gifts from William F. Spengler and Martha Carter. The collection also includes a large representation of the glorious gold coinage of the Kushans and Guptas. Later Hindu dynasties are vastly represented in the collection. In general, however, these ancient and early medieval coins are not well organized. Volunteer assistance in these fields is much needed.

For the Islamic period, the Society has large numbers of coins of the Sultans of Delhi, the Mughals, and their contemporaries. The Indian States coins (of the various Indian principalities in the 18th and 19th centuries) constitute an enormously rich series, still to be catalogued, and the Society also has hundreds of coins of the European colonial powers, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and of course England.

The Society's Southeast Asian collection includes coins from Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia (Vietnam, whose historical coinage was in the Chinese tradition, is in the East Asian department), as well as the island nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. These holdings are very numerous and almost entirely ignored by scholars and collectors.