Contents: Editor's note by Osmund Bopearachchi and D.P.M. Weerakkody. Message from Honourable Lakshman Jayakody, Minister of Cultural and Religious Affairs. Presidential Address by Osmund Bopearachchi. I. Origin and evolution of coins: 1. The origin and development of Greek coinage/A. Burnett. 2. Coinage in the Greek world/C. Grandjean. 3. The origins and development of Chinese coins/F. Thierry. 4. Islamic coins - origins and development/V. Porter. 5. Showpieces: coins for presentation and display in early modern Europe/B.J. Cook. 6. Rags to riches, or, how paper money became respectable/V.H. Hewitt. 7. Women as symbols of wealth: female images on paper money/V.H. Hewitt. 8. Treasure and treasure trove: coins and antiquities law in Britain/B.J. Cook. II. Circulation of foreign coins in Sri Lanka and ancient sea routes in the Indian ocean: 1. Archaeological evidence on changing patterns of international trade relations of ancient Sri Lanka/O. Bopearachchi. 2. Roman coins from India and Sri Lanka/A. Burnett. 3. Chinese coins from the Yaphuwa site in the collection at the Anuradhapura Museum/F. Thierry. 4. Maritime silk routes and Chinese coins hoards/F. Thierry. 5. Islamic coins found in Sri Lanka/V. Porter. 6. The early European coins for Sri Lanka/B.J. Cook. 7. Currency for a colony: paper money for Ceylon printed in England/V. H. Hewitt.

"This volume organised in two parts collects papers presented at Numismatic Workshop on the 'Origin and Evolution of Coins" in part one, and at the International Seminar on the "Circulation of Foreign Coins in Sri Lanka and Ancient Sea Routes in the Indian Ocean" organised by the Sri Lanka Society for Numismatic Studies and the French Mission of Archaeological Department of Sri Lanka, in Colombo in September 1994, in part two.

"Papers in this collection are rich in content and diversity and cover a wide range of field from the origin of Chinese and Greek coins to modern bank notes, Islamic coins and coins for presentation and display in early modern Europe and Roman, Chinese, Indian and Islamic coins circulating in Sri Lanka and several other countries of the Indian Ocean. Of special interest are the papers on the early European coins and paper money minted/printed in Europe for circulation in Sri Lanka.

"Contributions in both parts provide a broad vision of as well as the latest developments in current research in the field and fill gaps in the extant literature on the subject." (jacket) 

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