2016-03-15 Tue

Wow, now that’s a cool initiative that will excite numismatists or coin collectors! The Cultural Relics Bureau of Jinshi City is offering a 10,000-yuan ($1,500) reward to anyone who can decipher the mysterious writing on the back of six ancient gold coins unearthed in a farm in Henan in the 1960s, which is currently housed in the city’s museum.

Experts state that the coins were manufactured using the Greek coinage method during Delhi Sultanate period, sometime in the middle of China's Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The Coin’s obverse was inscribed with a rare form of Arabic writing, mentioning the name of a King or a monarch title. The information on the reverse though is difficult to decode even after consultation with Chinese and foreign experts.

They were contained in a small white glazed pot, unearthed at a farm in Henan.