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INAA OF SOME ANCIENT COINS FROM POST GUPTA PERIOD AND MUGHAL SALTANAT

INAA OF SOME ANCIENT COINS FROM POST GUPTA PERIOD AND MUGHAL SALTANAT

Nilima S Rajurkar
Ranjana P Bhadane
A K Jha
Nuclear Science and TechniquesVol.5, No.4pp.246-249Published in print 01 Nov 1994
23800

Non-destructive analysis of some electrum coins from post Gupta period and of coins from different mints of Mughal emperors, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb, have been done by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) using 252Cf neutron source. The elemental content of these coins are determined by comparator method by measuring the activities of the radioisotopes formed after (n,γ) reactions, at their corresponding photopeaks. It is found that identified electrum coins contain copper as a major component and hence can be termed as cupro-electrum coins. As regards the analysis of coins from different mints there is no much variation in silver content while copper content varies from mint to mint. Coins from both the emperors are found to contain considerable amount of gold.

ElectrumMintINAAAncient coinsIndia
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