Abstract
This article discusses the meaning of the “score mark” left on the Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian silver coins discovered in 1959 at Wuqia in the Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region of northwest China.
The Wuqia hoard was studied by Chinese and Japanese researchers, including the present author, and the results were published in 2003. The hoard consists of 918 Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian silver drachms with dates between A. D. 588 and 679.
During our study of those coins, a number of discoveries were made. One of them was the presence of “score marks” in the margin of 84 coins. By comparing the “score marks” with other characteristics of the coins, the mark was determined to be related to the “countermark”. A “countermark” is a stamp or mark impressed on a coin to verify its use by another government, or to indicate revaluation. Similar sets of “score marks” and “countermarks” also appear on other Sasanian silver coins stored in private and public collections.
Thus, the author concludes that the “score mark” was probably used to test the quality of the silver before striking a specific “countermark”.
