Maureen

Could "....looks like an English 'L' with squiggly
horizontal bar" be a standard English pound [currency] symbol?  

Denis


>>> [log in to unmask] 04/27 1:20 am >>>
To identify: a very worn thin bronze disk - too thin, I think to be a coin (?)
but both sides with rilled border.  Condition is poor - apologies for the
vagueness of the descriptions.

size 21mm
weight about 1/4 oz.

Obverse. British royal arms, early (?) version. text around edge, inside
rilling: "Island of S(?)um (?)      "

Reverse. Three arabic or hindi letters. First one unreadable. Second one
arabic Th!aa or Taa'. Third one --- looks like an English 'L' with squiggly
horizontal bar (in other words, can't find this letter in my arabic
dictionary). Center base near edge inside rilling, the numbers 7 (?) and 9,
looking very arabic (or hindi).

The disk comes from the yard midden of a southeastern North Carolina
plantation house. Earliest building on the site may date to mid- to late 18th
century.

Thanks for any help!

Maureen Basedow
Visiting Asst. Professor of Archaeology
Anthropology Program
University of North Carolina, Wilmington