ABSTRACT
Charles II came to the throne in ad 1660. His marriage contract with Catherine, the sister of Alphonso VI of Portugal, was arranged late in 1661, and completed in about May 1662. The first gold coin struck, after the Norman conquest, was the ‘gold pennie’ of the 41st year of Henry III, it weighed two startings or silver-penee and passed for 20 pence. The origin of the Indian rupee may be traced up to very early times, in the Aryan sataraktika, or satakrisnala, the even one hundred rati weight, which formed the basis of the standard gold and silver pieces of the early Pathan kings of Delhi, each of which weighed 100 ratis or 175 grains, and were conventionally termed tankas. The value of gold, in Asia, seems to have been largely affected by geographical surroundings, proximity to sites of production, facilities of transport, and other casual laws of supply and demand.
