Reward offered for decoding ancient gold coins

　　CHANGSHA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Hunan Province is offering a reward to anyone who can decode the inscription on the back of six ancient gold coins.

　　The Cultural Relics Bureau of Jinshi City has offered 10,000 yuan (1,500 U.S. dollars) to anyone who can explain the mystery of the coins, housed in the city's museum.

　　A small white glazed pot containing six gold foreign coins was discovered at a farm in the 1960s. The coins are classified as first-level national cultural relics.

　　Since they were sent to the museum in the 1980s, however, archaeologists have been puzzled.

　　These coins were manufactured using the Greek coinage method during Delhi Sultanate period, some time in the middle of China's Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), said Peng Jia, bureau director.

　　The inscription on the front, in a rare type of Arabic, is the name of a King, said Peng, "but the information on the back is difficult to decode. I have consulted Chinese and foreign experts, but to no avail. I hope the answer will be revealed one day."

　　CHANGSHA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Hunan Province is offering a reward to anyone who can decode the inscription on the back of six ancient gold coins.

　　The Cultural Relics Bureau of Jinshi City has offered 10,000 yuan (1,500 U.S. dollars) to anyone who can explain the mystery of the coins, housed in the city's museum.

　　A small white glazed pot containing six gold foreign coins was discovered at a farm in the 1960s. The coins are classified as first-level national cultural relics.

　　Since they were sent to the museum in the 1980s, however, archaeologists have been puzzled.

　　These coins were manufactured using the Greek coinage method during Delhi Sultanate period, some time in the middle of China's Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), said Peng Jia, bureau director.

　　The inscription on the front, in a rare type of Arabic, is the name of a King, said Peng, "but the information on the back is difficult to decode. I have consulted Chinese and foreign experts, but to no avail. I hope the answer will be revealed one day."