Ancient-The Last Sassanid Bust? - OM! (Interesting and Popular Letter)

Long after Sassanid Persia with all its power influence and grander has faded into history, the bust of the emperors continued to be seen in the far reaches of the world.

I find the decline in stylistic execution particularly intriguing. As the bust types declined, the weight and metal composition retained a relatively constant. The weight of the coins still retained the archaic Attic drachm standard nearly 1700 years old at this by this time.

I have been collecting coins of medieval India, that nearly a thousand years later stilll carry the Sassanid winged bust type, just when I though I had them all, rare, little known and rarely collected coins keep presenting themselves. I scored 2 very rare pieces for very cheap amongst many other Indian coins I have yet to post.

Today I present to you all one of the last (I think) Sassanid Persia bust type coins. Minted in the style of Khusro II. (or so THEY say)

This coin comes from the Omkara Monastery minted by the Later Parama in Malwa (West Central India). These coins like I said before are quite rare, but very inexpensive. It seems that these crude designs command little collector interest.

When searching for this coin, I can say I came for the bust but I bought it for the reverse inscription. Naming the Monastery that coined it. OM!


The neat Letter....



Oh and while I was picking out the coin, I had to get his bootleg brother, also very rare! This coin also appealed to me for several reasons. 1) Same reasons as coin #1. 2) This one is a poor alloy billon coin with colored metals apparent.3)Its so rare its unlisted. When these coins are sold they are sold with the description of Coin #1, MNIS 431-440.

It is also unclear weather the coin is a counterfeit from antiquity or a different lesser used denomination. New scholarship suspects these are ancient counterfeits.

India, Malwa
Omkara Mandhata
BI Drachm (1150-1300AD)
Late Parama in Malwa
12.0 mm x 4.00 grams
Obverse: Degraded Sassanid Bust.
Reverse: Zoroastrian Fire Altar with no attendants corrupt Devangari Script- SRI OM.
ref: Unlisted

 

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Very intriguing stuff! Does the first coin date in the same range as the second?

 

As far as I know yes. The powers that be suspect the second is probably an ancient forgery of the first. It is unlisted in sources.

 

BTW I am glad a few other guys like these coins. I was starting to get worried.

Notice the OM now that's PHAT!

 

I love them. I'll take the obscure and mysterious path over the well-trodden one any day. It is remarkable that when you venture into areas with little collector interest, you can acquire pieces of extreme rarity for very little scratch.

 

Thanks and ain't that the truth.

 

Nice stuff, A-Noob!! (you rock, A-dawg!!)

Man, I always love it when you get all giddy over your Sassanid coins ... and especially when you mention Khusro II

=> because I know that you love this coin (Khusro II, Sassanid occupation of Egypt)

 

ha yea steve.

 

Why do you say the style declined? Those pieces certainly aren't anything similar to the heyday of Sassanian coinage, but couldn't it just be said that the designs became more abstract over time? I'm not being argumentative - just asking. I don't anything about this coinage.

 

I suppose you could be right JA.

I have a couple of quickies I could show you.

KhusroII 591-628 AD Host coin?

Saurashta and Gujarat 800-950AD


Chaulukyas of Gujarat 1120-1210 AD

 

Sassanian Kingdom => how 'bout good ol' Peroz I (459-484 AD)

 

That's very instructive, AN. It seems the pendulum of artistic style is always swinging between complexity and simplicity. I wouldn't have guessed that the two pieces from the 9th-century onward were related to the Khusro II at all. They seem to be of an altogether different aesthetic conception.

 

Then what do you think about this guy? 685 AD Turko-Hephthalites

 

or this guy...Lords of Bukhara...

 

There is a lot of other stuff floating around...

 

I can definitely see influence from the Turko-Hephthalites to the Bukhara - a stylized version of significant elements. The third coin is too worn to make out much, but the style seems to have gone from simple to simplistic. I see your point about degrading aesthetics. Maybe the art of engraving just faded for a time, like it did throughout Europe in the Dark Ages.

 

...and that is a fact. There are also coins that are hard to identify even if you have another specimen of the same thing at hand for comparison. Many are so poorly struck that you need several to see the whole design. These were coins made for spending and not for impressing the neighbors. I buy coins that speak to me and avoid ones that have nothing I appreciate. This is not how you develop a balanced collection but it is, after all, my collection so I do it my way.

Care to ID this one? Do you agree with my label? Can you go further?

 

Well Doug, I would think you know better than I, but your coin could very well be a Kidarite bronze from the 5th century. There is a lot of similar stuff, floating around with little attention.