Here's a coin that you don't stumble on in every auction....I don't think Sulla ever made it as far east as Punjab or Nepal, but this coin is from my favorite time period. In hand this coin resembles a bactrian drachm. Kuninda, Maharaja Amoghabuti, ca. 150-80 BC, AR drachm (2.11g), HGC 12-850, AICR-1144 Obv: stag standing right, vase symbol above rump, pair of cobra symbols above antlers, three-arched hill symbol between legs, Lakshmi standing facing to right, holding flower Rev: six-arched hill, triratana above, swastika above indradhvaja to left, railed tree to right, wave below For more on this coin see: My notes on this coin: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/coins-from-ancient-india Majumdar, S. B. (2009). RE-EVALUATING THE KUNINDA COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 70, 1049–1061. From Alex @ AncientCoins.ca Silver and bronze coinage of the Kunindas Post your coins of Kuninda and Bactria, OR coins that are "not something you see every day" OR anything else you find interesting or entertaining.
Thats a really neat coins/ love the symbolism/ artwork! John Here is a coin from Annam Nyugen Dynasty Emperor Duc Tong 1847-83 AV Tien ND The French would conquer Annam and rule it as French Indo-China.
A scarce and popular type. Only once do I recall seeing these available at wholesale. That was at NYINC, about 15 years ago. I cherry-picked a half-dozen pieces from a modest hoard group at a very good price. Nothing like it before or since. I wish I had purchased more!
@dltsrq, I've seen a few pop up recently, including one on Leu today. Several questions - for which I am hoping you or others in this forum might have information to share: I was wondering if it is reasonable to consider the symbols collectively as a Ashtamangala? also wondering if you or anyone else in this forum has an explanation for the six hill symbol - I have seen it called a stupa but this doesn't seem like it would make sense? why six hills? why a "parasol at top"? Is the primary religion in this region at this time Buddhism? Hinduism? both? something else?
Yes, they do turn up individually and usually pricey. Off the top of my head, the symbols are Buddhist: chaitya (stupa or "hill"), river, tree-in-railing (Bodhi tree?, see below), swastika, deer, etc. Ashtamangala is a new term for me but the symbols on the coin seem to differ from the specific list of eight Ashtamangala I found online. I suspect they are intended as more general auspicious symbols. I will also add that I'm not sure why 6 arches. A three-arched version is common on early punch-marked coins and on drachms of the Western Satraps. The "parasol" seems to be a common architectural feature of stupas (see diagram).
