Silk Road. Pre-Islamic Buddhist Lost Civilisation

Yes. I'll quote the cataloger of CNG e-auction 344: "In addition to being countermarked, and presumably at the same time as the application of the countermark, the majority of these coins were holed and filled with either a debased gold, or less often, a copper plug. The reason for the unprecedented procedure is unclear. It was perhaps undertaken in an effort to raise the value of the coins."

Often the plug falls out and you get a coin with a hole at the throat. If you are interested in these coins there is a nice sample at https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=108412 . It sometimes helps to search for "Shahi Tegin" instead of "Sandan".

 

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What a fascinating "wonder-coin"! (who knows, maybe the "gold-dot" was a primitive anti-counterfeit method... )
Anyway, I still want one!!
(and thanks a lot for the very useful link, mate!)

 

Fantastic.. even more cosmopolitan with Trilingual pieces. Here is one Trilingual piece (Uyghur, Phagspa, Arabic).



Islamic - Ilkhan. Ghazan Mahmud (AD 1295- 1305). Trilingual double Dirham. Arabic, Phagspa (Mongol Yuan) and Uyghur.

 

Here is a bilingual (Arabic and Sanskrit) dirham of Mahmud of Ghazni (998-1030 AD), AH418 Mahmudpur mint:

 

Gorgeous coin!

 

I love this kind of coins

 

Loong Siew's coin is really a early example of the Pony Express. Really great submissions. Thanks.

 

Thanks @Black Friar ... the horses from that region was famous and heavily prized for their breed. The emperor would literally him to war to gain access to those horses.. also some have the image of a camel as well