I think ancient Indian punchmarked coins are absolutely fascinating. I'm interested in buying one or two coins depicting animals. Does anyone have any advice about where to find such coins? I came across this on VCoins for $60, but seems a bit pricey: Can anyone advice on where to find something reasonable elsewhere? Or is this a good price for this item?
Uhh, yeah, $60 is nuts. They shouldn't cost any more than $15 or $20 max. Mine was $8 shipped a few years ago. AR Karshapana O: Five official punches. R: One official mark. 3.3g 18mm GH 549
These look super cool! I always thought they'd cost me $250 plus, I've always seen them at coin shows for that much. Maybe a rare type or something. For $15 or $20 max I've gotta find one now!!
I tried very hard to get interested in these a few years back and even bought the book allowing ID of hundreds of types. In addition to higher prices, I was turned off by the fact that 95% of the coins I saw offered were of the same types I already had. I don't know where to find them either. How many different are shown below?
Let me know if you find an online store where they can be found at a decent price! Thanks! (Just let me know which ones you are interested in buying so I don't go for those!)
Ebay, no one else wanted it & I won it. Plenty here unless some others have some they want to sell. https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/co...pe=0&solditems=False&store_order_by=price_asc
My Punch Coins off India: India Mauryan or Sanga 3.4g Rect India Mauryan or Sanga 3 India Maurya ser VIB AR Karshapana punchmark 270-175 BC ASHOKA India Gandahara AR Bent Bar 11.3g 650-600 BCE RARE two dots - also have on BOTH sides VERY RARE India - Shakya Janapada AR 5-Shana 6th-5th Century BCE 25mm x 21mm, 7.05g Obv: Central Pentagonal punch plus several banker's marks Rev: Blank Ref: Hirano Type I.8.29 Coinage from the Ghaghara Gandak River region. "Prince Guatama Siddhartha 563 BCE to 483 BCE, the son of the king of the Shakya people (Republic). Siddhartha reached enlightenment, becoming a Buddha at the age of 35." At this time, any of the 16 "Janapada" was defined as a tribe, country, kingdom, or a republic in northern India. Shakya was a Republic (ah, I love the Republics!), in northern India near present day Nepal. The best-known man from Shakya was Prince Siddhartha Shakya. He later gained enlightenment and became know as Buddha Gautama or Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. This coin, being from the Janapada and the time, was quite likely produced during and under the authority of the Man who became the Buddha.
I'm not sure of all the varieties, perhaps that is a rare one @kalium_zer0 , if you just want any old Maruyan punchmark coin, you could get one for much less. I didn't pay more than 20 bucks for any of these. THis one I paid the 20 bucks for, but it had some cool punches I wanted. The "three chicks" at the bottom left, "cat jumping turtle" upper left. These were sub 10 dollars.
What's that book called? That's what I don't love though, how sometimes you can't always say, this is what this is. Especially on ancients, because there are so many almost exactly the same coins it's hard to tell them apart. Ironic that I love errors and varieties, some of which are very difficult to tell apart.
JA auctioned this one for me 2 weeks ago. The buyer paid $46 for it. I believe I only paid $25 for it originally, but I seem to have gotten lucky with that price as most places sell them for $50 or more.
