New fun, wacky Indo-Sassanian

When I first read Doug's page on the Gadhaiya Paisa coinage, I thought he was surely exaggerating when he mentioned collecting 100 different types of these coins.

300+ coins in, I feel like I am finally starting to scratch the surface!

It doesn't happen often, but this was a coin I just had to have! Bidding war ensued, was won. Just look at that brow ridge!



I could go on and on for paragraphs about this series (I call it the "Neanderthal portrait" type) but I don't want to bore. Just needed to show off!

Post your Indo-Sassanians, ugly portrait coins, or anything you feel is relevant or entertaining!

 

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LOL, @Finn235 you SOLVED a mystery for me! Yours is a great looking coin, and better illustrates the BUST on the coin! Boy, I really think you NEED to write those paragraphs so that I can further learn too!

I did not dig deep into these issues, as I was focused on other prey for my collection. But, I constantly scratched my head and asked @Ancientnoob about these sometime ago. He never convinced me that these were busts on the obv... NOW I see them after looking at yours (and the great description of "brow-ridge")

300+ coins???!!!??? LOL, well, I only have 2 Proto-Neanderthals:


India Gujarat Chalukyas Gadhaiya Paisa BI Drachm 4.6g 14mm 9th C CE Sun Moon Fire Alter Crescent




India Gujarat Chalukyas Gadhaiya Paisa BI Drachm 11th C CE Sun Moon Fire Alter Crescent

 

Nice examples!

In my guide to the series, I have them arranged by track (linear evolution), series, type. Super quick & simple rundown:

1.1 - Indianized copies of Peroz's drachms
- They are anepigraphic
- They come in a wide array of styles and types (arguably more than anywhere else)
- Nearly all have tall skinny attendants wearing a "herringbone" dress




Series 1.2 - "Chavada" type
- Attendant body turns into a blob that thins into a line under the arm
- Attendant head and breasts remain large
- Chin is detached from head
- Suddenly a line is added through the pupil (Why? I have no idea!)
- Flan shrinks from ~22mm to ~17mm
- Brow becomes very prominent



Still trying to figure it how (there are missing pieces to the puzzle), but somehow the head turns into this

 

Then we get into 1.3, the "curved head"
- Chin attaches to the cheek again
- Nostril switches from dot to crescent
- Attendants are squished down to fit on the flan
- Huge domed foreheads!


See the similarity in the portrait?



Then on to the regular "Gadhaiya" like your second coin
1.4 - Gadhaiya Paisa
- Forehead quickly shrinks back down
- Chin detaches from head
- Better overall workmanship early on
- Then the coins spread stylistically
- The line through the pupil is lost
- Coins become debased


Then in 1.1.5 the eye disappears altogether as in your first one. Some attribute these to the Vaghelas

 

These certainly are more interesting in groups arranged to show patterns in style. Proving how these patterns relate to date and place may take work.

I apologize for underestimating. Is 1000 realistic? I found a dealer at a show with a group cheap so I bought a few but never went further with them after that page.

 

That's great, congrats.


INDIA, CHALUKYAS of GUJARAT (1030 - 1120 A.D.)
AR Drachm (gadhaiya paisa)
O: Degenerate Indo-Sasanian style bust right, sun and moon (crown?) above.
R: Stylized fire altar, sun (consisting of rosette of dots) above left, crescent moon above right.
4.4g
17mm
Deyell 158, Mitchiner Non-Islamic 427

 

Congrats on the Neanderthal! He has a wicked look to him that makes me want one...though when it comes to bidding wars, I usually come up shorter than Pompey, after they took off his head!
Thanks for sharing some of those beauties and sharing the progression. Here's a couple of mine.

Shapur II
Sasanian Kingdom AD 309-
379. Drachm AR
23mm., 4,04g.
Bust of Shapur II right, wearing
mural crown with korymbos and
inner ribbon / Fire altar with
ribbon and bust right in flames,
flanked by two attendants, each
wearing mural crown with
korymbos, legend on altar shaft.
very fine. Former Savoca

 

For me, it all started with the Sasanians, and it continued with the post-Sassanians ending in the Gadhaiya paisas.
Where it comes from: king Peroz was imprisoned by the Huns and freed after paying a huge sum of silver drachms, thirty mule loads of them. This was the coin that started the series of imitations, the stream of ever evolving types that was to flow for 700 or 800 years.
Peroz (457-484), AR drachm, mint ST. 27 mm, 4.2 gr. Bought it from Parscoins, because I wanted a splendid example.



Here's one of the early Hunnic imitations from what's now Afghanistan. Billon drachm, Peroz imitation, (474-561). With addition of tamgas S 59 & S 60. Fire altar with attendants, Bactrian script in obverse margin. Edges chipped because of countermarking. R. Tye, 29.11.86 ‘Countermark of helmeted head on reverse’, hard to spot. 30 mm, 2.79 gr. Vondrovec type 289; MAC 1469; Zeno 199534.



The following coin was also issued by the (Nezak) Huns after they were driven from India and resettled in (now) Afghanistan. Nezak crossover AE, return from India, after 565 AD. Obv. crowned head t.r., small crown with spikes. Text to the right. Rev. Abstracted fire altar with four distinct dots over it. Greenish on tan color. Splits on side.

 

On the side of the Sasanian small fry, there is a wondrous world of copper coins and silver obols yet to discover. It is not nearly so well documented as the silver drachms and the rare gold dinars.

This is an official albeit tiny copper coin of king Kavad (488-531), and what a nose on such a small coin...
Sasanids. AE 1/12 unit Kavad I, 499-505. Obv. Crowned bust in pearl rim, moon and star outside it. Rev. Fire altar with assistants. 12 mm, 0.40 gr. Cf. Göbl 186, crown #2, rev. #1 = year of reign 13-19.



After the demise of the Sasanids, local copper coinage was issued in many places, often in transition types between Sasanid and islam.
This is a very curious example with a Janiform head (double face and double Sasanian crown).

AE pashiz, time of 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan to al-Walid I ibn 'Abd al-Malik. AH 65-96 / AD 685-715. Uncertain mint. Obv. Janiform bust with Sasanian crown. Rev. Circle containing something, uncertain lettering or symbols in outer margin (According to the description: ‘Fire altar with ribbons and attendants; uncertain lettering or symbols in outer margins between star-in-crescents’, but I don’t recognize this). Cf. Gyselen Type 106 and 125 (for obv.); 15 mm, 0,78 gr.



And I also have a Chalukyas caricature much like that of @Finn235 - and I love it, this funny demon!
AR drachm, Chalukya Gadhaiya paisa, ca. 940-1030. Sasanian imitation. Obv. domed head t.r. Rev. Fire altar. 10-15 mm, 4.2 gr. Deyell 157 a-b.

 

That is the first time I ever saw the portrait in these coins. Now it all makes sense! Thank you for sharing

 

These two are interesting because they show that the anvil die wasn't always the fire altar side. The second one has nearly the entire fire altar die present.


4.19g 16.5mm


4.13g 17mm

One of my regrets in collecting is not obtaining any books on these coins when the books were available.

 

A few hasty comments, with apologies that I do not have time/access to make scans.

1) Missing so far from the above are pics of the rare very early issues which are quite good copies of the Sasanid prototype. These raise the question – why (as I seem to have seen) do we never seem to find actual Sasanid issues mixed with these?

2) The issues seem to start early, maybe 7th century or before, and finish late, maybe late 13th century. And at first sight we seem to have a gradual evolution of types over that huge period. But that seems to disappear when you look closer. For instance, the late Peroz “bowler hat” type and the early broad “bean head” types ought to be the result of a slow evolution, but in fact were clearly minted close together in time, since they seem to come up mixed together. Some sort of stop start mechanism seems more likely to lie behind the various types. But what were they, and what were the real issue dates of the various types?

3) Has anyone ever seen fractional pieces? I once saw a small group, ugly little things with little design showing (big dies but small flans). The interesting fact was they were rather base and thus late-ish (12th century???) and the weights indicated they were 1/3rds and 1/6ths. That does not accord with the rather normal binary splitting of Hindu coinage. Even at that late date its much more like the original Sasanid splitting into danaks (1/6ths, ie obols)

Rob T

 

Do the countermarks like the ones below come on actual Sasanian coins or are all copies?

 

Hello Doug

Maybe others know more, but I think the first is on a Sasanid late K II issue, but (on the basis of what I laughingly call my memory) the two opopo pieces are both on rather good copies of H IV drachms. Are all the undertypes of those copying the same mint and date? I seem to recall so, and that is almost unthinkable in a genuine Sasanid group.

There are two ways to approach the Gadhaiya Sasanid stylistic influence. The way Mitchiner seems to prefer is that they are all derived from initial issues we might call “hungeld”. Even the later Gujarat issues track back to a group of hunish fellows who strayed south far into the sub-continent.

However, there is also a deeply entrenched Parsi community in Bombay, and they seem to trace their roots back to a claimed exodus of Persians who fled Iran, ahead of the Islamic conquests in the 7th century.

The Gadhaiya Paisa issues might find their ultimate roots in either, or indeed both, for all I know.

One matter that intrigues me is that the c. 4.17g standard spread far beyond the Gadhaiya Paisa in medieval India. It seems to be the standard of all the various Lakshmi gold issues, and also the Chola gold, silver and copper issues too. All perhaps versions of ‘gadyana’ coins or some such we find mentioned on medieval stone inscriptions.

But these just rather random ramblings

Rob T

 

Awesome examples, all! Sorry I'll have to chunk out my responses; busy day ahead.

@Ed Snible the portrait side was indeed the anvil side, as far as I can tell. Most tellingly, I was able to snag this one a couple years ago that was not fully moved off the die before next one was struck, resulting in part of the ribbons being struck over the neck, and a large dent where the next coin was pushed into it. This suggests a hurried, cramped minting operation.

 

I am certain my 4.13g example was done with the portrait on the hammer side. That coin is not typical. If the hammer hadn't hit the blank off-center I would not be able to tell.

 

Countermarks do exist on Sassanian drachms, especially those from the "30 mule loads" from either ransom of Peroz:

https://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=11482

The Huns who copied them did use specific sets of countermarks, and some (especially the North Tokharistan / Kobadien imitations) seem to not exist without countermarks. The Phroro drachms are usually described as being on imitations of Hormizd IV as EWC suggested; perhaps from a seized mint batch, as all are from the Balkh mint, RY 11--Balkh had fallen to the Turks in that year or soon after.

Back to the Indo-Sassanian coins, Maheshwari mentions hoards in passing, but does not dive into the contents of any particular hoard. There are earlier iterations than the earliest I have been able to buy for my collection, but I have only seen a few; a handful in archives of ebay sales that sold a couple years before I started collecting this series, and a few more in archives of Indian auction houses. All things considered, mine is a decent imitation of an official Peroz from the GWL mint:



I'm just spitballing here, but regarding the lack of official Peroz drachms in the earliest hoards, one fascinating discovery that Maheshwari made is that the earliest iterations are very pure silver; averaging 90% and going as high as 95%. I've read that Sassanian coins of this time were only 80% - perhaps the locals didn't find them up to snuff, or only hoarded the local copies made of better silver?

And regarding exactly who made these, Maheshwari argues it was the Gujjar people, who claim descent from a central Asian population that served under and fought alongside the Huns. Doing a bit of poking around online, I found that a Google Image search for "Gujjar" actually picks up a lot of memes from social media, and many of them seem to have appropriated the Kushan tamgha of Kanishka to identify themselves:


The Gujjar people did go on to found the Chavada and Chaulukya dynasties, so that is consistent with the traditional attribution of the Gadhaiya coins.

 

Do you mean the Kidarite drachms, that were inspired by the Sasanians but by themselves attained a high artistic level? Like these:



AR Kidarite drachm, about 390. Buddhamitra, ‘King C’. 28 mm, 3.81 gr. Göbl Hunnen 18. Vondrovec Type 18, p. 68-69.



AR Kidarite drachm, about 400. Unknown king. Under the altar a word: ‘pylwc’ (Pfisterer) or ‘Jadana’ (Vondrovec)?? 29.5 mm, 4.00 gr. Göbl Hunnen 15 (= Vondrovec 15 A). Pfisterer 15. Vondrovec I p. 32. Type 15 (not 15 A).

Some matching tiny bronzes of the famous Smast cave dwellings in Kashmir:



AE Kidarites, about 425-457. Obv. Frontal portrait with Sasanian crown and hairballs at the sides. Rev. fire altar with attendants and long ribbons. 14 mm. CKS 270; Göbl, Dokumente –.



AE unit, Kidarites (350-385AD). Obv. Bust in ¾ view right, with a mustache. Crown with vegetal elements and a central globe. On each shoulder a hairball, ribbons on both sides. Rev. Brahmi ‘Kuja//na’. 14.5 mm, 0.83 gr. Vondrovec GC-K 20, see Vol. I p. 42, Type 1.1.3.2. Zeno 168830 (this coin).

 

And here are some more intermediate types of that turmoil era, the century between 630 and 730:



AR drachm Zabulistan (South Afghanistan), Hephthalites, Shahi kings. Vakhu Deva (VasuDeva), beginning 8th century. Countermarked. 30 mm, 3.31 gr. Göbl Hunnen 244.



Billon drachm. Sahi Tigin? About 700-705. 27 mm, 2.29 gr. Vondrovec II p. 651-653. Göbl Hunnen 240. MACW 1554.

 

Apologies again for my hazy recollections. What I had in mind were very good Indian copies of Peroz drachms, better than any pictured above. Maybe I saw them in the BM collection? - But am not exactly sure...........