More Gadhaiya white whales - a whole pod of 'em!

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Finn235, Sep 17, 2021.

  1. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    I spotted a similar lot of these at the last Stephen Album auction a couple months back and put in what I thought was a strong bid, but still got pretty soundly defeated. I licked my wounds and kept my eyes peeled for more. As luck would have it, last night's SARC auction had two more lots. I strategically lost the first lot to secure the second at a price my budget could just barely swallow.

    42769072_1.jpg

    Before spilling the beans - I'm curious if anyone else sees what I see here?
     
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  3. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    I see a lot of fire altars and faces.
    I only have 3 of these types of coins and can't really distinguish between them to save my life.
    Glad you got a bunch of whales though, whatever they may be :)

    Looking forward to hearing what you have to say about them.
     
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  4. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    Already doing better than most ;)

    Also for anyone curious who looks them up - the auction house's attribution of them is wrong.
     
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  5. Bob L.

    Bob L. Well-Known Member

    Steve, I’m sure I’m wrong, but are some of these very abstract busts facing left?
     
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  6. THCoins

    THCoins Well-Known Member

    Nice Haul !
    You are our resident specialist on these, but they look quite late.
    The normally S shaped tip of the ribbon in front of the head to the right looks a bit like an Elymais trident here, or is it the symbol normally behind the head ? Als Bob L noted, the noses on some seem to point left. But the dent in the face, which is usually below the nose, is on the normal right side. So unsure if some are indeed mirrorred. The fire altar lacks the normal diabolo shape and no cross in the middle. Late Malwa version ?
     
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2021
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  7. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    Bingo!

    The whole lot - except for one in the center bottom - is a totally unpublished and unknown series. I believe that these are directly imitated from late Series 1.4
    ZomboDroid 26082019125440.jpg

    They are not however the "Vaghela" type which is similar in terms of debasement and dumpiness, but characterized by the "S" portion of the ribbon displacing the three horizontal lines ZomboDroid 16082019192800.jpg

    It looks like there are two types of this new series

    First, with a relatively well-engraved portrait, but very simple fire altar engraved in thick lines and replacing the star in the middle with a dot
    ZomboDroid 17092021105728.jpg

    Second either is engraved with a bust to the left, or at least has the ear on the wrong side
    ZomboDroid 17092021105848.jpg

    I'll have to dig into them when I get them in hand!
     
  8. Spaniard

    Spaniard Well-Known Member

    @Finn235......What a great find!....Looking forward to seeing your analysis of this new type....
     
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  9. Marsyas Mike

    Marsyas Mike Well-Known Member

    @Finn235 - thanks for sharing these. Very informative...

    I am horning in on this post because I got my very first Gadhaiya coin last week. This was not something I was actively seeking, but with most of my ancient interests, I let some random eBay auction lead me. It came in a small oddball lot (Ivan the Terrible denga included) and once I got this in hand, I was really, really impressed.

    This led me to hunting up @Finn235 posts on Coin Talk where I found a lot of great information on these. So thank you!

    Here it is, my only Gadhaiya, with my effort at an attribution. It has some crusty stuff, mostly on the obverse, but I kind of like the "excavated look" to some extent:

    Indo-Sasanid Gadhaiya Paisa lot Sep 2021 (0).jpg
    Indo-Sasanian, Chalukyas of Gujarat.
    Gadhaiya Paisa
    (c. 950-1050 A.D. )

    Degenerate Indo-Sasanian style bust right, sun and moon (crown?) above / Stylized fire altar, sun (rosette of dots) above left, crescent moon above right
    Mitchiner Non-Islamic 427; Deyell 158 (see reverse).
    (4.03 grams / 18 x 16 mm)
    eBay Sep. 2021 Lot @ $3.90
    Attribution Notes:
    "...the celators opted to shrink the portrait to accommodate the entire die on the best-struck coins. This is by far the most common single type of Gadhaiya, the Small Portrait Orthodox type, series 1.4.3."
    Finn235 on Coin Talk Oct. 2019

    Here is the lot it came in. I cannot figure out the two on the right - the bottom one is an Ottoman akce of some sort (0.68 grams, silver). The one with the five-spoke wheel is utterly baffling me. Any help greatly appreciated:
    _Lot of 5 Gadhaia, Ivan Sep 2021 (0).jpg
     
  10. coin_nut

    coin_nut Well-Known Member

    Nice big lot of Gadhaiya paisas. What caught my attention immediately was the way they are all about the same color. Was this a hoard, all found in similar condition? I have maybe 20 of these coins, and they range from white silver to black tarnish, with some greens in there too.
     
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  11. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    @Marsyas Mike Nice first Gadhaiya! 1.4.3 is correct - yours is a nice and well-loved example, and looks like it may have been a full reverse strike when it was still hot from the mint.

    @coin_nut, I assume that all 3 lots that sold were a single hoard, fed into the market slowly. Hopefully I'll be able to recover the budget a bit to catch more if/when they do appear!

    I'd love to see yours, when you have time to image them!
     
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  12. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    Coins finally arrived yesterday!

    Still in the process of sorting, but from initial pass, I was able to determine that two sets of dies were used, and I believe that most are die matches to each other, displaying varying degrees of die wear or damage.

    Obverse I - Good imitation of Gadhaiya type, with head right

    Obverse II - Crude imitation with ear on right and a faint nose, otherwise no trace of face

    Reverse A - Chunky type engraved in thick strokes, altar shaft is a pellet, altar is straight, slightly more spread vertically than regular 1.4/1.5 types, flame has at least two rows of 4 dots.

    Reverse B - Fire altar is more finely engraved in thinner strokes, altar base slants to right, shaft is still pellet but pushed to the side, flames are more like a double-rosette, but vertical line is still present!

    I/A
    ZomboDroid 26102021155715.jpg

    I/B
    ZomboDroid 26102021155811.jpg

    II/A
    ZomboDroid 26102021160013.jpg

    II/B
    ZomboDroid 26102021155922.jpg

    Overall, II/B was the most common, followed by I/A. I/B and II/A were much less common. Weights were all over the place; I weighed a handful and averaged about 4.5 with a range of 3.8 - 6.1!

    Will be working on categorization over the next few days.
     
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  13. romismatist

    romismatist Well-Known Member

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  14. Muhammad Niazi

    Muhammad Niazi Well-Known Member

    your post tempted me to buy two ghadiya coins for myself just now
     
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  15. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    Very nice! Would love to see a picture - I've noticed a lot of very nice ones coming through Ebay over the past few weeks - were they from there?
     
  16. Muhammad Niazi

    Muhammad Niazi Well-Known Member

    Im from pakistan, so i bought locally as they are found around here.

    Here are the not so good pictures, will take proper when they arrive.

    received_204510051777210.jpeg
    received_930285980932247.jpeg

    received_472759207330776.jpeg
     
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