This showed up in a lowball lot of ancients from eBay, and I am stumped. I cannot even tell what it is I am looking at. A stylized ruler standing? A mace? It may be upside down. It has a kind of "Silk Road" or Ancient India look to it, but I don't know where to start looking. Diameter: 17 mm / weight: 5.60 grams Sorry about the lousy photo - it has been permanently overcast around here for days, which makes my photos worse than usual. It looks like it is afflicted with bronze disease, but that whitish-green stuff is really a light tan desert patina. Any help greatly appreciated. Even a hint. Anything!
Well this is kind of embarrassing. I spent some time on this yesterday with no luck, but a generic "ancient india" Google image search just hit paydirt for me. From a Marc Breitsprecher listing on Vcoins: India. Kashmir. First Lohara Dynasty. Ananta Deva Æ Stater / goddess Lakshmi Attribution: Mitchiner Non-Islamic 181-182 Date: 958-972AD Obverse: The goddess Lakshmi seated facing, flanked by Nagari legend Ananta ra Reverse: King standing sacrificing at altar, with Nagari legend ja (Deva) to right Size: 18.93 mm Weight: 6.07 grams Description: EF https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ma...8_stater__goddess_lakshmi/933010/Default.aspx As Gilda Radner used to say, "Never mind..." But if there are any other Lohara Dynasty coins out there, please share them.
I just keep learning more and more - @Spaniard started a great thread on these here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/kashmir.303978/ Seems King Ananta had an interesting life (from @Spaniard post): "Ananta (AD. 1028 – 1076) After the death of Samgrama his eldest son Hari Raja took the title but died after a reign of only 22 days. And so his younger brother Ananta ascended to the throne. The period of rule by Ananta was characterised by royal profligacy; he accumulated debts so large that it was necessary to sell the royal diadem, but his wealthy wife queen Surajmati intervened and the situation was improved. She was able to settle the debts incurred by her husband by use of her own resources and she also oversaw the appointment of ministers with the ability to stabilise the government. In 1063, she forced Ananta to abdicate in favour of their son, Kalasa. This was probably in order to preserve the dynasty but the strategy proved not to be successful because of Kalasa's own unsuitability. It was then arranged that Ananta was effective king even though his son held the title. This caused great friction between father and son until in 1076 Ananta overcome with rage, despair, and the wickedness of his wife committed suicide."
Great you were able to figure it out yourself ! It takes some effort, but this is a really rewarding series for those who can appreciate the details.
@Marsyas Mike....Nice example! Although Ananta Rajadeva is a reasonably common ruler to acquire your coin does show the "Raja" running from obverse to reverse...The "Ra" being much more difficult to find...Here's my example which doesn't show the "Ra"..
Thank you for that additional information, @Spaniard It is always pleasant to find you have an unusual/rare variety of something. But beyond this, this is an interesting area, for sure. And I have a lot to learn.
It is a surprisingly handsome coin in hand, despite the impression left by my horrible photos. In the past year I've been picking up a few Indian coins here and there, mostly Mughal. This Kashmir stuff is far outside my (limited) knowledge, but I am going to keep an eye out for more.
..hey...who doesn't like Kashmir eh?!?.. ..man, i saw the title and thought 'i can't help'em'.....its good when you can answer your own questions...i have one of those types(bronze stater) i bought back in 2012 as queen Dida Rani(979-1003)(the bottom coin pic came out sideways, but oh well)..i think a few different rulers at different times used the same basic type coin with ID-ing script of who was in charge when the coin was hammered...there's some kool coin coming from that neck o de wood
I'm always late to the party so I'll just show ten of my favorite Kashmir coins. To get the whole legend, it is not uncommon to need two coins off center in the opposite direction. If I have mislabeled any, please note it.
@ominus1.....Your coin is Kalasa and a nice example.. Here's my most recent reference chart from my collection that hopefully helps people id the different rulers.... I do know that @THCoins has some beauties tucked away too.
Doug and Spaniard already showed some nice early Toramana II prototypes. Here another of the earlier ones: