So, just took a pic yesterday of a newish pickup of mine. Here is a pic of the pile: They are 25 mostly bronze, (some billon), drachms of Nezak Huns. Mostly Napki Malka, bull head crown. They were struck in Kabul, Afghanistan aroudn the 7th century ad. All but two are gF and up. In fact, three of these are now the three best of this type I own. Before I got this lot, I already owned about 20 of this type. Would I buy another group of 25 of these at the same price I paid? Yes, yes I would.
I still cannot fathom why you feel it necessary to amass so many specimens of the same type. But I won't complain - it helps prevent you from getting interested in my esoteric areas!
Very cool ... I'm sure you must get a bit of a deal, buyin' bulk, eh? (do you keep the best ones and sell/trade the others? ... or do you keep all of your purchases?)
Well, I have found differnces amongst them. I am going through them looking at variances coupled with weight changes to see if I can determine an order of manufacture. For about the price of what common Constatinian bronzes in nce shape go for I will have fun with hunnic coins. Besides, I am a hoarder. Plus Bill, unless you are into Thai toks and Lanna coins, I am not competing very much with anyome here right now.
Honestly, I wish you guys lived nearby and we could just sit down and swap. As it is, they usually just stay in the hoard that is my sdb.
In a way, they were copies. They were copying the Sassanid types of coins. These started as good silver, then billon, then degraded to bronze. Here is a pic of them spread out: The reverses show two attendants around a fire alter, like Sassnid issues.
That reasoning I can understand. Let me know what you find! And you know I have an interest in South East Asia, even though I don't actually collect them. Have you seen my Indonesian cash/pitis?
INDONESIA, Sultanate of Palembang. Circa AD 1790's-1821 Tin Cash (20mm, 0.61 g) Palembang mint Shi Dan Li Bao in Hànzì Blank T.D. Yih, "Tiny Pitis Inscribed 'Shi-Dan' (Sultan) from Palembang," in ONS Newsletter 204 (Summer 2010), type I-1 Found in Palembang Hang Li Po first appears in the Malay Annals as a Chinese princess sent to be the fifth bride of sultan Mansur Shah of Malacca. However, there is no reference to this event in official Ming documents. Li Po may merely be a beautiful concubine given to the Sultan. Alternatively, she may be the daughter of an otherwise unknown Chinese ruler in the area, to whom this coin may perhaps be attributed.
Most. The one in the bottom right, (second up), is billon. A couple might be low billon but low enough to simply be classified as AE. The two more worn examples might be billon. They are completely unlike the other issues, so I doubt they were minted in the same timeframe.
Weird, I didn't see any using the words "hun" "nezak" or "napki". I see a few Shahis but no bull headress issues. They are not a terribly rare coin. In fact, amongst Hunnic coins this is one of the more common issues you will find. Finding 25 of them in this condition delivered to your door for about $16 each, though, I thought was a good deal.
I fall in the middle ((as usual) having a representative sampling but not a heap or the intention to buy a bunch. The coins strike me as beautiful on the obverse but are usually quite ordinary or just plain ugly on the reverse. The thin flans often have weak spots where the dies needed more metal and double striking seemed to be the rule. Two of my coins seem to be similar in legend (I do not read the language) but are quite different in metal. What does the legend say? What is the meaning of the bull? I do not know whether the intention was two denominations or it they are separated by a debasement event like we see in the coins of Gallienus, for example. It is really difficult to study single coins and answer some most important questions. People who work at the British Museum get to handle tens of thousands of examples where people like me play with ten and feel lucky. Medoraman shows us a middle ground is available if we choose to pursue it. I don't so choose but am happy someone does.
For this issue, this is my understanding. First, the bull crown was just their form of a fancy crown, like Sassanid rulers had. The name on the coin to the right is Npk Mlk, or as we say, Napki Malka. WE are assuming its the ruler's name, just like the Sassanid ruler's name appeared in the same place on their coins. From what I have seen, they wer not different denominations, more like debasement like Gallienus. THey actually have smaller bronzes that continued to be produced, so that would lead us to beleive that it was simply debasement of the drachms taking place. Good point on the reverses. That is where the rubber meets the road on these. Remember how I said three of my best now are from this group? THat is because three of these had complete, well struck reverses. That is what usually distiguishes a superlative coin from an ordinary one. THe design is a fire alter with two attendents, with wheels above each attendant. It appears both metal flow and very worn reverse dies were the culprit. If anyone is shopping for a superlative example, the reverse is the most important side to consider. I bought my group to study, and most any changes are on the obverse, so most having average reverses are not a huge deterrent, plus I got them at a great price.
