"Crown Jewel" to my Central Asian collection

So Anoob has been putting a hurting on me lately in the "unusual ancients" category. This is my retaliation. Its a 5th-8th century gold bracteate from Central Asia. There are a few different designs known, one like this in better shape sold at Triton a few years ago for about $8k. Others imitate Byzantine issues. This is the second known example to the cataloger, as they are not published elsewhere.

All in all, I believe its a pretty nice crown jewel for my Sogdian pieces.

AV Bracteate (24mm, 0.77g). .
Uncertain Brahmi inscription, pearl-diademed and crowned bust facing, bhindi on forehead and wearing earrings and necklace, holding vase and sceptre tipped by flame within crescent / Incuse. Cf. Göbl, Dokumente pl. 87, B1-B2. Triton IX, Lot: 1251. VF.

 

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In case others want to see similar examples, CNG has handled several. I know nothing about them and considering how much CNG usually writes about interesting lots compared to what they write here, just knowing they exist might put you ahead of most.
http://www.cngcoins.com/Search.aspx...1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1&VIEW_TYPE=0

 

FYI, I wrote the story that sometimes appears with these, specifically referring to those copying solidi: http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=181851


During the seventh century AD, the Byzantine solidus was the de facto trade currency of the Mediterranean world. The denomination saw wide circulation beyond the borders of the Empire, both in the Germanic western half of Europe and along the Silk Road. Solidi and their sundry bracteate imitations are regularly found in burials along the trade routes of Central Asia, even from as far afield as the metropolitan regions of northern China. Thierry and Morrison (Sur les monnaies byzantines trouvées en Chine, in RN 1994) record twenty-seven specimens ranging in date from Theodosius II to Constantine V recovered from Tang dynasty tombs. They note that neither official nor bracteate solidi survive in sufficient quantities to suggest a circulating currency. Rather, the gold coins functioned as prestige objects for wealthy merchants and nobles.

 

Wow very nice, good info...

 

Thanks for the link Doug. I was wrong, the other issue lik this sold at Triton in 2006 for $6100.

I do like the other examples, and have seen a couple when they were at auction, I just was not in a position to act. I would like to get a couple more, but they are not very easy to find. Considering CNG is the largest dealer in the world, and they have just these amount of coins sold in the past decade, (and some in that link were not Central Asian), "scarce" I do not believe would be an unfair word.

Very interesting writeup Bill. Thank you. I didn't find much to read about them.

 

Chris,

Don't you have Coins, Art, & Chronology? There is an article on the bracteates in there.

 

Is the Brahmi inscription uncertain because it's illegible, or untranslatable?

 

I do not think I do. I have many "symposium" books, but not that one. Is it in English? I see the cheapest example on Amazon is for $185.

 

Jeeze...lets just go blow Ancientnoob out of the water...
The Brahmi looks squished and looks more like poorly blundered Greek, to me.
Phat would not be an appropriate term for this coin as it Aluminum foil thin. The coin is certainly impressive, and a jewel I would happily snag from your tomb. I must say the bust has a certain Kidarite silver feel eh?

 

Yes, this is the more "hunnic" looking version of these. More of them copy Roman coins. It looks very much like the Shahi Tagin you have as your avatar, (I got another one of those too recently but need to take pics of quite a few newps).

 

I totally agree. The first Hun that came to mind was Kidara, with the 3/4 facing bust.

Now this isn't a brokerage, right? This is an incuse punch that forced the image on the other side. School me, CA guru.

 

Lol, I am not a guru of these at all. Bill would be the closest to that. But yes, the reverse is an incuse design, just like some early Greek coins were.

Besides the Shahi Tagin, I have also got a really nice gold Kushan of Vasudeva II, a few sassanids, a few Sogdians, and a really pretty toned denari of AP's wife, (forgot her name). I only bought that coin, (since I do not collect Romans) because the hair detail is simply incredible, it had to be a gifted celator and a very fresh die.

Anyway, that is what I need to get imaged yet.

 

An incuse punch formed the image on the reverse? It sure like looks like a brockage to me - in fact, it seems to be a perfect mirror image of the obverse.

Or, did they use an incuse punch only to strike the coin from the reverse? I'm confused.

 

Faustina the Elder...

I want a Kushan Gold...

Sassanids are always good.

Sogdians I need more. I only have the one of the Turko Hephthalite Lords of Bukhara.

 

Yeah, I really do need to photograph/film some of my stuff. I have two boxes, (about 75 coins per), of Sogdian and working on the third. Same with Huns. Maybe it would just be simpler to make a Youtube video.

 

I'd watch that!

 

I am not sure. They list it as incuse reverse. I am not positive if there was a negative die, or they struck the coin only on one side. I would imagine its hard, though, to only strike on one side and not have the reverse obliterated by a hard flat reverse. That is why I was assuming two dies, the reverse just a mirror image of the obverse.

 

I have several youtube videos!, but far less coins!

 

Nice addition Chris. I like the incuse of it especially.

 

It's very distinctive, for all the obvious reasons of history and rarity, but the intentional brockage (if you want to call it that) also adds to the eye-appeal. Congratulations on your crown jewel, Chris!