I have this tetradrachm in my collection for a couple of years now, and only today when I was checking out my coins I noticed this peculiar symbol of auspiciousness in Buddhism/Hinduism, I happened to have a different lighting which probably made it more apparent. Anyways I wondered if it might've been just a scratch while at my possession, so I brought up the seller's image (who happens to be Zumbly!), and noticed the same graffiti on his image. Kassander - Antigonos II Gonatas? Uncertain mint, circa 310-275 BC 29mm, 16.38g. Price 879 It is possible that this coin could've circulated in the far eastern lands like Afghanistan/central Asia which by that time followed Buddhism. So what do you guys think?
As I have posted here before, I have a coin from Apollonia Pontica with a swastika reverse. The swastika symbol first appears in the archaeological record around 3000 BCE in the Indus Valley. It also appears in the cultures around the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The swastika was a symbol of the revolving sun, infinity, or continuing creation. If one was to deeply search, there are many cultures where the symbol was used including some Germanic tribes. So, bottom line, it could have come from just about anywhere in the Ancient world. Fascinating to find it scratched unobtrusively on the reverse and not having any effect on the reverse device.
The Swastika is an Eastern symbol of the Sun, and is occasionally known as Gammadion, and mystic Fylfot. The latest idea formed regarding the Swastika is, that it may be a form of the old wheel symbolism, and that it represents the solar system. It is often connected with the Sun, as in the Island of Melos, first colonized by Phoenicia. Its great diffusion in Eastern Asia is due to its being a Buddhist emblem, "the wheel of the law." The swastiska was also a fairly common symbol for hundreds of years, not only on coins, such as on this clay fragment: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=82013.0 Some interesting reads: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49256/49256-h/49256-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49256/49256-h/images/female-swastica.png https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49256/49256-h/images/male-swastica.png
Finland had "swastika watermarks on postage stamps issued in 1919- after. Also decals on their fighter planes flown vs Reds in Winter war 1939-40. Also used in Annamese coins.... My AV Tien ND Nguyen Dynasty/ Emperor Duc Tong 1847-83 Also archaic EL coinage Ionia/ uncertain EL Mysihemihekte ND Struck 625-600BC
the swastika has been used throughout history of civilization and wasn't vilified until it became a Nazi symbol...here are two swastika fibulae in my artifact collection
