Here is a coin of the "Hephthalite" huns. The coin may be of the unfortunate Sasanian King Peroz (= Firoz, 457-483) after he was captured in battle, with three countermarks applied by his captors, the Hephthalites, after they received the coins as ransom. Or, it may be struck by them in imitation of his coins. I wish I had the right reference works. 29-27 mm. 3:00. 3.53 grams. Three countermarks at 1:00, 3:30, and 10:30. When I did a search to find out more I find references in the form "Gobl Hunnen" which cite his ID numbers for various countermarks. I know that citation refers to a book by Gobl (actually with an umlaut). The web seems to show he wrote: Dokumente zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Baktrien und Indien in four volumes. Does anyone know if that is the right book and which volume concerns coins? Which volume, if any, has the countermarks illustrated and given an ID number? Or, is there a website which does this well? (I know about Zeno.ru: The Oriental Coins Database: https://www.zeno.ru/ and Tom Mallon's site The Coins and History of Asia: http://grifterrec.rasmir.com/huns/huns.html I solicit recommendations of references to this sort of coin. Show us yours!
I wish to give a direct link to Zeno's "Countermarks on Iranian and Central Asian coins of the 4th to 8th century CE" category because many people will not be able to find it just given the home page. https://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=11678 I don't have Gobl's book. A newer book is by Klaus VONDROVEC, Coinage of the Iranian Huns and their Successors from Bactria to Gandhara. I don't have that one either... I was going to post one from my collection with Hepthalite countermarks but it seems I mostly have Western Turk countermarks. Here is an obol that *might* be Hepthalite: HUNS or post-Huns. Sind (?), sixth century AD?, 'Sri Yashaditya', AR 0.4g, 11mm. Obv: Hepthalite style bust of king right, wearing 'open rectangle' crown with an additional horizontal line and four dots in diamond pattern. Rev: Trident and cursive Brahmi legend. Cf Hoard of unpublished Hunnic silver drachms from Northern Pakistan 3.3.14 and 3.4.3. Cf Pankaj Tandon, More Early Medieval Portrait Coins of the Yashaaditya Series.
A few years back I had interest in these and got a few representative coins. I even corresponded with Tom Mallon on them but was never clear on some of the ID points and never had a reference other than his site and zeno. Today I am away from books and home where my ID cards are so all I can show are a few coins I felt fortunate to find and would like to believe I understood. I don't count matching coins with plates in references as understanding. what c/m on Khusru II? 3 c/m's on Hormazd IV or a copy of his coin This bull type was an early purchase from a dealer that seemed to have a good selection but dropped out of sight when laws on exports changed. AE or weak billon? Similar billon Excellent portrait?
The c/m on the Khusru II is a Göbl 11A, Simurgh left, applied after After 686 CE in Tokharestan-Kabul area according to https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=155846 (actually it might be some other variant of Göbl 11, hard to tell with the damage). The Hormazd IV has The countermarks are cm132 (Portrait left, "ankus"? on his head) and cm59a (Bactrian legend "фopo"), and cm14 (Tamgha S137 with a narrow opening.) Follow links for examples and date/place info.
Very nice! I don't have a countermarked Peroz, but I guess I can get away with reposting my Peroz drachm that I wrote up a few weeks ago:
Yes, the missing half of the Simurgh makes it hard to recognize. Thanks for the link. I remain uncertain how the attributions of such marks were developed and assigned meanings. An English language reference for 'beginners' would be helpful to me.
I agree that a nice English language work on these coins and their countermarks would be helpful. I am not sure enough is known to write one at this point. I can give a personal experience of how the attribution of these countermarks is developed. A few years ago at the New York international I bought two countermarked Sasanian-style drachms. Mervin from Zeno also bought one. Later that weekend at the Oriental Numismatic Society dinner I showed him mine, and claimed I had discovered a new countermark: Flying camel. This countermark looks like camel/elephant (cm 148) unless you get really close. Luckly professor Naymark of Hofstra University was also there. He knew that the flying camel was a Sogdian motif and described a famous vase that had one. The conclusion was that a new countermark had been identified. The flying camel is now cm167. I found the countermark on another coin posted to Zeno but misidentified as a deer. Very little is known of pre-Islamic silk road mythology so it is hard to say more about this countermark other than what kind of coins it was applied on, where it was applied on those coins, and other countermarks that appeared on the same coins. (If anyone is going to the NY International next month and wants to attend the Oriental Numismatic Society dinner let me know.)
Vondrovec - Coinage of the Iranian Huns and their Successors from Bactria to Gandhara (2014). That's a large two-volume book in English. For books, don't look only at Amazon, but try AddAll: used.addall.com or ViaLibri: www.vialibri.net. You will find a copy for slightly over $200, that's the new book price (Euro 179). Naturally, you can also buy from the publisher, the Austrian Academy of Science Press, with its (English) website https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at. You might be able to wheedle out some discount, some sellers are easy in giving discounts. Vondrovec builds his system on the ground-breaking work of Robert Göbl, short title reference 'Göbl Hunnen'. It's a 900 page, four-volume book published in 1967 (in German). I Catalog (and useful indexes) II Commentaries III Photos (b/w, useful) IV Drawings - that's where you find the countermarks, drawings of crowns and legends. Here's a page. The caption says: 'Countermarks according to the system of Walker', and that is J. Walker, A Catalogue of the Arab-Sasanian Coins (1941). If you order it, look out, Amazon doesn't say if it's the four-volume complete set or just one volume of the 4. On Vialibri, you may find loose volumes. I paid about $140 for my complete set, and count myself lucky.
That's a coin of outstanding quality between these obols of indifferent style. I have two or three of these, I believe most of them are from one find in hidden Indian caves. Intriguing Buddhist Hunnic coins.
