I received this beautiful gift... ...from a good CTAF friend last week. I've been carrying it with me in my jacket pocket and I take it out to look at and admire frequently. I don't know what amazes me the most—the coin—or the kindness of the person who presented it to me.
Special artistic rendition on those! More like coin impressionism vs. realism. I just bought this recently.(need to take a my own better photo) I read up on these on a CT post and found also that the silver was actually mined in India. All the ancient silver European and Mediterranean coins as far as I have found came from mines in Spain and Greece. The price was too reasonable to pass one up. Obverse Five official punches. Reverse One small official mark Date c. 270-175 BCE Weight 3.23 gm. Dimensions 14 x 12 mm. Die axis n.a. Reference GH 566 Comments According to Gupta and Hardaker, the Series VIb coins are issues of the Mauryan empire at its peak. They date these coins to c. 270-175 BCE, the time of Ashoka and his successors. Ashoka, of course, was the emperor who spread the word of the Buddha throughout his empire. The Series VIb coins have a small official punch on the reverse, which repeats one of the punches on the obverse. This type always seems to have the symbol with three ellipses. It is possible that the standing figure on this coin represents Lord Shiva, and would be one of the earliest representations of the Hindu deity. Coin is better in hand than in the photo. Image of punches: Ancient Coins - INDIA, MAURYA: Series VIb punchmarked silver karshapana, GH 566
Yeah, that's a very nice example of the Mahipala types, very abstractly stylized. If anyone wants to go down a very deep rabbit hole, get Tye's Jitals.
A rabbit hole indeed it is. As this is not a Mahipala Jital, but a Jital of the early Kangra Rajas. As the legend is missing, it can not be attributed strictly, but it is either Rupa Chandra or Kapa Chandra. Here another Kangra Jital, this is Kapa Chandra: And this is a typical late Mahipala:
ASHOKA: India Maurya ser VIB AR Karshapana punchmark 270-175 BC ASHOKA HUNS Nezak Huns - Spalapati Deva AR Jital 750-850 CE Horseman-Bull Tye 5 EX: The Rabbit Hole Master! @John Anthony Islamic Ghorids of Ghazna AE Jital Muhammad Sam Mu'izz al-Din AH 567-602 - AD 1171-1206 EX: Yup, the Rabbit Hole Master again! Check out the bull DEVOLVING... Kinda like the progression of Roman Empire coinage...
It gets worse: This was issued under the same Muhammad bin Sam as in the previous thread. Large part of the design usuall falls of flan. Here is a reconstruction of the whole die. The orange circle indicates the approximate coin size.
Here's my bull and horseman that is farthest from the original concept., probably more of because of the small flan that abstract art style.
I also have bull and horseman jital. Mine is identified as "Tye 14, Deyell 45" but I have neither of those books. I probably copied the reference from zeno.ru. (Deyell books seem to be hard to get. I had planned to buy Deyell's new book on the base gold staters of Kashmir but it looks like I wasn't fast enough and they are sold out.) Anyway, here's mine. Samanta (Ohind?), circa 850-1000 AD, 3.34g, AR 18mm Obv: Horseman riding right holding banner; Bhi ashara above left; Unknown symbol above right; degraded cursive title in front Rev: Nandi recumbent left, Tamgha on hindquarters; श्री समानता देवा (Śrī Samānatā Dēvā in Śāradā script) above Tye 14, Deyell 45? Although I do not have the references I think I have the correct reading of the inscription. I recognize several of the Indian characters. I have been trying to get more serious about knowing what is written on my coins.
I really enjoy my Deyell, Living Without Silver, Oxford India paperback 1999. The photos could be better but the text is much more than a catalog and contributes more to understanding than most catalog format books. The photos are almost an afterthought. Tye's Jitals certainly is the standard refrerence and uses line drawings that are much easier to read than photos of the style coins covered. I believe Deyell 45 is correct here. I know less about these coins now than I did when I wrote my page. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/bh.html
Almost, instead of समानता (Samanata) it reads समान्त (Samanta) The "Na" and "Ta" are joined together in a compound character. In the process the "Na" looses its vowel and the syllable becomes "Nta".