Indo Sassanian Coinage, Series 1.1 - Early types

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Finn235, Jun 28, 2019.

  1. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    1.1.9.2 - Closing Series II - Proto-Chavada type face, atypical attendants

    This series is interesting in that nearly every specimen I have seen (not many!) is almost exactly alike, yet none are die-matched. It has the diagnostic fire altar with hanging ribbons, yet the portrait style, attendants, and fire altar would otherwise place it very early in this series. Unlike most other coins, the attendants of these series have bodies engraved in relief, the herringbones engraved on top; thus on worn specimens (and most of these are) they appear to not have herringbones at all! The portrait also is approaching series 1.2, which we will call the Chavada type for convenience. Most importantly, it is engraved in relief, and it is becoming much more difficult to discern the head from the headgear.

    1.1.9.2 Coin 1
    21mm
    4.00g
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-ltQZiga5mxKoxRv.jpg
    This first coin is the most worn, but still gives some interesting insights. The portrait is tall, engraved in relief, and seems to be almost seamlessly merged with the headgear. The eye is a dot sitting within its socket, and the nose is a slanted, relatively long line. The nostril is a dot and sits between the nose and cheek. The lips are dots, and a mustache extends from the upper lip down to the jaw. The beard is engraved on the portrait in relief, and here is mostly worn away. The ear is barely visible, but we can see a hanging two-pearl earring in the usual upside down Y shape. The neck is a small crescent beneath the portrait, and is lined with a small necklace of pearls. The helmet and wings are not visible. The shoulder pads are large clubs beneath the portrait, each outlined in dots. The ribbon initially seems to be rather ordinary, but look closely and you will notice that it originates from the shoulder pad and loops around on itself before falling into the normal backwards S shape. The upper portion is made of three horizontal lines which are well-engraved and tightly spaced.

    The fire altar is tall and thin, with the flame being made of very tightly clustered dots so that most seem to blend together. The bowl and base are mirror images of each other, and the shaft seems to be a star. The ribbons hang to the side. The sun is a small pom pom to the upper left, and the moon is a semicircle with a central dot at the upper right. The attendants each have medium sized circular heads with necklaces made of about five dots. Their breasts are prominent right beneath the necklace. The body is the most fascinating and unusual feature; it curves gracefully in an almost serpentine fashion. Herringbones are visible beneath the breasts, but otherwise the bodies appear to be solid. The attendants' shoulders are lined up with the top of the fire altar bowl, so the altar-side arm hangs down rather than in an upwards salute. The far arm is a single curved line and crosses across the stomach, gesturing toward the ribbon. No feet or legs are visible.
     
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  3. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    Coin 2
    21mm
    3.94g
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-fRiFJRGSyfeMi1M.jpg
    This coin is very nearly identical to Coin 1, but we can see quite a bit more this time around. The eye here shows as a dot tightly hugged by a semicircular eye socket. The beard is a bit better engraved, and does not sit directly atop the cheek; there is a very slight gap. We can see the ear, which is simply engraved and wears a three-pearl earring, this time with two separate chains directly connected to the lobe, with the third pearl connected to a low-relief chain that convincingly portrays a sense of depth. A fascinating and advanced thing to see on these coins! The hair bun is a six-pointed star. The hat is slightly separated from the rest of the face by a line that may be the top of a heavy brow--the bowl is slanted slightly to the back, but is otherwise a semicircle. We can almost see the Korymbos, but nothing useful for analysis. The wings are small cornucopiae shapes opening downward, and there are two small decorative spurs on either side of the hat bowl. No brim is visible. The shoulder pads are again large clubs outlined with dots, but now we can see a central brooch made of a circle with a dot in the middle. The rear ribbon is visible, and once again does the fascinating loop-de-loop! The upper portion is slanted to fill in as much space as possible between the hair bun and wing.

    The fire altar of this coin is still tall, but this time a bit wider, and the shaft is shorter and takes the form of a cross. The flame is made of neatly ordered rows of dots in a 4-4-3-2-1 pattern, although the top two rows are a bit smaller, either by design, or the celator realizing he was running out of room! The ribbons are much more visible on this coin, and clearly hang in straight lines parallel to the slant of the base. The sun is at the upper left, and is a dot with small rays emanating from it, and the moon is a tiny crescent in the upper left. The attendants have slightly more realistic heads that are upside down tear drops, rather than circles. Each wears a necklace of 5 or 6 pearls, and the breasts again are prominent. The bodies are again quite serpentine, and the herringbones are more visible here, but the bodies still look mostly solid beneath the arm. A hem is visible at the bottom of the dress, but still no legs or feet. As with the previous coin, the inner arm hangs down (although it is larger to match to the increased bowl size), and the outer arm curves smoothly across the stomach.
     
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  4. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    Coin 3
    21mm
    3.61g
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-whjJ6eA3Y4.jpg
    Another that initially appears to be more of the same old thing, but there are still important differences. Again the head is tall and almost seems to merge with the hat. Like on the last coin, we can see the eye engraved as a dot tightly hugged by a semicircular socket, and this time we can see a curved brow above it! The beard is completely worn away to give the jaw a bumpy outline. The ear again is large and somewhat simple, and this time has a visible dot on the ear lobe. Like the previous coin, there are three pearls attached to three chains, but this time the middle chain is engraved in the same relief as the others. The hair bun is a large circle with six rays coming from it. The ribbon unfortunately is somewhat worn; there are two faint lines near the lips of the portrait, but I cannot tell if those are intentional, or flan defects. The lower portion is a typical reversed S shape, and the upper portion is well engraved and horizontal. The rear is about the same, but slightly curved toward the head. The wings are again cornucopiae shapes, but seem to be almost an extension of the ribbon. No brim is visible. There are two small pellets on either side of the hat, rather than spurs as on the last coin. The Korymbos is almost visible, but obscured by a crack in the flan.

    The fire altar is nearly the same as on the last coin, but here the flame is a messy, almost solid shape with only a few haphazard dots visible. The sun is somewhat visible in the upper left, and the moon is a medium sized crescent in the upper right. The ribbons are straight lines of dots that run parallel to the base. The attendants have large, off-round heads and necklaces made of maybe six fine, tightly clustered pearls. The breasts are large and prominent, and beneath them are two large herringbones. Beneath the arm, the dress seems to be truncated into a skirt, as on 1.1.9.1. No legs are visible beneath the skirt. Again, the inner arm hangs down, and the outer arm curves gracefully across the stomach.
     
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  5. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    1.1.9.3 - Closing Series III - Chavada Portrait

    This final type is primarily responsible for why this thread has taken me nearly a year to complete! What I initially thought was a paradigm shift in the development from haphazard series 1.1 to the more standardized 1.2 was in actuality a gradual evolution. This very nearly closes the gap, but not so much that they don't belong here.

    Important features to note:
    - These coins have <b>one ribbon</b> on either side of the fire altar - 1.2 onward has two
    - The portraits are very similar to 1.2, but usually have more elongated foreheads
    - The attendants still wear herringbone dresses, but Maheshwari illustrates a few where the attendant's body has nearly withered away into a ball
    - The flames are standardized into ordered rows of dots, but they are not firmly standardized into a 4-3-2-1 pattern yet.

    1.1.9.3 Coin 1
    21mm
    3.96g
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-4jxEQ2IKz0sNCm6.jpg
    Here we finally see the portrait type that will come to dominate all of series 1.2, which I call the Chavada type for convenience. The portrait is tall, thin, has a very tall cheek, jutting eyebrow, and elongated forehead. The eye is an unadorned dot sitting at the top of a large chasm that is the face. The nostril, lips, and chin all line up with the eye nearly perfectly. There is the faintest hint of a moustache on the top lip, but it is nearly worn away. The beard is made up of fine dots that hover a short distance from the face and wrap around the head before trailing off to become the brim of the hat. The ear is high, small, simplified, and touts the standard three-pearl earring. The hair bun is an indistinct star behind the ear. The ribbon is somewhat visible, but too badly worn to provide any useful insights. Almost none of the headgear is visible, but we can see a very tall forehead that leans slightly backward.

    The fire altar has nearly completed its transformation into the Chavada type. It is tall, quite wide, and most importantly, the shaft has transformed into an eight-rayed star; the vertical rays much longer than the rest, like the stereotypical "Star of Bethlehem". The ribbons originate from the bottom line of the fire altar bowl, and hang down its side and out of sight off the die. The flames are neat rows of dots, but curiously there is an extra bottom row of 5 dots... two steps forward, one step back? The sun is on the left, and is an uneven six-pointed star, and the moon is on the right, a long thin crescent without any central dot. The attendants are quite simplified at this point - the head is a small circle atop a solid necklace crescent. The right attendant has visible breasts, but they are not even. She has a medium sized arm that joints at the elbow at about 90 degrees. Her skirt is made of herringbones with no visible legs.
     
  6. Muhammad Niazi

    Muhammad Niazi Well-Known Member

    Lovely! enjoyed reading all of this. I was about to acquire a gurjara pratihara coin from my seller, but it wasnt in good shape for the price he demanded, so I let it pass. Lowkey regret the decision now.
    Screenshot_20190628-135137.png

    I have a chaulukya coin, of the thick flan type with a lot of dots, similar in style to your profile picture, but I believe that it will be more relevant to share it in your future posts, probably Indosass coins 1.2 or 1.3. will be waiting!
     
  7. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    I'm glad you enjoyed it, and surprised you made it through!

    That particular type at least is one of the more common, so it shouldn't be long before another comes along. They tend to come in short spurts as small hoards are found; it's been a learning experience for me over the last few years when to pass up an offering and when to pounce and bid aggressively so I don't miss the only one to ever be offered. When I first started about three years ago, I passed up on some nice examples of 1.1.1 (haven't seen any since) and an absolutely stunning 1.1.2; possibly one of the most interesting and beautiful in existence
    (I did at least save the auction photo)
    $_3 (7).JPG $_3 (6).JPG

    Had I known then what I know now, I would have paid twice what it ultimately went for. I did learn from that mistake, and actually bought about half of all of the coins in 1.1 from a single seller on a single day. My wallet (and wife!) wasn't happy with me, but I got them all for about $15 each on average.

    And unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to work on the next sections, although 1.2 is about 1/4 of the way done and 1.3 is fully imaged. To put things into context:

    1.2 "Chavada type" on large/medium flans, portraits become more standardized, manufacturing improved (less flat strike area), attendants begin to disappear
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-583gPLlftd.jpg
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-q8hkGX0FZU8NpYH3.jpg
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-c5MJr3aqpr.jpg

    1.3 - Curved head type - Portraits have attached chin to the head, overall fabric and design becomes more compact and carefully executed
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-7Nn0ZZlJ8BEsfAd.jpg
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-W9uk9maQ5YKY1.jpg

    1.4 - Gadhaiya Paisa type - Design stabilizes, production ramps up significantly
    1.4.4-01.jpg

    1.5 - Vagela type; Flan becomes dumpy, design becomes simplified
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-IHeRvorliI6D8.jpg

    I'm revising the last few series, but 1.6 onward are the fun Malwa types, including the Horseman reverse, Om and Sri Omkara, and a few others
    imgonline-com-ua-twotoone-f7170kacWT7.jpg
     
  8. Al Kowsky

    Al Kowsky Well-Known Member

    crazy emoji 2.jpg

    Finn235, I'm shocked at the length & complexity of your study :jawdrop:! Congratulations on this Herculean accomplishment. Some parts I skimmed over but will read the complete study at another time. This must have been a very time consuming project. This is a valuable study for collectors like me who are totally ignorant on this area of numismatics. I found the head-binding practice of the Huns interesting. The ancient Mayans did the same thing as a sign of beauty :rolleyes:.
     
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  9. Muhammad Niazi

    Muhammad Niazi Well-Known Member

    I have a ton of time after completing college. this was a good read over breakfast, felt like reading a nunismatic manuscript published in some journal (which I recommend doing).

    Thanks for the trailer of the future series. Now I can share my coin :D
    I believe it fits in 1.4
    IMG-20190628-WA0051.jpg IMG-20190628-WA0052.jpg
     
  10. Severus Alexander

    Severus Alexander find me at NumisForums

    Fantastic job, Finn, thanks!! You deserve some more followup posts, so here's a "fun Malwa type":

    Screen Shot 2019-06-28 at 11.34.26 PM.jpg

    The standard Gadhaiya Paisa:
    Screen Shot 2019-06-28 at 11.37.20 PM.jpg

    and a related Pratihara issue:
    Screen Shot 2019-06-28 at 11.39.08 PM.jpg

    I don't know a lot about any of the above.
     
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  11. THCoins

    THCoins Well-Known Member

    Keep up the good work Finn ! You already saw most of my typical specimen.
    To add some variety: Here a contemporary type. Sort of a hybrid with the Gadhaiya minting style and the widespread Lakshmi iconography.
    AjayaW.jpg
     
  12. The Eidolon

    The Eidolon Well-Known Member

    Picked this up lately. It was labeled as "Pratiharas (India)"
    I wonder if it could be a type 1.5 "vagela" coin.
    It's pretty thick. ~14~15 mm, 4.46 g
    Seems like these were made over a wide time period by multiple empires with imitative types, so I'm not really sure where to start. Thanks.
    ob.jpg rev.jpg
     
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  13. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    Incredible write-up, and a job well done! This is very helpful for my poor understanding of this area of the world and its rich history. I sincerely Thank you, @Finn235 !

    I am always dumfounded and amazed that a style of coin devolved from this:

    [​IMG]
    Persia Sassanian
    Ardashir III 628-629 CE
    AR Drachm 36mm 3.85g
    Zoroastrian Fire Alter
    Gobl II-1 yr 2 Delta R

    To THIS

    Gujarat Chalukyas Gadhaiya PAISA

    [​IMG]
    India Gujarat Chalukyas Gadhaiya Paisa BI Drachm 4.6g 14mm 9th C CE Sun Moon Fire Alter Crescent


    [​IMG]
    India Gujarat Chalukyas Gadhaiya Paisa BI Drachm 11th C CE Sun Moon Fire Alter Crescent

    I admit, it took me FOREVER to see the face on these coins! My mind took a long time (years) to finally process the abstract face... I could never see it. Then one day, I saw/imagined the nose line, then eye dot, then mouth dots. Same with the fire alter on the reverse... I kept looking at it upside down!


    Your coins illustrating the PROGRESSIONS are GREAT! But, I just do not understand why they continued to devolve, instead of creating a new design.
     
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  14. Finn235

    Finn235 Well-Known Member

    Thanks!

    @The Eidolon, yours is indeed a nice example of 1.5 - my attribution to the Vaghelas is of course guesswork only, as there are actual Vaghela coins, but only in AE I believe.

    @Alegandron, glad my ramblings helped you make sense of things! Since writing this I have more than tripled my collection of series 1.1 thanks to my dealer in India offering me wholesale pricing on a lot of 100+ coins back in early 2020. I wish I could say that it has been enlightening.

    This was my outlook when I had about 30 coins from series 1.1
    27d.jpg

    Now that I have 150+ including a reverse die match between two coins I would have otherwise placed in entirely different series
    tumblr_o16n2kBlpX1ta3qyvo1_1280.jpg
     
  15. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    LOL!!!
     
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