After five years of scouring ebay on a weekly basis, plus auction houses on the rare occasion that they are offered, there aren't many types of Indo Sassanian coins that I don't own yet. This was one type until last month when a small hoard came up for sale on ebay India, Pratiharas, uncertain intermediate period ca 650-750 AD? Obv: Highly degenerate bust of Peroz I, made of long thin bars and circles, ornate Nagari "SRI" atop crown slightly left of center, stylized intermediate form of JA, Crescent, and pellet before Rev: Degenerate fire altar with highly stylized attendants, bodies made of a long line tapering off to a point, curved line behind Ref Maheshwari 1374-1384 This one shows the SRI atop the crown very well, as well as the head and necklace of the attendant This one shows nearly the full fire altar; instead of a pyramid of flame pellets, there is only a single large circle! This one shows a Degenerate form of SRI This one shows the detail of the attendants' body Partial SRI visible on this one This one shows the details of the bottom of the bust Another good portrait, the JA is barely visible, and the fire altar and attendants are well struck too - notice the cluster of dots representing the sun above the left attendant's head This one shows a clear JA and the lower portion of the reverse quite well Another crisp portrait with a weak JA Decently struck on both sides
Another showing the details under and behind the bust A crisp strike in better silver than typical for the type Notice the size of the nose and shape of the ear - indicating that there are perhaps sub-types expressed within the series Another showing the details under the portrait Another with a clear JA This is the best example showing the details in front of the bust - note also that the details below the bust also more closely represent the original necklace and shoulders of the bust Another good bust on this one Another showing the Ja, Crescent and pellet This one seems to almost have a gnarled nose? The pellets at the bottom right of the obverse I think are from a mis-strike that was then corrected Here are the examples from Maheshwari
I find it fascinating that one of the Pratihara dies preserves a detail as fine as the "cluster of dots representing the sun above the left attendant's head" from the Sasanian prototype (compare below), yet the overall design is so stylized. (image courtesy Traianus Coins, VCoins)
Saw these come and go....Interesting group! These stick portraits remind me of the Sri Vigra Dramma types...Congrats on picking up this difficult to find variety... Here's something related although I'm not sure how close, maybe 200 years? Palas Dynasty Bengal 850-988AD Sri Vigra dramma 18.5mm/3.78gr Vigrahapala I, 861-866? Obverse-King's bust to right (I really like the style of this portrait) Reverse-Fire altar MNI# 385
I only know a little about these types, but I admire your persistence and attention to detail with this series! I hope it results in some new knowledge that helps everyone understand them better.
Thanks all! @dltsrq - That is perhaps what draws me in to the series so much - the series covers nearly 900 years (from about 500 AD - 1350 AD or later) and goes to extreme lengths of abstraction along 3 evolutionary paths, about a hundred sub-series, and hundreds of varieties, within each series there is always some part of the design that the engravers cling to legalistically. For almost all of this series (Pratiharas / Track 3) it's the "snickers bar" design of the fire altar, but other things like the sun also can cling on for dear life even as the overall design slips into madness. @Spaniard - these are indeed related to that one, sort of a weird uncle if you will. A quick breakdown of the evolution of the series... Early SRI MA coinage... Which degenerates into something like this On some extremely rare examples the MA is replaced by JA (looks like a capital E) The top of the JA pops off and the bottom becomes a curved line in this series Then a common type emerges, Maheshwari reads it as PRAA JA but I think it is still SRI JA (this one is directly related to the earlier JA, the OP series developed perhaps in parallel?) From here the engravers decided to come back to reality, "Proto Sri Vigra" as Maheshwari calls them, but still reading SRI JA Then the legend changes- SRI VIGRA and the body of the fire altar becomes either SA or MA (@Spaniard's is MA) Then the plain body comes back, the attendants become more stylized, and the legend shortens to SRI VI Then comes Bhoja I (836-885), one of only four rulers who issued a known Indo-Sassanian type - the popular Adivaraha Dramma, which kept the bottom portion of the Sri Vi reverse only His types were continued for about a century after his death, finally closing with Vinayakapala in the 950s, when this track supposedly comes to an end.