I got a rectangle coin as the pictures show. It seems that the coin was from ancient india but I still can not identify it, so I come for help. For me, the obverse and reverse of the coin both shows a figure of a king or a god, but I can't go any further. Could anyone know the location and time of the coin? Best regards.
Welcome to the Ancients Forum, @Framundan ! That's an interesting piece. I'm fascinated by Indian coins but I've only recently started collecting them and I'm nowhere near being an expert. I'm sure someone who knows more will weigh in soon.
Perhaps it is from Sri Lanka. Similar plaques exist in various sizes. Here's an example from @Ancientnoob from an old thread: Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura Anonymous AE Normal Plaque (c. BC 29 - AD 297) 38 mm x 19 mm x 5.05 grams Obverse: Goddess Lakshmi facing, being showered by two mini-elephants atop of poles. - No legend. Reverse: Clockwise revolving Swastika tree. Uncertain symbols. Snake(?) left, Bull right(?) Here's another I saw in a local jewelry store a few years ago:
Thank you! The most interesting coin collecting direction for me are Roman coins especially those from Roman republic. Since I come from China, the very east of the continent, it's not convenient for me to get Roman coins while I can met various coin from Asia like the plaques I showed here. Best regards.
Here's my Sri Lankan Lakshmi plaque, 1st-3rd c. CE. Mine's in lead, i.e Pb. Welcome to CoinTalk! Is there much interest in non-Chinese ancient coins in China?
What a strange thing! I agree it looks like one of the Sri Lankan plaques - but it also looks like a late Kushan copper. What I mean to say is - it looks to me like someone seems to have got hold of a normal circular Kushan copper of the 3rd century AD and transformed it into something that looks like an oblong religious plaque. Would need to get some measurements and a weight to check out what happened here.................
I just signed a contract to print 2,000 copies of 'Early World Coins' in a Chinese translation, so I guess the answer is probably - yes............
Oh wow... Rob Tye! So great to have you here contributing! I love your book. It certainly would be good to get a weight on the OP coin. One problem with the Sri Lankan suggestion is that it just doesn't look like Lakshmi.