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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Finn235, post: 4194915, member: 98035&quot;]Believe it or not, in addition to my gross excess of Indo-Sassanian drachms, I also have a working &quot;type set&quot; of ancient India which ultimately merged with my collection if modern India. I mostly gravitate toward silver coins, especially because the majority of Indian bronzes from before the Princely State age are in wretched condition. But I saw a seller listing a few bulk lots of one area I needed a lot more coverage on - the tiny and wretched AE&#039;s of the post-Mauryan age.</p><p><br /></p><p>For context, the Maurya empire was founded in 322 BC after the Maghada throne was usurped by Chandragupta Maurya - he had very little difficulty filling the power void in India after Alexander severed his supply lines to return to Babylon. By the time of Ashoka, the Maurya empire had become the largest singular political entity ever to exist in the subcontinent. Ashoka unfortunately was succeeded by weak and ineffective kings, and in the midst of local rebellions, the Maurya empire shattered into local kingdoms while its core was usurped by the Sunga empire.</p><p><br /></p><p>Numismatically, the bedrock of the Maurya economy - the silver punchmarked karshapana - was initially maintained by the Sunga, but turmoil and mismanagement led to rapid debasement, and ultimately to the abandonment of punchmarked coins in favor of cast or die-struck coins. Aside from the Sunga empire, there were scores of coin-issuing kingdoms which were ultimately either absorbed into the Greek or Scythian kingdoms to the north, or the emergent Satavahana empire in the south.</p><p><br /></p><p>Keep in mind, this is neither comprehensive, nor are these coins the epitome of what exists on the numismatic market. These were bargain bin purchases, a little less than $1 each </p><p><br /></p><p>Kausambi AE cast &quot;karshapana&quot;</p><p>2nd century BC</p><p>Obv: &quot;lanky bull&quot; standing left, swastika above</p><p>Rev: Bodhi tree in railing, ujjain symbol, hollow cross</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076601[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Saurashtra AE 1/2 karshapana</p><p>Obv: Swastika, ends terminating in taurine symbols</p><p>Rev: Shiva and six-arm symbol above indrahvaja (standard of Indra)[ATTACH=full]1076602[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Ujjain region, pair of square (1/16th?) AE karshapanas, incredibly small just 5x5mm and 0.4g each</p><p>Obv: Bull or elephant standing right</p><p>Rev: circles</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076599[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076600[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Similar, but round flan and more clearly an elephant</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076598[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Ujjain kingdoms or early Satavahanas, not 100% sure of ID or symbology</p><p>Elephant standing left, crescent above</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076603[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Also in the same lot was an early medieval</p><p>Kalachuris, Krishnaraja</p><p>550-575</p><p>Obv: Nandi reclining right</p><p>Rev: Sri Krishnaraja above schematized temple complex</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076640[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This one is evading me for now!</p><p>Post-Kushan, Kidarites or Kashmir Smast?</p><p>About 12mm x 1.98g</p><p>Obv: Lakshmi seated</p><p>Rev: Ta?</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076641[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>There&#039;s a bunch more from the lot, but most are nearly featureless - I&#039;ll see if I can get better pictures later.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the meantime, let&#039;s see anything related![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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