Ancient Thai - Water Jar Dvaravati Gold Coin

Dvaravati Kingdom. Modern day Thailand. Circa 6~7th century AD.

Buranaklod (an ancient auspicious Buddhist symbol of wealth in the form of water amphora or jar of plenty) with ancient Sankskrit (?) Script on reverse. Early variant with less local stylized jar design (more rounded and fuller contemporary of heavy Indo -European form). Large gold unit around 30mm. Very rare.

 

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oh wow, i've haven't seen anything quite like that before...or the deer/bull coin you posted, neat stuff.

is this a gold alloy of some type?

 

It's debased gold.. most likely electrum

 

Very nice coin. You've got another winner there.

 

Thanks

 

One quick question, were these coins cast just like the Chinese cash coins?

 

This coin was struck from dies and not made via the casting process. Not all East Asian coins were cast and not all Western coins where struck.

 

@Ancientnoob is right. These were struck.. the Indian influence is strong on South East Asian coins of that time

 

There are, according to Shagalov and Kuznetsov some Chach issues that were made both in what they call 'coining' and 'moulding' techniques. I do not have an example of one type done both ways (medoraman?). Of course the Roman Janus asses were first cast and later struck but at reduced size. I suppose we should mention that the last of the Chinese cash (early 20th century) were struck. There are exceptions to every rule.

For the new collectors here: Also be aware that most struck coins were made on flans that had been cast and some of them still show signs of the casting the strike failed to erase. This causes some people to discredit perfectly good coins as fakes. It is safer to believe any coin with casting signs is bad until you get to the point you recognize he differences.

Example:
This Antigonus Matthias 'mite' was struck on a flan cast in a two part mold but the two part were not aligned well and the sprue was not removed. Quality control was not a major concern on these.

 

Actually @dougsmit , the last Chinese cash coins were cast...

Min Guo Tong Bao (Issued in Yunnan province)


Fujian Tong Bao. Issued in Fujian province.

 

Doug is probably referring to the machine struck Guangdong cash. While common, they are only one issue, and about 30 years before the last. Most mints switched to the dragon type when they obtained machine presses.

Loong, congrats on the first coin you posted. It's a type of never seen, but the whole style of the thing seems odd to me. Can you share other examples?

 

Here's an ancient Burmese Pyu Kingdom of Sriksetra. Full silver unit. Circa 7~9th century. A Bhadrapitha (a stylized garlanded Indian throne/altar) with a stylized world pillar or lingam (?) with a sun and moon sided by a conch shell and vajra (celestial weapon). All Buddhist Hindu symbols.

 

@Ancientnoob has a number of interesting specimens to share as well... I will post a few more other of this series soon

 

@Loong Siew - I'm familiar with the silver issues. But I have not handled a gold coin from this region like the one you posted originally and I am a little doubtful of its authenticity. Of course, I'm not terribly well traveled in this area, so I can't say anything for sure. But at the very least, I'd like to learn what makes it real so I can be ready next time I see one.

 

Gold issues exists for coins of these region. However, they are often of debased content. If you see a piece of high gold content or way below that of an acceptable electrum level content, then maybe you should be careful.

As with authenticity, I can only say to trust your source and your experience. Mine was sourced from a 2nd generation Bangkok old gentleman dealer with 30 years in the field dealing with coins. His explanation, appraisal of the item and depth of knowledge supported by an illustrative Thai manual convinced me of its authenticity at least. I strongly discourage appraisals through pictures alone. You should find some research materials and references more to familiarize yourself on this field. I am no expert myself but based on what I gather and learn from the experts, I am improving my knowledge progressively..

As for gold pieces, I did not get a lot this round. I saw a few but will consider more acquisitions next time.

 

As you can see from the following sample extracts from a book by Dietrich Mahlo "The early coins of Myanmar (Burma)". Gold coins do exists around the region. Note too that the geographic boundaries of South East Asia was not as defined as it is today thus you will see ancient coins of the time being synonymous with both cultures. I have still to get a copy of a Thai centric English reference book yet but it is in the radar.

 

Loong Siew, i have to express my severe doubts about your coin.
You state that the inscription is in possible Sanskrit script. Sanskrit is a language, not a script. At this time the most likely script would be late Brahmi script. But i could not read the text on your specimen. At first i thought that might be because of a local Dvaravati script variant. However i checked some other specimen, like this one: http://www.sac.or.th/databases/inscriptions/uploads/images/20140618101855vgqQ.jpg Quality is not very nice. But this is proper Brahmi and i can read it without problems as "Sri Dvaravati / Svarapunya". The text on your coin is badly copied by someone who did not understand the script, introducing a lot of mistakes, and making it illegible. Because of this, in addition to the general execution and surface structure, i truly fear this is a fake modern production.

 

Very interesting.

Here is the excerpt and example from Robert S. Wicks money, Markets and Trade in Early South East Asia.

 

Well.. I see your point in some cases. I apologize if I mistakenly associate Sanskrit as a script although I did come across some references that referred to it as such. The scan provided is not very clear. I do see variants but I also can make out the general similarities in overview. I can't read it myself but just making out traces of the strokes. I am doubtful that coin strikes of the area follow exact patterns and strokes given their immature technology and techniques.. but I could be wrong.. like I mentioned before, this was not from a weekend market, stall or eBay acquisition. Coming from a shop dealing with coins and antiquities by an old dealer gave me some level of comfort notwithstanding having been appraised personally and physically by the guy. Perhaps he made a mistake I do not know.. 30 over years specializing in the business inheriting from his father seems legit.. but in any case if it is doubtful then it may be a good learning piece..

 

For my eyes, the writing on the OP looks similar to the line drawing, however while similar, it looks distinctly different. A few symbols are close, but the others certainly are not identical to the line drawing. Secondly, the reference article says these normally are 17-20mm and 2.4gm. At 30mm, this seems to make it an outlier.