hi all, i purchased these in June as part of my summer coin surge, but didn't get them until recently. since it's officially fall, i guess i'll start a new thread. both of these are lower end coins, but somewhat rare. the closest thing i come to collecting specifically is square indo-greek bronze coins, so any time i see rarer ones for a reasonable price, i jump on them. here's the first...sorry for the background..a failed experiment. then i overwrote the original picture, then i gave up. Philoxenus 100-95 BC Bronze Quadruple Weight: 7.5 gm. Dimensions: 20 x 19 mm O: City goddess (or Demeter?) standing left, holding cornucopia, and bestowing blessing with outstretched right hand, monogram below at left, Greek legend around: BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ANIKHTOY / ΦIΛOΞENOY R: Humped bull standing right, Kharoshthi va below, Kharoshthi legend around: maharajasa / apadihatasa / philasinasa Reference: Mitchiner 344 Attribution mainly lifted from coininda, which is a great place... http://coinindia.com/galleries-philoxenus.html this coin did have some BD, notice the spots. i scraped all loose stuff off, soaked in distilled water, picked again just to be sure, baked in the oven...then soaked in verdi-care. we'll see how it goes. i'll post my other later this evening. feel free to post any of your budget indo-greeks!
I like it! I've been looking at a few of these Indo-Greek types lately, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I think the magenta background is fine for such a dark coin - I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. My experience with BD (which isn't much mind you) is that sometimes you have to "cure" it a few times before it sticks.
Cool addition, dont own any either but like JA, have had thoughts of getting some. Shame about the BD, hopefully it doesnt return.
Indo-Greek is not my area of numismatic interest, but I do like looking at the collections of others. Good on ya my friend.
May be a low budget coin, but in fact very nice! I am very much into these. For attribution: with some effort you can clearly read the name in Greek on the right side of your left pic and in Kharosti on the left side of your right pic. Here one of mine (Dionysios), with an example of the name in Kharosthi.
What is the orientation of those letters? Are the bottoms of the letters at the edge of the coin, meaning the script is read from left to right?
I suppose I could have looked that up. The wiki article says Kharosthi demonstrates a clear dependency on Aramaic, but I have a difficult time seeing it from that example. "Di" bears some semblance to the Aramaic Dālath, and "O" resembles Waw, but beyond that I'm not seeing much.
There may be common roots, but i can not read a word of Aramaic. The characters on the right of my coin from bottom to top are Ma Ha Ra Ja.
Very interesting. Those are much closer. Ha resembles Ḥēth very closely, Ra looks like Rēsh, and there may not be an equivalent for Ja, but it looks very much like the Aramaic Gāmal. Ma is partly off-flan, so it's difficult to say.
"Ma" just looks like a crescent lying on its back. I might give a shot a learning aramaic one day but at the moment i'm focussing on improving my arab reading skills. Here another kharosti legend example. Slightly different style. Its a Kushan issue fom Kujula Kadphises. (Hope you don't mind Chrsmat ?)
no no, don't mind all THC ...keep posting this stuff. i've always had trouble trying to figure out the kharosthi...i've been trying to do it left to right all along. i still have trouble making out the individual letters sometimes, your pictures help! here's my other coin, also a kind of a rare one. you can find them out there, but they're few, far between and pricey. there are a couple on vcoins now, neither much better than mine, for much more than i'm willing to pay. back to the black background....so your retinas should be much happier. Diomedes 95-90 BC Bronze Quadruple Weight: 8.4 g Dimensions: 21 x 19 mm O: Dioscuri standing facing, holding spears, Greek legend around: BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ΣΩTHPOΣ / ΔIOMHΔOY R: Humped bull walking right, Kharosthi legend around: maharajasa / tratarasa / diyametasa Reference: Mitchiner 354, Bop 10
neat coin THC..i don't have any form this guy. aretemis looks cool and zeus looks rather youthful. looking at his coin on wildwinds, these were much more greek than indo weren't they?
Youre right. The characteristic indo-greek bronzes only emerged when the Graeco-Bactrians had established a permanent powerbase south of the Hindu-Kush mountain range after the rule of Demetrios I. Coin designs where then adapted to the taste and customs of the new subjects. This is one of the first real indo-greek bronzes issued in the name of Agathokles. Interesting in this is also that the legend on one side is in Greek, the other in Brahmi script. Only later Kharosti prevailed.
=> ahhhh, good ol' Demetrios I ... now those were the days my friends!! Demetrios I Serratus AE17 162 - 150 BC Diameter: 16.5mm Weight: 4.41 grams Obverse: Horse Reverse: Elephant Reference: SNG Spaer 1299 Demetrios I Trichalkon 200-185 BC Diameter: 29.5 mm Weight: 12.61 grams Bactrian Kings, Demetrius I, bronze Attic trichalkon of: Obverse: Head of elephant with bell hanging from neck Reverse: Caduceus. Reference: Bopearachchi-16, Mitchiner-1086, SNG ANS 209
To avoid confusion; Steve youre mixing Demetriosses here. (But they are both nice!) The first you show is from Seleukid king Demetrios I. The second from Bactrian king Demetrios I. The second coin is linked to the advance of the Bactrian Greeks into India. The first is an issue of the time the Seleukids already had been forced to retreat westwards and mainly still ruled Syria.
Hey chrsmat, THC, or "anyone" smart in this area (apparently "not" stevex6) ... Ummm, do Indo-Greek coins and Indo-Scythian coins go together, or are they worlds apart? (I admit that I usually get attracted to my coins due to their animal-reverses and/or their overall eye-appeal, so at times I am a bit dense when it comes to the culture and/or social-interactions that were going on during the times of my coins ... errr, or even their geographical locations) => in my defense, I do plan on "restudying" all of my coins in 5 or so years after I'm retired and have nuthin' but sweet-time on my hands (but for the moment, I am already stretching my coin-time when compared against my work-time, home-time, friend-time and most importantly, my wife-time!!) ... Question => do these next few coins fit into this thread, or are they worlds apart? (thanks gang) ........ ummmm, I've often heard that there is no such thing as a stupid question, but occasionally I've disagreed (sadly, you guys may consider this "one of those times"?) ... INDIA, Kushan: Vima Kadphises AE tetradrachm circa 112-127 AD Diameter: 28 mm Weight: 16.88 grams Obverse: King standing facing, sacrificing at altar left, tamgha and club in right field, Greek legend around: BACIΛEVC BACIΛEWN CWTHP MEΓAC OOhMO KAΔΦICHC Reverse: Oesho (Siva) standing facing, Bull Nandi behind, nandipada at left, Kharoshthi legend around: maharajasa rajadirajasa sarvaloga isvarasa mahisvarasa vima kathphishasa tratara Reference: Göbl 762, MAC 3033 Indo-Scythian Kings, Azes. AE-Unit. Brahma Bull / Lion c. 58 - 20 BC Diameter: 27 mm Weight: 13.35 grams Orientation: 10 h Obverse: Rajadirajasa Legend. Lion standing rt., monogram above Reverse: Brahma bull rt., monogram above, shi before Reference: Senior 102.120 INDO-SKYTHIANS. Azes. AR Tetradrachm Circa 58-12 BC Diameter: 27 mm Weight: 9.32 grams Obverse: King on horseback right, holding spear Reverse: Zeus standing slightly left, holding thunderbolt and scepter; monogram to lower left, Bha to right Reference: Senior 80.10T