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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Finn235, post: 3316113, member: 98035&quot;]Had a marathon imaging and measuring session with my Indo-Sassanian coins yesterday, and had to share this one!</p><p><br /></p><p>Indo-Sassanian AR Damma</p><p>Early (Chavada?) type</p><p>Finn 1.2.3 (Intermediate type, no eye line)</p><p>19mm, <b>2.83g</b></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]878823[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>It escaped my notice both when buying the coin and until I noticed the abnormally low weight (more than a gram under the lower end typical of this series) but this coin carries two countermarks - a grouping of three dots at 7:00 and a cross within a circle at 5:00. The coin is much more circulated than typical, but that alone can&#039;t account for the weight. For comparison, this one weighs 3.93g compared to a theoretical ~4.15g weight standard[ATTACH=full]878828[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>My theory? The top coin was struck on an underweight planchet and certified to circulate at nominal face value, which it did as merchants played hot potato with the thing to avoid being stuck with &quot;bad money&quot; and losing a gram of silver should it cease to be worth anything more than its silver content.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have two other countermarked Gadhaiya coins, but only one imaged so far</p><p>[ATTACH=full]878834[/ATTACH] </p><p>Despite the wear, this one still weighs a respectable 3.7g</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m hoping to someday figure out approximately when the marks were placed on the coin and by whom, but I fear that is a long shot - kingdoms of the time seemed to be more interested in melting foreign coins for seignorage than certifying them for circulation.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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