So, I freely admit that I lost steam on my write ups on Indo Sassanian coinage a while back. That does not mean, however, that I have stopped scouring weekly ebay listings for more coins to fill in those last few elusive gaps. In particular, I have been working to close the gap between series 1.4 (the common Gadhaiya) and 1.5 (the dumpy Vaghela type that has no eye). This one fit the bill, but unfortunately brought forth more questions than answers. I have not yet decided how to classify it. Gadhaiya Paisa, late series 1.4 19mm, 4.42g What's so special about this one? For starters, it's HUGE. The bulk of these coins are about 14-15mm with a few outliers up to 16-17mm. Comparison shot: Late Gadhaiya are on the left, early Vaghela on the right. Secondly, the reason I bought it in the first place is that this coin displays the line going through the pupil - the enigmatic feature present on nearly all Gadhaiya. It appears suddenly very early in series 1.2, and then fizzles out late in 1.4. There are a handful of "closing" styles in late 1.4, but none of them display the eye line - in fact I just bought the lower left coin a few months ago because it was the latest coin I had seen with that feature! What all this means, I dont know, but I hope I am approaching the answer! Feel free to post anything relevant
I only have one of these coins in my collection. I just pulled it out and checked it since you were saying that yours is quite large. I weighed mine and it is 4.26g and is about 19mm.
That's a nice example of one of the more common 1.4 types. I have managed to break up the other series into types I am relatively satisfied with, but the bulk of these intermediate Gadhaiya would require hundreds of varieties to comprehensively categorize them. The early Gadhaiya (if there is such a thing as an "imperial" coinage, that would apply here) are what I call the Orthodox type - they are almost identical to each other, exceptionally well struck on broad flans the size of the die, come in very aesthetic proportions, and are so common that there is always one for sale on ebay. (That's actually a bad example; I bought it because of how well it showed the vestigial shoulder pads on the obverse) Everything else before the design begins to deteriorate is lumped into two groups of "intermediate" types- those with the eye line, and those without. On the former, the workmanship is good but the coins are never struck fully as they are with the Orthodox type, and there are more types of head shape than I can properly keep track of. A few recents: By the end, the flan has shrunk from 18mm to about 15-16mm on average, the purity has dropped, and the weight standard shifts from about 4.2g to 4.5g for unknown reasons. That's when we see the eye line disappear, the face degenerate, the attendants turn into meaningless rows of dots, and the flan shrink in diameter while becoming more dumpy.
I have a few types of these.... A couple of the early Vaghela ...The first one is possibly a contempory copy?
I liked what you were doing with your series but your key post was the reply https://www.cointalk.com/threads/in...es-1-1-early-types.341648/page-3#post-3585458 listing the major types -- which was buried on the third page of a 1.1 thread. I didn't want to comment on your 1.1 or 1.2 threads with an example of an Indo Sassanian that wasn't of the correct variety because CoinTalk blocks deleting and a few wrong examples would spoil the thread. Maybe we need a thread for people to post examples and have you identify them? I have an 18mm “Gadhaiya Paisa” but I don't know Indo Sassanian well enough to know if this is a late 1.4, early 1.4, or a 1.4 at all. “Gadhaiya Paisa” coinage, AD 800-1300, 4.15g 18mm Obv: Degenerate Indo-Sasanian style bust right. Rev: Stylized fire altar. cf. Medieval India - Hindu dynasties » Northern India » Later Indo-Sasanian » 'Gadhaiya Paisa' I don't know any better than to organize these coins by Zeno page. I had a hard time even finding my way around Zeno: Early Indo-Sasanians » Gurjura kingdom of Sindh ... Pratiharas around here somewhere? ... Later Indo-Sasanian » The Palas, AD 775-988 Later Indo-Sasanian » 'Gadhaiya Paisa'
I am a novice in this area. I am fascinated by the design, but very unfamiliar with the history. I regret that I cannot contribute. India, Chalukyas of GujaratGadhaiya Paisa Billon drachm Gadhaiya Paisa), 4.6g, 14mm, 3h; ca 9th cent AD Obv.: degenerated Indo-Sasanian style bust to right, sun and moon above Rev.: stylized fire altar, sun above left, crescent moon above right Reference: Deyell 156-159 India Gujarat Chalukyas Gadhaiya Paisa BI Drachm 11th C CE Sun Moon Fire Alter Crescent Series 1.4
Here's another couple I didn't have photographed... You can really see the difference in silver content
Nice examples, all! I'll freely admit that this series is one that isn't exactly easy or intuitive to understand - it took me hundreds of hours studying thousands of coins before the patterns started to emerge - there are still many gaps in my knowledge, but my understanding of the relationship between 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 is almost complete. I actually wrote up a step by step explaining how the series evolved; I'll try to get some pictures to illustrate my points. @Ed Snible and @Alegandron both posted nice examples of the small head Orthodox type, which was early in series 1.4. You can always tell the type because of the relatively large (18-19mm) flan, tiny head, nearly complete strike on both sides, and the fact that nearly all of them are identical save for some extremely minor details. Here's a quick lineup of six of mine to illustrate my point:
