Mystery Coin of the Day!!!!

So close!

 

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@Aidan_() as a YN this is part of your training!

 

Well I said Northern Europe or South Asia since I am pretty familiar with most types of pre-Islamic coins in Sogdia and Persia.

It wouldn't be something from the caucuses, like Georgian or Armenian, would it?

 

I like your reasoning.

Certainly south east Asia....

 

The minter didn't even know what it was. That's why he put a bi\g question mark on the reverse.

 

Well, it cannot be Thailand since I know those by heart. It would not be Vietnam since all of those were Chinese cash derivatives until the 20th century. Maybe Indonesia or Malaysia, but most of those were also Chinese types. The wheel on the reverse is a strong symbol of Buddhism, so I would have to guess, if SE Asia, Burma or possibly Cambodia, though most Cambodian and Laotian pieces were intertwined with Thai pieces, so I feel I might have seen them. Burma, (Myanmar), has always been somewhat a mystery to me except for those pieces that interrelated with Thai history.

 

Dah! Okay, I'll check it out later, got a class to go too.

 

Honestly, the first place I would check would be the reference on coins excavated from the Kashmir-Smast caves. If the obverse were more clearly struck I might be able to offer a better suggestion.

 

Yeah, that is true. I forgot all about those coins variously attributed to Kidarites, Hepthalites, "unknown hun", and various Indian dynasties coming from those excavations. I have always been very leery of the attributions, but there has been a ton of new small bronze types coming from there.

 

Excellent Brainstorming but this was not found in cave, but rather a mine. You are both very wrong. It is not a Hunnic or Central Asian.

 

You are totally dancing around the area, this might have circulated along side Tang coins but far from China. Not Indonesia or Malaysia.

Take a very good look at the components of the coin. What does it most look like?

 

How about a Sri Lanka Indo Roman?

 

How about... your right! They are called Indo-Roman and they were found in a gem mine in Sri Lanka. I will follow up more with a write up. In the mean time lear nwhat you can and see if you can match the type.

 

I was thinking of the Aelia Flaccilla types with victory inscribing a shield.

 

A winner! I'm interested in seeing your write up @Ancientnoob .

 

Nope, not gonna say it! Not fair...

 

The dude told me week ago..

 

...but did I tell you it came as a FREE gift?

 

YUPPERS YOU DID!!! Dem be da BEST!!!

He is sending me a freebie too! He's a good marketer! Can't wait to receive them!

 

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/coins/imit/r23771i.htm
I recall seeing a bunch of this group a few years back and most were pretty horrid looking. The write up above mentions copies of common types but I don't recognize this one. The OP obverse is a bit easier to see after you see the one at the above link. I'm not sure how something that exists only from one find of 600 coins can be studied considering the circumstances. We have to wonder how many more pots of unique items are out there waiting to be ignored by archaeologists. I'm equally unsure how we can ever expect to study barbarous copies. Knowing the date and place of the coin that was copied proves nothing about the copies which could have been made a thousand years later and copied from a few coins they found and decided that coins to spend were a good idea. The bottom of the page below shows a copy of a two soldiers Roman and suggests a date of 4th to 8th century. How they came about that spread, I do not know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Roman_trade_relations