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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 795294, member: 19463&quot;]One real difference between Greek/Roman and Eastern coins is the latter&#039;s tendency to take a previous coin type and copy/adapt/develop it for their own purposes.&nbsp; As a result we see copies of copies of copies with the last looking little like the original but striking the users as OK for being a coin.&nbsp; Athens did this to a small degree with the owls; Persian running kings did, too.&nbsp; Neither series lasted long enough to get really wild.&nbsp; I am amazed after collecting these for a rather short while how the similarities start to seem more clear.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The Chaulukyas silver below (c.1000 AD) is a copy of a copy of a copy of the (457-483 AD) Peroz Sasanian type with fire altar that I showed earlier having passed through intermediate stops like the Hephthalites we&#039;ve seen in this thread.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dougsmit/image/113155181.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Easily half of the ones shown on eBay are shown other than right side up.&nbsp; Is my reverse right or wrong?&nbsp; Looking at the coin, the altar is there if you want to find it bad enough but I&#039;m not sure exactly how numismatists traced it along the way.&nbsp; To collectors of fine Greek art, even Peroz is a bit wild style. It copied the earlier Sasanian fire altar with attendants like this Shapur I (the guy who captured Valerian I) two centuries earlier.&nbsp; </p><p><img src="http://www.pbase.com/image/121355084.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>If you see any pattern over these 750 years of development, you might be a potential collector of Central Asian coins.&nbsp; Interestingly, all three of these coins weigh between 3.7 and 3.9 grams.&nbsp; The type was a sign of spendable money.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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