As many know, I am getting more into Central Asian. I have been looking for this one for a while, and as luck would have it I have two coming in the mail, but this one came up for auction in the meantime. I got it cheap, (what I consider cheap for it). Can you think of a more representative coin of these ancient traders crossing Asia than a picture of their two hump camels? The reverse shows a fire alter, showing the cultural influence of the Sassanids on their culture. Its a pretty scarce coin, even amongst other sogdian issues. There is another type with the camel, but on the reverse instead is a horizontal line instead of an alter. Btw, the coin is MUCH better in hand, much more detailed and not missing design elements like it looks like here. Chris
Never seen the type before, looks pretty cool. These kind of asian coins I could get into, unlike cash coins.
From http://www.kroraina.com/ca/c_bukhara.html "The coins of Bukhara Sogd with a camel on the obverse, and on the reverse – a fire altar {Table 119, 20-24} or a Sogdian legend {Table 199, 25} belong to the last quarter – the beginning of the VIII c. The attempts [Shishkin, 1963. p. 63] to date them on the basis on the altar’s appearance alone, outside of their numismatic and archaeological context, led to an unjustifiably early dates (III – the beginning of the IV c.]. This series and its dating is not specially discussed in the "Summary catalogue of the Sogdian coins" of O.I. Smirnova. They were not included in the catalogue part [Smirnova, 1981. pp. 28-30]. The coins with a Sogdian legend on the reverse [Smirnova, 1981. pp. 312-313] and the coins with a square hole and a legend, according to Smirnova [Smirnova, 1981. pp. 314-315] of Farnbag, are classified as belonging to the group of early coins of the Western Sogd, which precede the Bukhara coins of the Chinese type with the legend "kaj juan tun bao" on the obverse and a Bukhara symbol on the reverse. A more definitive dating that those of Shishkin and Smirnova is given by Musakaeva [Musakaeva, 1985. p. 82] – IV-V c., but again there is no detailed argumentation. The archaeological-stratigraphical data for the coins with a camel reveal a rather later date – from the last quarter of the VII c. to the beginning of the VIII c., but the chronological frame for this series is still uncertain" So, no definitive date. Its unfortunate its not in Smirnova 1981, but I will check Smirnova 1963 tonight. Based upon its style, I definitely would argue its a later coin versus earlier, but that is just based on fabric. I did find another website with this listed. They listed the type as common, but right below it they listed another type as extremely rare, (and I own 5 of them), so take their rarity scale with a grain of salt. Of these coins, I have seen 4 for sale, and have bought the top 3 of them. To me they are scarcer coins at least within the Sogdian series. Chris
Update, I checked Smirnova 1963 Pandeket, and its not listed in there either. Its also not in Michener Indo-Greek, nor Michener ACW or NISWC, nor in S&M or Rvetdleva. Not so easy to track down. I am sure there is a book with these in them, evidently I don't own it though.
Yeah, they have two just like it. 20198 and 12934. Mine actually look like them in hand, except mine has a crescent at about 11 o clock. No information though, just a photo. Edit: Just found a reference "#53 E.Zeimal, Circulation ....page 250, #19"