I do not usually collect modern coins but this is struck more in the fashion of ancients so I found out what it was before I found out when it was made. Randy sent me the coin as an ID challenge and I was happy to find it but only in the most general sense. What I know came from Mitchiner (Non Islamic volume) where the coin is #1195. Madura Nayakas, Sri Vira coinage, 1530-1736 AD AE kasu 10x12mm 1.67g Humped bull reclines right in dotted border / legend Sri / Vi Ra in plain border How you might narrow down the ID to something closer than the 200 years of the Dynasty? The hump (see inset enlargement) seems to have a pattern. Is this just my imagination or is there something there? Does anyone here study these?
Nice job nailing it down. I think it's the more interesting of the 3, but thought it was older. I don't disagree about the hump, but it's tough to say what it could be, at least for me.
This thread on WoC has about the largest collection of examples i know online. http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,19751.0.html These are still in need of a comprehensive catalog. Here one of mine which also was shown in the other thread. It shows a goddess sitting on the back of a peacock with spread tailfeathers.
No, writing of Telugu/Kannada is normally in one direction. But the die engravers seem to have taken some liberty in placement and calligraphy of the text and treated it almost as some sort of logo.
The second coin in Randy's pack to me was an Islamic fals about which I know as little as possible. I consider the coin rather boring but the man who issued it has a really good story. Muhammed II of Khwarezm (1200-1220 AD) was the last king of his land. He received a request for establishing a trade relationship from a neighboring ruler but did not trust the man so he killed his envoys. In retaliation, the other guy completely destroyed the Khwarezmite civilization in what has been called the most bloody event until the 20th century. The moral to the story is don't kill envoys of peace from Genghis Khan. The coin shows a horseman with spear on the obverse and Arabic legend on the reverse. Many AE fals of the early Islamic period are poorly struck. This is at best half there but is not the worst fals I have seen. At least I got the top half of the obverse rather than the feet. 14mm 2.94g If anyone has a nice one of these, please post.
I think you know i have plenty of these. It is still one of my goals to recatalog the Jitals series sometime. I think the last one is a Tye#214 type from Dawar mint. To show just a small selection: This is one of my favourites. It is likely an early issue under Mu'izz-ud-din Muhammad bin Sam. Uncataloged in Tye or elsewhere: This is a similar one of Ala-ud-din Muhammad Kwarezm Shah. Just a different manner of transportation. "Kurzuwan" mintname below animal (Tye#227)
Here's my Muhammad II of Khwarezm, a broad qarari dirham issued in Tirmidh, probably at the time of the Mongol conquest in 1219-20, Album-1724. He is indeed an interesting historical figure, who was very militarily successful from 1207-1217. Then the Zagros mountains and, eventually, the Mongols destroyed his armies. Note the prominent bow & arrow on the obverse. Stephen Album notes that this was the Mongol symbol at the time. It seems odd that Genghis's opponent would put this symbol on the coin, which makes me wonder whether it was in fact issued by the Mongols (who just didn't care much about the legends). I note your coin also has a prominent bow, @THCoins, though in a different style... do you have any thoughts on this?
The Khwarezm Shahi issued a multitude of coin types. It is generally thought that they just let the semi-private city mints do their thing. Though it looks a bit like a bow on my second coin it usually just described as a rider on an elephant holding a spear. But indeed the position of his arms is a bit peculiar. Here one that unmistakably has a bow (and a horseman):
Oh right, duh, I should have seen that "bow" as a rider with a funny arm position. Am I right that the second example, with the definite bow, is normally attributed to Genghis Khan, Qunduz mint? Interesting about the mints being left to "do their thing", as you put it. Since Tirmidh (Termez) was one of the first cities to fall to the Mongol army led by Tolui, it seems a reasonable bet that my coin was produced post-conquest.
Sorry, forgot the description of the last one. You are indeed correct. It is attributed to Genghis Khan from Qunduz. The design of the horseman is a continuation of the Khwarezmshah coinage.
