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<p>[QUOTE="dougsmit, post: 3054748, member: 19463"]I am completely unaware of recent studies on these coins but can offer things that may just be outdated .... or not.</p><p><br /></p><p>The mints for these coins seem to be separated by style. In particular there are legend letters that are more significant than others since they show squared or rounded style best. VERY few of these coins have the full legend so I tend to show a favoritism to ones that have a lot of legend and show squared letters which are more scarce than the rounded ones. The old books give the rounded ones to the Taxila mint but I do not know the arguments that support this. The easiest letter to see the difference is the omega in soter just behind the horse.</p><p>Taxila rounded</p><p>[ATTACH=full]765117[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>branch mint squared - I am not ready to defend opinions on Balkh versus Kapisa mint on these. If you automatically discount anything said by old writers like Mitchiner in 1978, it makes no matter what he said. Kapisa? I don't know. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]765118[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Another factor is the form of the tamghas on the coins. Some of the squared letter coins have four prong tamghas on one side or the other rather than the standard three prong. The coin below shows a 4 prong on the obverse but three prong on the reverse. Balkh? I don't know.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]765120[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>We should mention that these come in two denominations. The larger is called tetradrachm in the hobby and is about the size of these coins from late Roman Alexandria. The smaller is about 1/4 the size so gets called drachm but I have no idea what the people who spent them called them. Below is a drachm with squared letters and 4 prongs on both sides. You will have more trouble finding high grade ones of these.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]765121[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I don't have an answer to the ray countdown but I could make up one based on pipe dreams of a perfect world. What if the ruler was limited to a 15 year term and would retire when the rays were gone. Diocletian did this at 20 years and fared a great deal better than the emperors who signed on for life terms. We most certainly don't know. Be careful not to rule out possible explanations as ridiculous when you have no idea how the moral/political system worked. What we don't know about the Kushans could fill a really large book. The coins full explanation would not be a pamphlet either. </p><p><br /></p><p>My recommendations to you is to buy coins that allow counting the rays of the crown, show at least one bold omega to separate square from round and have clear tamghas. If you are going to ID these coins, those features may come in handy. </p><p><br /></p><p>Below was my first Soter Megas tetradrachm. I bought it because it was cheap. The obverse is a total wreck and worthless with rays off flan and no tamgha. To this day, it is my only clear, full legend reverse. It shows the distinctive weapon in the hand of the rider. It has classic Takila rounded letters. The corrosion has been stable for 20 years. By my definition, this is a keeper. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]765126[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I read that NGC will slab Soter Megas alone of all the Kushan coins. I do wonder why they decided to accept these coins (if that is correct). I consider this an interesting decision due to the wide variety of styles to be found. I have not seen coins that I think are fakes but I am less sure how I would tell a branch mint rarity from an unofficial or counterfeit issue. Many of the coins are well worn (water finds????) and could be confused with (cast) fakes. I have not seen one I would grade above VF. CNG sold a little drachm of interesting style as EF and it may be close to that. I may be a little picky. I wonder what the buyer of the coin ($295) saw in it beyond the EF grade. </p><p><a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=117351" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=117351" rel="nofollow">https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=117351</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="dougsmit, post: 3054748, member: 19463"]I am completely unaware of recent studies on these coins but can offer things that may just be outdated .... or not. The mints for these coins seem to be separated by style. In particular there are legend letters that are more significant than others since they show squared or rounded style best. VERY few of these coins have the full legend so I tend to show a favoritism to ones that have a lot of legend and show squared letters which are more scarce than the rounded ones. The old books give the rounded ones to the Taxila mint but I do not know the arguments that support this. The easiest letter to see the difference is the omega in soter just behind the horse. Taxila rounded [ATTACH=full]765117[/ATTACH] branch mint squared - I am not ready to defend opinions on Balkh versus Kapisa mint on these. If you automatically discount anything said by old writers like Mitchiner in 1978, it makes no matter what he said. Kapisa? I don't know. [ATTACH=full]765118[/ATTACH] Another factor is the form of the tamghas on the coins. Some of the squared letter coins have four prong tamghas on one side or the other rather than the standard three prong. The coin below shows a 4 prong on the obverse but three prong on the reverse. Balkh? I don't know. [ATTACH=full]765120[/ATTACH] We should mention that these come in two denominations. The larger is called tetradrachm in the hobby and is about the size of these coins from late Roman Alexandria. The smaller is about 1/4 the size so gets called drachm but I have no idea what the people who spent them called them. Below is a drachm with squared letters and 4 prongs on both sides. You will have more trouble finding high grade ones of these. [ATTACH=full]765121[/ATTACH] I don't have an answer to the ray countdown but I could make up one based on pipe dreams of a perfect world. What if the ruler was limited to a 15 year term and would retire when the rays were gone. Diocletian did this at 20 years and fared a great deal better than the emperors who signed on for life terms. We most certainly don't know. Be careful not to rule out possible explanations as ridiculous when you have no idea how the moral/political system worked. What we don't know about the Kushans could fill a really large book. The coins full explanation would not be a pamphlet either. My recommendations to you is to buy coins that allow counting the rays of the crown, show at least one bold omega to separate square from round and have clear tamghas. If you are going to ID these coins, those features may come in handy. Below was my first Soter Megas tetradrachm. I bought it because it was cheap. The obverse is a total wreck and worthless with rays off flan and no tamgha. To this day, it is my only clear, full legend reverse. It shows the distinctive weapon in the hand of the rider. It has classic Takila rounded letters. The corrosion has been stable for 20 years. By my definition, this is a keeper. [ATTACH=full]765126[/ATTACH] I read that NGC will slab Soter Megas alone of all the Kushan coins. I do wonder why they decided to accept these coins (if that is correct). I consider this an interesting decision due to the wide variety of styles to be found. I have not seen coins that I think are fakes but I am less sure how I would tell a branch mint rarity from an unofficial or counterfeit issue. Many of the coins are well worn (water finds????) and could be confused with (cast) fakes. I have not seen one I would grade above VF. CNG sold a little drachm of interesting style as EF and it may be close to that. I may be a little picky. I wonder what the buyer of the coin ($295) saw in it beyond the EF grade. [url]https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=117351[/url][/QUOTE]
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