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Message:: [QUOTE="Finn235, post: 3193579, member: 98035"]Punchmarked coins are a special stand-stand-out among ancient coins because of their unclear origins, relatively short span of existence (first struck after 600 BC and phased out upon the arrival of the Greeks in ~180 BC), and the existence of exceptions to the "rule" of how they were produced. The "first" ancient coins of India were probably the silver "bent bar" Shatamana of Gandhara in present day Afghanistan/Pakistan. These are extremely controversial coins because the area was conquered by the Achaemenids right around the time that these first appeared. They average about 11-11.5g in weight, which is conveniently equal to a shekel or 2 Achaemenid sigloi. They are indisputably unique in terms of fabric, but it is entirely possible that the idea of coinage as "precious metal stamped with the mark of the issuing authority" was not one ever devised by the natives of India. [ATTACH=full]824929[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]824930[/ATTACH] And while most of the Janapadas of pre-Mauryan India used an assortment of individual punches to make their punchmarked coins, there were those that could arguably be described as die-struck, such as this one of Kuru (500-350 BC?):[ATTACH=full]824931[/ATTACH] The triskeles on the left is the "main" punchmarked of this series and appears on all coins of the janapada. The other comprised of arrows, taurines, and pellets is present on a large number, possibly up to half. It is not clear if they were applied separately or simultaneously. After the fall of the Mauryan empire, their successor state, the Sunga kingdom, continued to make punchmarked coins for a few decades, then switched to making cast copper coins. Punchmarked coins briefly reappeared in the middle ages in the form of gold coins made by the Chaulukyas and other rajputs.[/QUOTE]

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