During the Third Century B.C. India's montery beginnings started with a Primitive coinage that consisted of punching and/or chopping information onto a measured amount of silver. Usually only one side of the coin received the punch marks. The marks indicate the province or territory where the crude coins were struck, the denomination, a caricature of the sun and a religious symbol representing Buddhism, Hindi or both. Here is a photo of a few of the crude coins at actual size (courtesy of Pomexport): http://www.pomexport.com/C - India Punch/PCC - India Punch_1x.jpg Here's an enlarged photo for a closer view of the coins: http://www.pomexport.com/C - India Punch/PCC - India Punch_4x.jpg As exiting a find as these Primitive India coins are, I want to show you a much older coin from a country located a long way from India. To do this we must go backwards into the past more than 800 years to Crete. This AR Drachm weighing 4.08 grams is the target of our visit (courtesy Coin Archives): Click image for an enlargement of the coin: http://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotviewer.php?LotID=84017&AucID=90&Lot=601 You know of another crude (punched) coinage period which includes Mexico, Central and South Spanish-America including Hispaniola which are referred to as Cobs, so I present one to you courtesy of Coin Archives: http://www.coinarchives.com/w/lotviewer.php?LotID=371238&AucID=275&Lot=276 During a period spanning the years 1185 to 1195 a crude form of billon called Angels was struck in three Byzantine cities (Constaninople, Tetatera, Thesalonia). It is ball-shaped. An image of an Angel was stamped on them. Here's a photo of a pile of the antique coins courtesy Coin Archives: http://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotviewer.php?LotID=214358&AucID=294&Lot=234 That's the scope of this "trivia." Anything you want to add, note, opine or a photo to share? Clinker
found it "The earliest coins were not made of gold or silver but of electrum, a naturally occurring gold-silver alloy. The Pactolus River (Sart Çayı) beside the slopes of Mount Tmolus (Boz Dağ) in the kingdom of Lydia was one of the most important sources of electrum in the ancient world, and just as the rulers of the Middle East today have become wealthy from oil, so the ancient Lydian kings became rich by accumulating and minting coins from electrum." http://rjohara.net/coins/lydia-electrum/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrum
randygeki: Some were, some were meteorite and some billon... This was covered in former posts...and "thanks for reading and commenting... Clinker
Archaic coins as billon? From meteorites? I know there's discussion that Greco-Bactrian nickle coins were made from metal from meteorites. But as far as I know electrum generally doesn't come from meteorites, and billon was a later creation.
Ardatirion: Right! I didn't say electrum came from neteorites, I was just pointing out that other metals were used besides electrum. Clinker
Thanks for the trivia, Clinker, I enjoyed it. Electrum has a range of Au-Ag ratios, generally stated as >20% silver. The following article discusses the electrum issues of Asia Minor: http://www.limunltd.com/numismatica/articles/electrum-coins.html The relevant passage regarding Au-Ag ratios: The electrum was 55.5% gold in archaic Phokaia (600-522). In the early classical period (521-478), it fell to about 46% in Phokaia and about 43% in Mytilene. From 477 to 326, it remained at about 40% to 41% in both towns. Note that these are statistical ranges. Overall, these coins are very consistent.
Thanks for posting this very interesting trivia. The first punch marked coins in India were struck around Sixth century B.C. These were known as Bent Bar coins or Satmanas in local language. All these bent bars had one single punches on both ends of a silver bar. These are extremely rare coins. Regards, Ballabh Garg
Here are few of punch marked bent bars from Indian region. These were dated roughly 600 - 500 BC. Mitchiner ACW#4071 (These were issued under Gandhara Satrapy in Qandhar region) Mitchiner ACW#4069 (These were issued in Kuru and Panchala region, modern day Panjab, India) Regards, Ballabh Garg
Here are few punchmark coins issued in Magadha region (Modern day eastern India) Mitchiner ACW#3946 (Issued between 462-414BC) Mitchiner ACW#3925 (Issued between 414-396BC) Mitchiner ACW#3907 (Issued between 350-312BC) Regards, Ballabh Garg
