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<p>[QUOTE="Pellinore, post: 4603421, member: 74834"]Transition pieces, that's a good name. People have a circulating coinage, then their realm is conquered, and after that, a new coinage is to be introduced. People don't want to trade in coins they don't know and trust. They want coins they are used to, so they keep the old ones in circulation. And that's when coins are introduced that are slightly different.</p><p><br /></p><p>The silver Sasanian drachm was ubiquitous in all of the former Persian empire and used in Northern India, too. So after the end of the Persian empire various fossilized heads of the copious output of Sasanian silver were minted in various localities. </p><p><br /></p><p>Nr. 2 and 3 of the examples of Parthicus show a Sasanian head and fire altar, just like this Gurjara-Pratihara coin of Northern India, outside of the reach of Islam. You can see the head of Xusro II decked in a flower hat on the obverse and traces of the fire altar, evolved in a graceful play of lines and dots (debased silver, 22 mm, 3.91 gr., c.730-836 AD). </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1140261[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>And this drachm modeling after Xusro I minted in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaghaniyan" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaghaniyan" rel="nofollow">Chaghaniyan</a>, a long and narrow river valley between modern Dushanbe and Termez (Uzbekistan) that was independent in the 7th and early 8th century (silver, 25 mm, 2.61 gr. Zeno 199516, about 600 AD). The countermarks are associated with Bactrian script and Hunnic imagery. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1140264[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The last one is a type of coin that's very dear to me in its delicate form, local copper coinage from the Persian heartland after the Arabic conquest. It was minted in what's now <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firuzabad,_Fars" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firuzabad,_Fars" rel="nofollow">Firuzabad</a>, an essentially Sasanian town with an amazing circular fort, founded by the first Great King Ardashir I. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1140267[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Again, here's the bust of Xusro II, but on the reverse is one of the fascinating fable animals of Persian mythology, the senmurv - a large bird with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion. It's a benevolent animal that can easily fly away with an angry elephant in its claws. The coin has a very thin and delicate fabric (22 x 21 mm, 0.74 gr. Zeno 204927, dating from 695-699 AD - that's four decades after the islamic conquest). A fascinating transition coin.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Pellinore, post: 4603421, member: 74834"]Transition pieces, that's a good name. People have a circulating coinage, then their realm is conquered, and after that, a new coinage is to be introduced. People don't want to trade in coins they don't know and trust. They want coins they are used to, so they keep the old ones in circulation. And that's when coins are introduced that are slightly different. The silver Sasanian drachm was ubiquitous in all of the former Persian empire and used in Northern India, too. So after the end of the Persian empire various fossilized heads of the copious output of Sasanian silver were minted in various localities. Nr. 2 and 3 of the examples of Parthicus show a Sasanian head and fire altar, just like this Gurjara-Pratihara coin of Northern India, outside of the reach of Islam. You can see the head of Xusro II decked in a flower hat on the obverse and traces of the fire altar, evolved in a graceful play of lines and dots (debased silver, 22 mm, 3.91 gr., c.730-836 AD). [ATTACH=full]1140261[/ATTACH] And this drachm modeling after Xusro I minted in [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaghaniyan']Chaghaniyan[/URL], a long and narrow river valley between modern Dushanbe and Termez (Uzbekistan) that was independent in the 7th and early 8th century (silver, 25 mm, 2.61 gr. Zeno 199516, about 600 AD). The countermarks are associated with Bactrian script and Hunnic imagery. [ATTACH=full]1140264[/ATTACH] The last one is a type of coin that's very dear to me in its delicate form, local copper coinage from the Persian heartland after the Arabic conquest. It was minted in what's now [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firuzabad,_Fars']Firuzabad[/URL], an essentially Sasanian town with an amazing circular fort, founded by the first Great King Ardashir I. [ATTACH=full]1140267[/ATTACH] Again, here's the bust of Xusro II, but on the reverse is one of the fascinating fable animals of Persian mythology, the senmurv - a large bird with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion. It's a benevolent animal that can easily fly away with an angry elephant in its claws. The coin has a very thin and delicate fabric (22 x 21 mm, 0.74 gr. Zeno 204927, dating from 695-699 AD - that's four decades after the islamic conquest). A fascinating transition coin.[/QUOTE]
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