Coins Of India - Indian Princely States

drnsreedhar,

Thank you very much for responding to my message. I feel privileged to have a prestigious numismatic and the leading expert of Indian coinage take a look at my humble coins.

If you would prefer to communicate in Hindi please let me know.

Despite having a camera that has proved ideal for capturing the minute details, depicting tone and color realistically, differentiating field surfaces and textures of almost all variety of coinage at very high resolution all three of these coins are too small for my camera's technology to produce detailed photographs.

Monday I will be purchasing a photographic device will allow me to capture the full details of all three coins. I am planning to post the detailed photographs immediately after taking them.

The photographs below are the best I currently have but are blurry and of poor quality.

I have three coins I am trying to accurately identify, verify authenticity and determine provenance. The two coins that have an elephant on their face are extremely small. They are a fraction of the size of the third coin which itself is very small. These are the smallest coins I have ever seen.

A "best guess" description derived from my exhaustive research of the two varieties follows:


#1 The two coins featuring an elephant on the face I believe are of the same variety


India, 1080-1138AD, Western Gangas Elephant (Gajapati) Gold Fanam Coin

Reference link: http://coins.lakdiva.org/medievalin...anam_au.html

DESCRIPTION:

The Elephant was the crest of the dynasty called Gangas. Western Gangas with capital Talkad in 450 AD is modern Karnataka (Mysore).

The Gajapati fanams were probably introduced about 1080 when Gangavadi emerged from Chola domination. They may have circulated in Lanka alongside the similar pagoda coin.

Govind Prabhu of India who has researched these coins, comments that these coins are extremely scarce and that this is a amazingly fine genuine specimen which looking at this particular elephant style could be dated back to 12th century AD. Pankaj Tandon felt the reverse looked more like a Rooster.

Is this the world's smallest and rarest gold coin? It is of the same weight as the Hoysalas gold Fanam coin which is however thinner and larger (8mm) and was marketed in US with this title.

PROVENANCE:

The coins were won via silent auction during a charity event, in May of 1983, held at Reynolda Gardens in Winston-Salem, NC. They were part of the Reynold's Family collection of coins and antiquities. Members of the Reynolds Family amassed a museum quality collection over many generations' world travels. The Reynolds Family assure a lifetime guarantee these coins are genuine.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Denomination One Fanam
Alloy Gold , plus
Type Struck
Diameter App. 5.8 mm
Weight App. 0.39 gms
Thickness App. 1.6 mm
Shape Round
Edge Plain
Die Axis 90°
Mitchiner #703 or variation there of
Mitchiner states Anonymous: circa 1080 - 1138 & perhaps later.
Obverse : Caparisoned elephant facing the right.
Reverse : An ornamental floral scroll. Peacock ?


#2 The larger, non-elephant coin

India-Princely States Gold Fanam Coin

PROVENANCE:

The coin was won via silent auction during a charity event, in May of 1983, held at Reynolda Gardens in Winston-Salem, NC. They were part of the Reynold's Family collection of coins and antiquities. Members of the Reynolds Family amassed a museum quality collection over many generations' world travels. The Reynolds Family assure a lifetime guarantee these coins are genuine.

Warm regards,
Yellow88

Thank you so much. I have two of the Ganga coins and under extreme magnification they are both incredibly detailed and appear (I am going to err on the side of caution and lack of grading skills) to be almost uncirculated.

Tomorrow I am purchasing what's needed to take extremely detailed, high resolution photographs of the tiny Ganga coins. I will post them soon afterwards.

I can not find a picture of a coin that is exactly like the Ganga coins I have. I have scoured international search engines for over 80 hours.

Not being able to find a pic of my Ganga coin along with the condition started making me think they are fakes.

If they are in fact real and even nicer than the pics I've posted do know their value? I was also thinking about donating them anonymously to a local museum. I wonder what you think about that idea?

I think I am going to donate them to a local museum.

I think there uniqueness would attract interest and attention hence exposing people to and opening their minds to discover an amazing, wonderful culture with an incredible rich history.

A country most Americans know little about and will never afford the opportunity to visit and experience in person.

I will post much better photos tomorrow.

Thank you again Sir.

Great coin Finn235

Tara coins are one of the most attractive series. I am still hunting for information on why they are called so, how this became popular in different parts of India, how some of them came to have pattern resemblance with the panam coins etc.

Some numismatists believe that there were some local chieftains who had right to issue coins on their own. Gerusoppa is such a Chieftain's land. Some copper specimen of feudatory rulers like Lakhana dandanayaka also have been published. There are a few numismatists who attribute many of the tara coins now attributed to Vijayanagara to Hoysalas of Gujarat. So it is a task to precisely know what they really are and where they belong!!

I am relatively new to the non-sultanate medieval and ancient coins of India. I found one of your threads very exciting - that on "Gadhaiya" coins. Unfortunately I could not see most of the pics because of photobucket issue. I am not cyber savvy to find its solution. But the information therein is tremendous. Congratulations.

Thank you!

I agree it is a shame about the Gadhaiya thread, but a blessing in disguise as I came to the realization halfway through that I would need to overhaul the discussion based on a few discoveries. I am meditating on the series a bit before I revive it again.

On the subject of tara coins - has the "base" weight been established? Information (in English at least) is pretty scant; I have only confirmed my seller's attribution through a Maridhar Arts auction. Other tara coins I have seen are significantly heavier, about .15 - .2g. If your coin is indeed a 2 1/2 denomination, that would seem to make sense of my coin, but perhaps the others are double denominations?

Also, I am really curious if you have any insights as to how coins such as mine are attributed so specifically. Perhaps contemporary literature mentions the designs ordered by the king?

Also, Obv and Rev detail since I did not include before:





The additional example had the same indistinct reverse- I wonder if it was supposed to be blank?