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 Replies: 7 / Views: 1,359 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
I know that for a guy who supposedly collects mainly Indo-Sassanian coins, my recent postings have been a bit well, conventional. I promise I have been keeping it weird, just behind the scenes!  Anyway, I got this one in the mail recently, and it's too weird not to share! As near as I can figure, this is related to the very common "sri ha" type, perhaps a later imitation or issue from a rump state. Pratihara-Pala supremacy or later (After c.800?) AE or BI dramma, 17mm, 3.87g Obv: Circular cheek, Degenerated nose, lips and beard around Rev: Fire altar, base of dots, tall pillar shaft, straight solid ribbons  Sri Ha drachms come in many shapes and levels of degeneracy, but this is above and beyond anything I have ever seen! |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6130 Posts |
And since a few of you might not know what a "Sri Ha" drachm is, this is the prototype, and one of the most complete specimens I own:  These, along with nearly all of the "Indo-Sassanian" series are a copy of a Sassanian Peroz I drachm, stylized to the nth degree. The circular cheek, angled hat, and representation of the fire altar with a long pillar shaft, and the base made of dots is diagnostic of this particular issue. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Great addition, Steve. Always fun to see you indulging your weirdness.
At a certain point abstraction becomes so pronounced that the resultant imagery can more properly be called nonrepresentational or nonobjective. Not much, if any, recognizable elements of the original subject matter here. For me that adds to the appeal. Might be from a rump state, but that ain't no rump coin.
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
Very nice addition Steve.
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
Excellent photos to see exactly what you are talking about. From what you have shown you are certainly building an admirable collection.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
564 Posts |
Thanks for sharing Steve. Great addition.
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Moderator
United States
34423 Posts |
Interesting coin, but I had been unfamiliar with the term: Quote:
issue from a rump state. I guess that I'm starting off the new year by learning something, which is a good thing. "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
A good point, Dave. A rump state is a fragment or remnant of a larger kingdom that persists long after the central seat of government falls or is absorbed. Medieval India was mostly a patchwork of small kingdoms, although the Pratihara-Pala type coins come from a time period known as the "Tripartite Struggle" since most of the subcontinent was controlled by the Gurjura-Pratiharas, the Palas, and the Rashtrakutas, all in a state of perpetual warfare. The Pratiharas and Palas adopted the Drachm (dramma) standard from the Huns, while the Rashtrakutas seem to have relied mostly on imported coins, due to the rarity of their issues. Interestingly, among the Pratihara-Pala types, there seem to be two "family trees"; the Sri Ha type, made of very debased (.200 or thereabouts) silver, and the Pala type, which is initially made of better silver, but quickly shrinks. I don't want to ramble on for pages, but the Sri Ha type seems to fizzle out around the time that the portrait becomes very large and stylized on the coin, but further developments along that line seem to be *very* rare. In fact, I have only seen a handful, most of which are of this type: https://www.marudhararts.com/e-auct...iharas-.htmlHowever, after the Palas drachm progresses to the Vigrahapala type ( https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces59290.html ) it seems that the design was punted back over to the Pratiharas under Bhoja I ( https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces64611.html ) Note the retention of the stylized attendants and the "Candy wrapper" style fire altar on both coins. The WHY of the abandonment of the Sri Ha design is a complete mystery to me--I am hopeful that Maheshwari has insights I am missing. This is part of the reason it's taken so long to get my behemoth guide off the ground! Edited by Finn235
01/02/2018 4:46 pm
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Posted 12/31/2017 4:56 pm
