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Here are scans of seven small copper coins, all believed to be from South India, that I haven't been able to attribute. It's possible that coins 4 and 5 are from elsewhere. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Coin 1. Looks like a peacock R. on bottom of obverse, 2.90 g, 11.5x16mm   Coin 2. Possible standing deity or person? 2.62 g, 12.5 mm   Coin 3. Bull L. with crescent moon above, 2.77 g, 14 mm,   Coin 4. 6-pointed star on one side, animal on the other, both surrounded by dots, 1.02 g, 10 mm   Coin 5. Partial date AH 118(9?) = 1775?, 1.42g, 10x11 mm   Coin 6. Elephant L., 2.46 g, 12 mm   Coin 7. Worn but can see European number 2 on one side, elephant L. on other, 3.33 g, 13 mm   Edited by Seeker55
01/12/2018 6:51 pm
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Hm... these are turning out to be some tough coins to find. I am not sure how much that star matches with the fourth one tough. On the fourth coin, there is a top point, but it looks like the right side is opening up rather than coming together. However, the third coin in that link is an exact match of Coin 2. It would be 1 kasu from Madurai, made from 1701 to 1736 ( link!). Coin 5 looks like something from Arcot, and its size would indicate a 1/4 paisa. I found a similar looking example with the date of 1191, which this is not. But then I found a better one here. Sure enough, its date is 1189, so that one is probably yours. The closest match I could find to the third coins was something from Vijayanagara, but it does not look exact. The sixth one reminds my of Mysore and the first one of the Nagas of Narwar, but again, I cannot find a match for either. I will keep searching for matches for the remaining ones, and if I find anything, I will post again.  |
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Yes, Joseph7420, you are right about coins 2 and 5. I will also follow up on your ideas about the others and look for matches. In my (limited) experience small South Indian copper coins are among the most difficult to attribute, and I bow to your ability to track these down.  Many thanks for your help so far and I will certainly look forward to hearing if you manage to match any of the others. |
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I also concur that coin 3 is Vijayanagara. Found a very similar one pictured at http://nvpcollections.blogspot.com/...a-coins.html about the 22nd coin down, about halfway down the page. It's attributed to Krishnadevaraya, AD 1509-1530, so I'm going with this. I also saw a 5-pointed star on a Nayaka of Madurai coin at http://southindiancoins.blogspot.co...k-coins.htmlThe one pictured did not have dots around the star or an animal on the other side, but use of a star pattern could mean it is similar to coin 4 (and because only part of the star is shown on coin 4 I can't tell if it's five- or six-pointed). No further attribution was given in the website referenced. |
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Quote:I also concur that coin 3 is Vijayanagara. Found a very similar one pictured at http://nvpcollections.blogspot.com/a-coins.html about the 22nd coin down, about halfway down the page. It's attributed to Krishnadevaraya, AD 1509-1530, so I'm going with this. I agree; that one sure looks a lot closer than the one in the link I posted!  Quote:I also saw a 5-pointed star on a Nayaka of Madurai coin at http://southindiancoins.blogspot.co...k-coins.htmlThe one pictured did not have dots around the star or an animal on the other side, but use of a star pattern could mean it is similar to coin 4 (and because only part of the star is shown on coin 4 I can't tell if it's five- or six-pointed). No further attribution was given in the website referenced. It does look like a pretty unique star on your coin. I know Arcot also had a few star-coins, and Travancore even more so. But searching through the coins of those two places, I still cannot seem to find a match... |
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I certainly appreciate all comments and suggetions.
For coin 4 I found a listing for a kasu of the Madurai Nayaka at KM 22 that describes a peacock R (no photo), weight 1.5-3.0 grams, and I'm going with this attribution because the peacock and weight match. I can't tell if the writing is correct.
For coin 6 the elephant surrounded by dots looks like other Mysore copper kasu (specifically KM 151 and 152), so although I can't match up the writing on the reverse, I'm just going with that general attribution.
So all except coin 7 now have some attribution (kingdom and broad time period) although for many the specific ruler is unknown. I'm assuming coin 7 is a 2 kasu because of the number 2 on it. The elephant may suggest Mysore, but nothing definite is known about this coin at this point.
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Correction to immediately preceding post - Coin 1 has the peacock and is now attributed to Madurai Nayaks, not coin 4.
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Quote:
For coin 1 I found a listing for a kasu of the Madurai Nayaka at KM 22 that describes a peacock R (no photo), weight 1.5-3.0 grams, and I'm going with this attribution because the peacock and weight match. I can't tell if the writing is correct. Hm... could KM#22 be this one? If so, the bird looks a little different. The closest example I could find for Coin 1 was something from Andhra, but that certainly does not look like an exact match. No matter how much I rotate it, the legend does not want to match up. And I still cannot seem to find anything close to Coin 7... |
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Yes, I agree that the coin in the link photo is probably KM22, which means that my coin 1 is not that, and I still don't know what it is.
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Posted 01/14/2018 1:25 pm
