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 Replies: 14 / Views: 3,526 |
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
The Maurya Empire the largest empire to exist in India, including present day Pakistan and Afghanistan existed from 322-187 BC. It was founded by Chandragupta. It's third emperor Ashoka 268-232 BC was it's greatest. Out of the Ancient Indian coin series I have a particular liking for the punched marked coins from this empire. This coins are usually advertised as Karshapana of the emperor Ashoka, when in fact there is no way to tell which emperor the coin was struck. The series lasted from te begining to the end of the emperor. The coins appear from somewhat square to round, with the round coins appearing towards the end of the empire. The weight varies from around 3.10 - almost 4 grams. They usually have a least five punch marks of various images on the obverse and one image on the reverse. This does vary at times. Here is a group of ten Karshpana's I recently picked up.   I've also included a wikipedia link to tne histry of the empire along with a link to Coin India. http://coinindia.com/galleries-maurya.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire |
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Moderator
United States
34427 Posts |
Ron, this is a great subject for a thread as there are several of us who have dabbled in this area, but haven't given it serious study. I look forward to seeing what you've picked up!
"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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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
The cheapest ancient silver coins you can get.
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
I bought them as a group for around $6 each.
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5176 Posts |
Quote:
The cheapest ancient silver coins you can get. If they are, I haven't seen one yet. I'd love to get one of those for $6, or even for $16... Also, when I opened this thread, I saw the lower picture first, and thought "why is there a photo of cookies in a coin forum? ...oh." I know there were cuneiform tablet cookies. Did anyone ever try to make karshapana cookies? |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6514 Posts |
Interesting thread. Thank you for the information.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Nice group of karshapanas there, Ron.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Spain
2752 Posts |
Nice coins Ron...I'm very interested in these type of coins.. On a recent thread of mine I think it was Finn who said 'Gupta and Hardaker's' book was a good reference source..Do you have it? Will you be giving us a breakdown of these coins?  Paul |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Nice group of coins there, Ron! I've got a handful that I really need to get photographed. If I can add a few more points of info:
- Chandragupta Maurya is said to have usurped his position from Dhana Nanda, the last Magadha king in 321 BC. The prospect of having to fight the Magadha empire had made Alexander the Great's troops mutiny and demand to return home - this created an immense power vacuum. Since Chandragupta was already "in" and Dhana's subjects largely hated him, the entire empire switched allegiance when Dhana was killed or exiled. Chandragupta was then able to conquer all of war-devastated northern India with ease.
- The Karshapana denomination actually stated over a century before 321, and I have read that late Magadha karshapanas are indistinguishable from Maurya coins. Maybe Gupta & Hardaker's book can shed more light on this?
- I've read that these coins were made by cutting up huge sheets of silver into squares, and then clipping as necessary to attain the ideal 3.4g weight. When they were certified, they would then be punched with the various symbols. I am really curious to know how some of them came to be round, however, unless those were intended for international trade?
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
No I don't have Gupta & Hardaker's book, I do have Sambhu Nath Mondal book "Ancient Indian Coins Decoding of their Indus-Brahmi inscriptions with special emphasis on the Punch Marked Coins and a copy of Thomas book on ancient Indian coinage.
I need to see about getting a copy of the G & H book.
I seem to recall recently reading a thread in the Indian Coins Collector group that Magadha coins can been identified by the fish symbol on the reverse.
Thanks all for your replies.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I am asking myself:
"Why are they so cheap and available?"
Have any very large hoards of them, that have been discovered in the last few decades?
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
I haven't heard of any being found recently. Outside of India I don't think there are many collectors, it's not that a specific ruler can be pinned down which I would guess doesn't make them very appealing.
However I have noticed over the last couple of years that in some areas of Indian coinage collectors have started to become more Interested. For example the Western Satrap series, prices have climbed from a few dollars per coin into a hundred or more dollars now. All in just a few years.
So maybe these coins still remain cheap because the supply is more than the demand. Which suits me just fine.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
I'm not sure about Mauryan coins, but I have read that the most common Gadhaiya types are periodically found in hoards of several tens of thousands which of course will take decades to sell to all seven collectors of that series.
I figure the Mauryan coins are a similar tale.
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Moderator
United States
34427 Posts |
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all seven collectors  "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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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
And half of them are here.  |
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Replies: 14 / Views: 3,526 |
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Posted 02/12/2018 05:49 am
