Cleaning up my phone and I found a bunch of coins I forgot to share when I bought them!
Gupta Empire
Skandagupta, c.455-467 AD
Bust of Skandagupta right in Western Satrap style
Fire altar, Brahmi legend intending to say "paramabh#257;gavata maharajadhiraja sri skandagupta kramaditya"
Skandagupta is regarded as the last great Gupta king, although the empire was already in full decline during his reign. Upon his accession to the throne, he
inherited a war against the Pushyamitras of central India, who had initiated rebellions and raids against his predecessor, Kumaragupta. Concurrently or immediately after, there was a large invasion from the "Sveta Huna", variously attributed as the Alchon or Hepthalite Huns. He defeated the invasion, but over a decade of continual warfare left the Gupta economy in shambles; its currency heavily debased and inflating.
Coins of Skandagupta are generally common, although certain types are scarcer, and sharply struck coins are quite scarce. This is not my first Skandagupta fire altar drachm, but it is the first with a legible legend. Unfortunately, I don't know Gupta Brahmi well enough to take a crack at what it actually says (I have read that these coins contain terrible spelling errors and omit entire words), but it at least looks nice. These coins are on the same weight standard as the Garuda type (about 2 grams) but are visibly more debased and on thicker, ragged flans. These are likely the equivalent of Roman provincial coins.
Here's a good Coinindia page on his coin types:
http://coinindia.com/galleries-skandagupta.html
Posted 03/16/2018 7:13 pm
