Indo Sassanian Coinage - Series 1.1 - Early Types

1.1.9.2 - Closing Series II - Proto-Chavada type face, atypical attendants

This series is interesting in that nearly every specimen I have seen (not many!) is almost exactly alike, yet none are die-matched. It has the diagnostic fire altar with hanging ribbons, yet the portrait style, attendants, and fire altar would otherwise place it very early in this series. Unlike most other coins, the attendants of these series have bodies engraved in relief, the herringbones engraved on top; thus on worn specimens (and most of these are) they appear to not have herringbones at all! The portrait also is approaching series 1.2, which we will call the Chavada type for convenience. Most importantly, it is engraved in relief, and it is becoming much more difficult to discern the head from the headgear.

1.1.9.2 Coin 1
21mm
4.00g




This first coin is the most worn, but still gives some interesting insights. The portrait is tall, engraved in relief, and seems to be almost seamlessly merged with the headgear. The eye is a dot sitting within its socket, and the nose is a slanted, relatively long line. The nostril is a dot and sits between the nose and cheek. The lips are dots, and a mustache extends from the upper lip down to the jaw. The beard is engraved on the portrait in relief, and here is mostly worn away. The ear is barely visible, but we can see a hanging two-pearl earring in the usual upside down Y shape. The neck is a small crescent beneath the portrait, and is lined with a small necklace of pearls. The helmet and wings are not visible. The shoulder pads are large clubs beneath the portrait, each outlined in dots. The ribbon initially seems to be rather ordinary, but look closely and you will notice that it originates from the shoulder pad and loops around on itself before falling into the normal backwards S shape. The upper portion is made of three horizontal lines which are well-engraved and tightly spaced.

The fire altar is tall and thin, with the flame being made of very tightly clustered dots so that most seem to blend together. The bowl and base are mirror images of each other, and the shaft seems to be a star. The ribbons hang to the side. The sun is a small pom pom to the upper left, and the moon is a semicircle with a central dot at the upper right. The attendants each have medium sized circular heads with necklaces made of about five dots. Their breasts are prominent right beneath the necklace. The body is the most fascinating and unusual feature; it curves gracefully in an almost serpentine fashion. Herringbones are visible beneath the breasts, but otherwise the bodies appear to be solid. The attendants' shoulders are lined up with the top of the fire altar bowl, so the altar-side arm hangs down rather than in an upwards salute. The far arm is a single curved line and crosses across the stomach, gesturing toward the ribbon. No feet or legs are visible.

Coin 3
21mm
3.61g



Another that initially appears to be more of the same old thing, but there are still important differences. Again the head is tall and almost seems to merge with the hat. Like on the last coin, we can see the eye engraved as a dot tightly hugged by a semicircular socket, and this time we can see a curved brow above it! The beard is completely worn away to give the jaw a bumpy outline. The ear again is large and somewhat simple, and this time has a visible dot on the ear lobe. Like the previous coin, there are three pearls attached to three chains, but this time the middle chain is engraved in the same relief as the others. The hair bun is a large circle with six rays coming from it. The ribbon unfortunately is somewhat worn; there are two faint lines near the lips of the portrait, but I cannot tell if those are intentional, or flan defects. The lower portion is a typical reversed S shape, and the upper portion is well engraved and horizontal. The rear is about the same, but slightly curved toward the head. The wings are again cornucopiae shapes, but seem to be almost an extension of the ribbon. No brim is visible. There are two small pellets on either side of the hat, rather than spurs as on the last coin. The Korymbos is almost visible, but obscured by a crack in the flan.

The fire altar is nearly the same as on the last coin, but here the flame is a messy, almost solid shape with only a few haphazard dots visible. The sun is somewhat visible in the upper left, and the moon is a medium sized crescent in the upper right. The ribbons are straight lines of dots that run parallel to the base. The attendants have large, off-round heads and necklaces made of maybe six fine, tightly clustered pearls. The breasts are large and prominent, and beneath them are two large herringbones. Beneath the arm, the dress seems to be truncated into a skirt, as on 1.1.9.1. No legs are visible beneath the skirt. Again, the inner arm hangs down, and the outer arm curves gracefully across the stomach.

Thanks Bob!

For the first question, it's difficult to assess, but I suspect that the stray lines around the ribbon may be artifacts of the flan preparation process. Some of these early types have unstuck areas that demonstrate a peculiar pattern (1.1.2 Coin 5) that I can only suppose was leftover from the flan prep. We can see these lines on other later types; even my avatar has faint "icing drizzle" lines between some of the devices. I'm really not 100% sure either way.

For your second question, I did the best I could, but I don't think there is a correct or even singular lineage from Peroz to the more standardized series 1.2. Quite likely, the celatores of the "landed" Gujjars (i.e. the Chavada dynasty) synthesized a design somewhere in the middle of this crazy series. I wish there was a straightforward answer, but ultimately no amount of searching will discover the missing link between an ichthyosaur and a dolphin!

And that - finally! - wraps up series 1.1!

I am waiting on a few coins that are coming in the mail before I kick off 1.2, so it might be a while - I do have a couple new adds that I need to image, upload, and do write-ups for; this thread hopefully will be a living document as my collection grows.

While we are waiting, I wanted to check with you all - How are we feeling about the level of attention to detail? I know that I have noticed some things that I would otherwise miss by forcing myself to pay attention to every minute detail, but the prospect of having to sit down and write a couple paragraphs per coin has been slowing me down. Is it worth the wait, or would you prefer to see me cut back on the scope of my descriptive write ups and knock out a series every 1-2 months?

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I agree with Paul. I truly appreciate thorough descriptions that take a full inventory of visual information - and, indeed I devoted an entire chapter of a design textbook, used by the students where I teach, to strategies for engaging in such deep analyses and descriptions. It can be a tough sell to students who grew up in a texting world.

However, if such detailed work slows down the thread, then some abbreviated form may be warranted. I'd miss the descriptions, but given the context - a forum thread rather than a book - I could see tough choices being made for expediency as you move forward, Steve. I can await your eventual print publication for my more detailed descriptions (I mean, this has to be leading that way, right?)...I'll be patient.