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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,888 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Chach (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) C. 600-700 AD AE Unit Unknown king, clan "Tudun" Obv: Two portraits joined at ear. Left portrait of a bearded old man, looking upward. Right portrait 3/4 facing of a youthful Asian portrait. Cross to right Rev: Pitchfork tamgha, Sogdian legend "Tudun, ruler of Chach"  The coins of the native rulers of Chach are poorly understood, but seem to come from a brief period of prosperity between the decline and collapse of the Sassanian empire and the Arab conquests of the area in the 8th century. Chach coins are exclusively bronze, issued by dozens of rulers under nearly a dozen tamghas. Most types are scarce or rare, but thankfully unpopular enough to be quite cheap! This one sadly seems to have bronze disease, which will need to be treated. |
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
Excellent find Steve. I like that obverse design.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1554 Posts |
Coins of the Silk Road really capture the imagination, don't they? "Tudun" is a Turkic word meaning "governor" or "administrator". It was used on coins of Chach from the mid-7th to mid-8th century under Western Turk hegimony. Your coin seems to be a match for Shagalov & Kuznetsov (2006), Catalogue of coins of Chach III-VIII A.D., Tashkent, p.217, no. 220. Nice clear strike!
Edited by Kushanshah
07/21/2018 6:03 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6130 Posts |
Thanks Ron and KS!
I have always struggled to firmly grasp what school of numismatic art these belong to, as they are pretty far removed from everything that would have been in circulation on the eve of the Islamic takeover. Perhaps Turkic/Hunnic? The preference for 3/4 facing busts is unusual.
Most only depict one ruler, but the "Pair Portrait" type showing husband and wife are fascinating. This one I can't really wrap my head around. Is the bearded bust supposed to be an ancestor, I wonder? I've never seen a bust depicted in this way before.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1554 Posts |
The Silk Road was a real melting pot and has always fascinated me. The bust shows Hellenistic influence. To be honest, I think it is intended only as a single bust. I do see the second face but after looking at several examples of the type in Sh & K, I think it is really only a mass of wavy hair. The title "tudun" is Turkic. The bust and the tamgha may represent either the Tudun or a local dynast who remained in place under the Tudun's tuttelage. The script is Sogdian, related to Aramaic. The cross is interesting. Some coins of this region bear Nestorian Christian symbols. On the other hand, sometimes an X is only an X. Fun stuff!
Edited by Kushanshah
07/22/2018 07:50 am
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Moderator
United States
34424 Posts |
Super information and a nice coin in this thread. I learned something today!
"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
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
That tamgha looks familiar. I'm sure I've seen something similar on one of my long-unattributed coins - though I don't think my example had a portrait on the other side.
I'll have to check the photos...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
@j1m, could it be Tarnvach?  Very similar tamghas, but the central spikes meet rather than cross in the middle. |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
I'm not sure that was the coin I had in mind (it probably wasn't), but I did find the same almost the same tamgha on coin #12 of my yet-unposted 19-coin bunch I bought last year. The kicker? It had the portrait. ...Well, a portrait. I'm not confident enough to say it's the same portrait. Should be a very closely related type, though.   (I'll try to look for the other coin I might have had in mind later.) (Also: wow does my hurried September 2017 photography suck. I suspect I could have done a better job today.) Edited by january1may
07/23/2018 12:05 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4966 Posts |
That OP coin looks great! I have a couple of these coins, but they are in pretty poor shape. Here is my facing "double head".  Edited by chrsmat71
07/25/2018 12:20 am
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Pillar of the Community
 Spain
2752 Posts |
Really nice looking coin Steve...Don't know anything about them but found this, maybe it helps? Paul  |
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,888 |
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Posted 07/21/2018 6:01 pm
