Moneta's Temple and Gallery

India - Chola Dynasty - Octopus Man

Moneta — Sun, 18 May 2014 19:57:49 -0400

by: Moneta

Description: Chola Dynasty - "Rajaraja Chola I" (985-1014 A.D.). One Drihacm (Massa). OB: King standing on conch shell or sun/moon symbol w/ glowing lamp in left hand. RX: seated king w/ raised r. arm. Mitchener #735. VF for type. 4.2 g. copper (16.72 mm)

India - Nagas of Narwar

Moneta — Sun, 18 May 2014 19:50:09 -0400

by: Moneta

Description: Nagas King - Maharaja Sri Ga, ca 340 A.D. Brahma bull stg. r.; RX: "Ganendra" in circle in Brahmi. AE 1/4 unit(1/4 kakini), probably 5 Ratti (1.02 g). Humped bull standing left / Maharaja Sri Ganendra in a circle in Brahmi. 10mm, 0.83 grams. Mitchiner 4739-4753. The Naga Kings held a large territory in Malwa and other regions (extending their territory as far as Mathura in the middle of the third century AD by taking it from the weakening Kushans). The last of the Nagas, Ganapati Naga, submitted to the Gupta Emperor Samudragupta.

India - Chalukyas of Gujarat

Moneta — Sun, 18 May 2014 19:40:44 -0400

by: Moneta

Description: Anonymous billon drachma; 10 - 12 c. A.D. OB: stylized head r.; RX: stylized fire altar (up-side down). REF; Deyell # 156-159. Silver 4g. 17.22 mm. During the 9th and 10th centuries, the kingdoms of Western India, including the Chavadas and Chalukyas, issued large numbers of silver coins modeled on Sassanian prototypes. These coins featured a king's head right on the obverse and a stylized fire altar on the reverse. Over time, the bust and the fire altar became more and more stylized. Coin 27 is an example of this coinage, where the bust is still quite recognizable, but the fire altar has become a series of dots and lines at various angles. These coins are normally referred to as "Gadhaiya" paisas, although nobody seems to know how they came by this name. The coins our often quite worn, but this is a very nice example.

India - Skandagupta

Moneta — Sun, 18 May 2014 19:36:53 -0400

by: Moneta

Description: Garuda Type silver drachma. 455 - 467 A.D. Obverse head of king r. with date behind (?). Rx: stylized Garuda standing, facing l. w/wings spread - Brahmi legend (paramabhāgavata maharajadhiraja sri skandagupta kramaditya) around; design is up-side down in photo. The Garuda type of silver coins of Skandagupta continued the series of coins issued by Chandragupta II and Kumaragupta I which were based on Western Kshatrapa prototypes. On this coin, the sun above the Garuda figure is to the left.

India - Cooch Behar

Moneta — Sat, 17 May 2014 20:28:02 -0400

by: Moneta

Description: Indian Feudatory State of Cooch Behar. Sold to me as a half Rupee of Maharaja Prana Narayan (1633 - 1665) but my exam of KM would indicate it's probably issued under Rupa Narayan (1695 - 1715). In any case I acquired it to illustrate the type of coin used to model the Bhutan series on. This may be written in 'devanagari' script. Holding off on the legends until I can determine the actual ruler.