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The
Kushan Empire covered
much what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Northern India from about the first to the third century AD.
They grew wealthy controlling trade centers on the Silk Road and on the
Indus River and incorporated elements of the Greek, Roman, Chinese,
Persian, Indian and other cultures into their lives. Their
coins incorporate Greek designs and often use a corrupted Greek
alphabet in the legends. Kujula Kadphises united a loose confederation
of tribes to form the Kushan Empire in about 30AD. He further
expanded the Empire until his death in 80AD. This bronze
tetradrachm
of Kujula Kadphises features a 
Greek
style diademed head on
the obverse
and Hercules with a club or another Greek deity on the
reverse. The coin grades Good to Fine. We also have
well made bronze Tetradrachms of Kushan king “Soter Megas”.
The
title “Soter Megas” means Great Savior. The coin,
which grades VG to Fine, shows the Greek style diademed bust of the
king on one side, and the king on horseback on the other. The
king thought of himself as being so great, he did not need to put his
actual name on the coin. Until quite recently however,
scholars did not know who really was! It is now believed that
he is Vima Takha who succeeded Kujula 
Kadphises, ruling from 80AD to
105AD. He expanded his empire into what is now
Pakistan. We also have a number of worn, unidentified Kushan
thick bronze Tetradrachms and bronze Drachms I
don’t have the time to work these up. Most coins
feature the king standing on one side and a Greek, Indian or other
deity on the other. The unidentified coins date from about
105 to 225AD and grade Poor to Good.
This ancient silver portrait drachm
was struck by Skanda-gupta, who ruled the Gupta Empire from 455 to
about 485AD. The Empire was one of the most famous and
prosperous Hindu dynasties of India. The name Skanda is derived from
the name Alexander the Great who had marched into India some 700 years
earlier. Skanda was not as successful against his enemies as
his namesake, and lost much of his empire to the invading Huns
(Hepthalites). The coin grades Good to Very Good and has a
very crude portrait of the Emperor on the obverse. The
reverse has legends and symbols.
This
billon (highly debased silver) jital was struck by Nasir al din
Mohammed
who ruled Sind from 1249 to 1260AD. Sind is located in
south-eastern
Pakistan. Sind was once the center of the ancient Indus Valley
civilizations.
At the time the coin was struck, it was on the edges of competing
empires,
so was able to re-establish its own independence.
The coin
is highly unusual for the period in that it has a clear pictorial
design featuring a horse. Some theorize that this signifies the
resurgence in the trade of war horses that had thrived in the
area in earlier years before the invasion of Ghenghiz Khan. 
Muhammad
III bin Tughluq ruled much of India from 1325 to
1351AD. He was a scholar, calligrapher and an
innovative monarch. Unfortunately he did not always
consider the consequences of his innovations. Vast amounts of his
treasury was spent trying to expand and consolidate his
realm. This only encouraged numerous revolts throughout his
realm. He forcibly moved his entire capital and all its inhabitants
from Delhi to a more central location in the Deccan of central
India. Unfortunately there was insufficient water
to support the population, and the capital was returned to Delhi two
years later, with great suffering and loss of life of the
citizens. About 1330AD he tried to replace the silver Tanka
with this brass Tanka, in an effort to boost his
treasury. The brass Tanka has beautiful calligraphy
on both sides, with legends to encourage its citizens to accept the
debased currency. His unhappy citizens, forced to accept this token
coinage, soon started to counterfeit them in vast numbers.
Foreign traders would not accept the brass Tankas Within a
few years he was forced to return to the silver Tanka,
redeeming both real and fake brass Tankas at a great cost to
his treasury. It is reported that a “mountain” of these brass
Tankas remained lying outside the sultanate’s treasuries for over a
century. The coins grade Fine to Very Fine with some green
patina. 
Ala
al-din Muhammad
Khalji came to power in India in 1396 by murdering his Uncle the Sultan
of Delhi. He then marched into Delhi with his Uncle’s head
upon a
pike and proceeded to blind, butcher, murder or imprison any family or
nobles who interfered with his ambition. He conquered much of
India, as well as fought off the Mongol hoards. His
ruthlessness
was such that even the Mongols came to fear him. He died in
1416.
Thinking of himself as a new world conqueror, similar to Alexander the
Great, he used the title “The Second Alexander” on this silver
Tanka The coin is approximately 28mm in diameter.
As is
typical of Islamic coins, the design consists entirely of calligraphy.
The coin grades Very Fine. 
This silver Mahmudi was struck
by the Raga of Baglana at his mint in
Muhler, India. The unusual denomination was struck at the
request of traders in the port of Surat. It is based on the
Persian Mahmudi, which was widely used in Surat, rather than
contemporary Mughal coins. The coin was struck in the name of
Akbar the Great. Akbar ascended to the Mughal at the age of 14 in
1556AD. He greatly expanded his empire to include
most of northern and central India. He was relatively tolerant of the
practices of those he conquered, which brought him wide respect. Though
he died in 1605, the coin continued to be struck in his name for a few
years. The thick silver coin weighs about 5.5 grams and
grades Very Fine.
The Majaraja of Jaipur was a
very wealthy man. He grew
even wealthier due
to an unusual practice in this native state in Northern
India.
Special, extra large coins, called Nazarana coins, were struck each
year.
If one wanted to be on good terms with the Maharaja, one would purchase
these special coins from the mint and present the coins to
the
Maharaja for his birthday or on other special occasions. The
mintages of these unusual coins were quite low, so they are rarely seen
by collectors. The coins acknowledged both the Maharaja and the King of
England, who also ruled India. We offer the copper Nazarana
Paisa
struck in the name of Maharaja Man Singh II
and King George V or King George VI. The exact date of the coin is our
choice.
The coins grade XF, however, as is typical of these coins, they have
been
cleaned. After all, one would not want to give the Maharaja
with
a
dirty coin! 
Denmark established its
first
colony in India in 1620. A mint was
later established to provide coinage for the colonies. Its
coins
tended to be small crude pieces that were hand struck from hand
engraved dies. Due to falling profits and increasing costs of
maintaining the colonies, Denmark
sold its possessions in India to the British East India Company in
1845,
thus bringing an end to its colonial era and the, coinage of Danish
India.
We recently obtained a hoard of these small, scarce, crude copper coins
of
Danish India. We have not had time to sort through the coins,
so
will
offer them as they come. Because the coins are crudely struck grading
them
is sometimes difficult, so we will just call them crude and worn.
This
tiny gold fannam is one of the least expensive coins of Dutch
India. The undated coin was struck by the Dutch Indian mint
in Tuticorin between about 1785 and 1792. Tuticorin was taken
over by the Portuguese in 1548, captured by the Dutch in 1658 and ceded
to the British in 1795. The coin is only about 7mm in
diameter. One side has a stylized portrait of the Hindu
goddess Kali. The other side has a degenerated Nagari legend.
The tiny coin was popular as it allowed the poor to hoard gold and
travelers could hide the coins in their mouth. If attacked, a
traveler could swallow the coins, then retrieve them a day or so later
This
crude, undated copper 1 Doudou of French India was struck in Pondichery
intermittently between 1720 and 1835. During the time the British and
French clashed over their outposts in India. The city
regularly changed hands between the British and French, depending on
the outcomes of their wars and peace treaties. In 1954,
Pondicherry and the remaining French colonies voted to join the
Republic of India. The coin features a fleur-de-lis on one
side and the name of the city in Tamil.
INDIA’S FIRST DECIMAL COINS INCLUDES
ODD SHAPES 
This
crudely made brass tokens pictures the Gods Rama and Laksmana standing
on one side of the coin. The other side shows Rama and Sita seated on a
throne, along the monkey god Hanuman. The tokens have a false date,
making some believe they are quite old. They were made during
the 20th century and sold in Hindu temples
throughout
India.
AFGHANISTAN
COIN & CURRENCY PAGERARE SILVER COIN OF
MANGUBARNISRI LANKA COIN SET
INCLUDES NEW ISSUES & BIMETALTHE
UNUSUAL TIBET SILVER RUPEETHE
BURMESE PEACOCK RUPEETABLE OF
CONTENTS FOR THE INTERESTING STUFF CATALOG
INDEX OF
COINS AND BANKNOTES IN THE INTERESTING STUFF CATALOGSECURE
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