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GANDHARA: Anonymous, ca. 600-300 BC, AR shatamana, VF

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Indian Coins - Ancient Start Price:65.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 120.00 USD
GANDHARA: Anonymous, ca. 600-300 BC, AR shatamana, VF
SOLD
240.00USD+ (48.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2024 Mar 04 @ 14:00UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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GANDHARA: Anonymous, ca. 600-300 BC, AR shatamana, Ra-540 ff, silver 'bent bar' type, VF. These fascinating large coins, equal to about 3 karshapanas, are the most likely candidates to be the very first Indian coins ever struck. During the 6th century BC Gandhara was a subject of the Persian Empire (as known from an inscription dating to the times of Darius, ca.520-518 BC). The Persians are likely to have introduced the native Gandharans to the idea of a struck coinage. The earliest Gandharan coins - shatamanas (=100 manas, the meaning is unknown, also known as "bent bars"), were probably based on a Persian siglos standard, since the average weight of these shatamanas equals to the weight of 2 Persian sigloi. From Gandhara, the idea of struck, or punchmarked, coinage spread south and soon the punchmarked coins were produced in many other regions of northern and central India.