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1 Karshapana
| Issuer | Nanda Empire (India (ancient)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 345 BC - 322 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Karshapana |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Five punch-marked symbols applied individually to the flat silver flan: a solar symbol (sun with radiating rays) in the upper field, a six-armed geometrical symbol, a tree-on-hill device, a humped bull (zebu), and a dot-within-circle flanked by two taurine (bull-head) symbols. The punches are characteristically applied in an overlapping and partly off-flan arrangement, a feature typical of Nanda-period karshapanas, leaving several marks truncated at the edges of the irregularly shaped planchet. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Nanda Empire, which preceded Chandragupta Maurya's consolidation of the subcontinent, issued punch-marked silver coinage through a monetary system already centuries old by this point. The Nandas are credited by some ancient sources — including Plutarch's account of Alexander's campaigns — with fielding an army so vast it deterred Alexander from pushing east of the Beas River in 326 BC. Whether Nanda economic power, expressed partly through this coinage infrastructure, fed the intelligence that reached Alexander's generals is a matter of ongoing scholarly debate.
Punch-marked karshapanas of this period are notoriously difficult to attribute with precision; the GH#443 classification relies on a specific combination of banker's marks and punch sequences rather than any issuing legend.