Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Karshapana - Magadh - Mauryan Silver Punch Marked Coin 321 BC to 185 BCE
| Issuer | Mauryan Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 321 BC - 185 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.26 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Obverse bearing multiple punch-marked symbols applied individually by separate dies onto the flat silver flan, characteristic of the Mauryan punch-marked coinage tradition. Visible symbols include a sun motif, a six-armed symbol, and additional geometric and symbolic devices typical of imperial Mauryan issues. The punches are irregularly distributed across the field of the roughly rectangular flan, with each symbol impressed at varying depths. The surface displays the uneven texture inherent to hand-cut and hammer-struck blanks of the period. No legends or inscriptions are present, as was standard for this pre-epigraphic coinage series. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Mauryan karshapana is among the oldest standardized coinage produced at imperial scale anywhere in the ancient world. Chandragupta Maurya's administration inherited a punch-marked silver tradition already centuries old, but the Mauryan state systematized it — establishing weight standards enforced across an empire stretching from Gandhara to the Deccan. Kautilya's Arthashastra describes the state mint operation in detail, including penalties for counterfeit, making this one of the earliest coinages documented by a near-contemporary administrative text.
The 3.26g weight standard traces to the Magadha rati-based system, itself derived from the weight of the gunja seed.