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 - Magadha approximately 285-180 BC
| Issuer | Mauryan Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 285 BC - 180 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 | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Punch-marked |
| 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 | Five punch-marked symbols applied to the flat silver flan, characteristic of Mauryan imperial coinage. To the upper centre, a radiate sun symbol with multiple rays; to the left, a rightward-facing elephant in profile with detailed legs. At centre, a humped bull (zebu) facing right; to the upper right, a six-armed symbol (symbol of Ujjain type) with taurine (circle-and-crescent) devices at the terminals of each arm. A chaitya (three-arched hill) symbol also appears among the devices, all punches applied in an irregular arrangement across the field. |
|---|---|
| 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 earliest punch-marked coinage produced at anything resembling imperial scale. Under Ashoka and his successors, standardized silver punch-marked pieces circulated across a subcontinent-spanning administrative network — the same infrastructure documented in the Arthashastra, Kautilya's treatise on statecraft, which specifies mint regulations, assay procedures, and penalties for currency fraud in remarkable bureaucratic detail.
Authentication is the persistent challenge with this series. Forgeries and cast replicas have circulated among collectors for decades, and the punch sequences themselves remain only partially decoded by scholars.