Catalog
1 Obol - Anonymous Nakhshab
| Issuer | Nakhshab (ancient) |
|---|---|
| Year | 250-325 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Standing figure depicted in a frontal or three-quarter pose, rendered in a schematic, linear style typical of Sogdian minor coinage of the Kushano-Sasanian period. The figure appears robed, with outstretched arms possibly engaged in a ritual or ceremonial gesture. The design is struck on an irregular, roughly circular flan with uneven surfaces and characteristic flat areas resulting from the hammered technique. The low-relief engraving shows traces of a simplified architectural or altar element in the lower field. The composition reflects the anonymous civic coinage tradition of Nakhshab, with iconography derived from Iranian religious and royal imagery. |
| Reverse script | Sogdian |
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| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Nakhshab — modern Karshi in southern Uzbekistan — was a minor Sogdian city-state that produced its own fractional silver during a period when the collapse of Kushan authority left a power vacuum across Transoxiana. These anonymous obols belong to a loose grouping of municipal issues that circulated alongside debased Kushan coppers and imitative coinages, filling a practical need for small-denomination exchange that the retreating empire no longer supplied reliably. Attribution remains difficult; Alram's catalog acknowledges the Nakhshab assignment is partly inferential, based on find-spot concentrations rather than any mint signature.