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!
1/4 Karshapana
| Issuer | Shunga Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 105 BC - 55 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/4 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 |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse of this irregular square hammered copper flan displays a punch-marked depiction of an animal, most likely a horse or bull, shown in profile facing right, executed in the schematic punch-mark tradition typical of Shunga Empire coinage. The animal figure occupies the central field and is rendered with a broad, rounded body and discernible limbs. A raised linear border element is visible along the lower register of the flan. The field is otherwise plain and devoid of any inscription or secondary symbols. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (105 BC - 55 BC) |
| Additional information |
The Shungas came to power when Pushyamitra Shunga, a Brahmin general, assassinated the last Mauryan emperor Brihadratha during a military parade around 185 BC — a dynasty born in a moment of extraordinary violence. By the time these quarter-karshapana fractions were being struck, roughly a century later, the empire had fragmented significantly, with regional governors and tributary kingdoms operating with increasing autonomy. Attribution of specific issues to the Shunga center versus peripheral authorities remains genuinely unresolved in the scholarship.