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!
Æ Unit
| Issuer | Chera dynasty (Southern India) |
|---|---|
| Year | 200 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| 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 | 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 | Central field bearing a snake, elephant, and three fish arranged in combination, accompanied by an axe symbol; to the lower left of the flan, a partial bow with arrow is visible alongside a three-arched hill motif. The design is struck on an irregular rectangular flan typical of early South Indian punch-marked coinage, with symbols rendered in a schematic, deeply incuse style characteristic of Chera dynastic issues. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field depicting a bow and arrow symbol, struck in a bold, schematic punch-marked style on the irregular rectangular flan. The motif is rendered in shallow relief consistent with hammered South Indian coinage of the early historic period, with the bow oriented horizontally across the field. |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Cheras were one of the three great Tamil dynasties of the Sangam period, controlling the southwestern Malabar coast and engaged in direct trade with Rome and Arabia by the early centuries of the common era. Their coinage is among the least systematically documented of the major South Indian series — MIG (Mitchiner's The Origins of Indian Coinage) references for Chera bronzes carry wide attribution windows, and the 200 BC anchor date should be read as an approximation within a bracket spanning several centuries.
These bronzes circulated alongside punch-marked silver in an economy where commodity value often outpaced any fixed denomination system.