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!
Dinar - Anonymous ruler 3rd version, Kushano-Sassanian style, Balkh/Boxlo mint
| Issuer | Kidarite Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 400-430 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Gold |
| 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 | Royal figure in Kushano-Sasanian style (identified as Vahram) standing left upon a ground line, wearing an elaborate lotus crown surmounted by a pomegranate and adorned with flowing ribbons, with flames rising at the shoulders. The figure is depicted sacrificing at a fire altar while holding a trident in the right hand; to the left, a trident standard rises above an altar with the middle prong surmounted by a crescent. A dynastic tamgha appears in the right field. The overall composition reflects the syncretic artistic tradition blending Kushano-Sasanian and Central Asian iconographic conventions. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The Hindu deity Shiva depicted standing facing, presented frontally in hieratic posture, holding a diadem in one hand and a trident in the other. The sacred bull Nandi stands to the left behind the deity, rendered in left profile upon a ground line. The reverse iconography draws directly from the established Kushano-Sasanian religious tradition venerating Shiva, reflecting the syncretic Hindu-Buddhist milieu of late antique Bactria. |
| 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 Kidarites emerged in Bactria following the collapse of Kushano-Sassanian authority in the region, themselves likely displaced from further east by early Hunnic pressure. This anonymous third-version dinar reflects the transitional political reality of the Oxus frontier around 400 CE: a new ruling house deliberately invoking Kushano-Sassanian coin conventions to claim legitimacy over a population that had used that visual vocabulary for generations. The Balkh mint — ancient Bactra — was one of the most strategically significant production centers in Central Asia, controlling trade routes between Iran, India, and the steppe.
Göbl's EM 84/3 classification places this within a tightly defined die sequence. The anonymity of the issuer remains unresolved in the scholarship.